CIVICS TRUMP 2.0 PART 2

YESTERDAY WAS PROMPTED BY TRUMP’S digging out Civics 2020, his first administration’s revamping of Civics 2008, the latter having served admirably for 17 years helping people becoming U.S. citizens. Needless to say, Trump is not on the immigrants’ side in all this. 

Nor is he on the side of the Constitution, as exhibited by his spout-from-the-hip oration on one thing and another. Here in Part 2, we examine questions and answers of Civics 2025 and see if this autocrat has any semblance of understanding about their meaning.

Trump 2.0 Responses, Documented. Question No. 2: “What is the supreme law of the land?* Answer: U.S. Constitution.” Note the star, signifying that the question and answer are of paramount importance, especially for some over 65 (see Part 1).

See also “Trump’s Claims of Vast Presidential Powers Run Up Against Article 2 of the Constitution and Exceed Previous Presidents’ Power Grabs,” The Conversation, February 25, 2025: “In 2019, Trump said, ‘And then I have an Article 2, where I have the right to do whatever I want as President.”

What??

Also, as cited by Reuters, February 16, 2025, “Echoing France’s Napoleon Bonaparte, U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday took to social media to signal continued resistance to limits on his executive authority in the face of multiple legal challenges: ‘He who saves his Country does not violate any Law,’ Trump, a Republican, proclaimed on his Truth Social network. The White House did not respond to a request for more details.” 

I wonder if Trump grasped his overlong tie midway when uttering this Napoleonic bravado. 

Reuters added, “ ‘Spoken like a true dictator,’ Senator Adam Schiff of California, a longtime adversary of Trump, wrote on X. Trump, who took office on January 20, has made broad assertions of executive power that appear headed toward U.S. Supreme Court showdowns. Some lawsuits accuse Trump of usurping the authority of Congress as set out in the U.S. Constitution.”

With all due respect for Reuters, only “some”? 

Retaliation and Extortion. Question No. 6: “What does the Bill of Rights protect? Answer: (The basic) rights of Americans. (The basic) rights of people living in the United States.”

Question No. 7: “How many amendments does the U.S. Constitution have?* Answer: Twenty-seven.” The first ten of which, of course, are the Bill of Rights.

A screen grab from The White House. Don’t you love the snarky (and questionable) dig at the top.

See also “Partisan Language Inserted Into Education Dept. Workers’ Automated Emails,” The New York Times, October 2, 2025. 

What unmitigated propaganda, at taxpayer expense.

Yet, Trump made an Executive Order “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship,” January 20, 2025: “But the Fourteenth Amendment,” he wrote, “has never been interpreted to extend citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States.”

I researched this point and found the Fourteenth Amendment clearly says “All persons.” 

There’s also Question 15. “There are three branches of government. Why? Answer: So one part does not become too powerful. Checks and balances. Separation of powers.”

Image from howstuffworks.com.  

Where shall I begin? ds  

© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2025