Samantha Bee Questions Donald Trump’s Literacy

“The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.” —Mark Twain*

The 2016 presidential election can be seen as the watershed moment in U.S. history when conspiracy theories went mainstream. Over the past few years, Donald Trump has personally peddled more than his share of crazy beliefs from the tin-foil hat crowd.

Here’s a small sampling of the conspiracies Trump supports:

-- President Barack Obama wasn’t born in the U.S.
-- The 2016 election is rigged
-- Climate change is a conspiracy created by the Chinese
-- Ted Cruz’s father was involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy
-- Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama created ISIS
-- Supreme Court Justice Scalia was murdered

One way that Trump gives credibility to his monstrously false assertions is by saying that “people are saying” these things or that “he’s hearing” these ideas “from people.” So Samantha Bee, host of TBS’s “Full Frontal” has a new segment called “People are Saying,” to reveal her own conspiracies about Trump. “After seeing how easy and fun it is to take random scraps of evidence and spin them into ridiculous conspiracy theories, we decided to try it ourselves, because why the f**k not?” Bee said. “You heard it here first, people are saying Donald Trump can’t read.”

Although Trump never backs up any of his wild theories with facts, Bee actually does a solid job at raising questions about his reading skills. It’s a perfect explanation for why Trump’s terrible at using a teleprompter, does very little debate preparation, and has a hard time discussing his favorite literature. Now, although there’s nothing funny about illiteracy, there’s something downright terrifying about having a president that lacks the intellectual curiosity to pick up a book from time to time. Maybe if Trump did do a bit of reading, he’d be a lot less likely to believe so many wacky conspiracies.

*This quote is often attributed to Twain although its actual origin is in dispute.