And now, presenting Congress member Judy Chu
Democrat Judy Chu is the US House member from California’s 28th District. The other day she was quizzing Bessent and an exchange ensued about whether Trump cares about the American economy as opposed to the Iran War. As part of the back-and-forth, Bessent was making a reference to Woodrow Wilson’s entering WWI, and asked her the following question and got the following answer:
Cultural illiteracy.
Not knowing anything about Chu other than what I said above, I assumed that perhaps she hadn’t been educated in the US, which might account for the lacuna in her knowledge of history. But I discovered that she was born, raise, and educated in this country, and that her father was a WWII veteran:
Chu was born in Los Angeles as the second of four children to May Lin and Judson Chu. Judson was born in Chico, California, to Chinese parents from Jiangmen, Guangdong and served during World War II in the 10th Army Corps in Okinawa. He brought over his wife May from his ancestral home in Xinhui County as a war bride in 1948.
Chu grew up in South Los Angeles, near 62nd Street and Normandie Avenue, until her early teen years, when the family moved to the Bay Area. She graduated Buchser High School in Santa Clara, California in 1970.
In 1974, Chu earned a B.A. degree in mathematics from the University of California, Los Angeles. In 1979, she earned a Ph.D. degree in psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology of Alliant International University’s Los Angeles campus.
She’s been in Congress since 2009. And since Chu is 72 years old, she also doesn’t have the excuse of having been educated recently, when history has mostly been jettisoned in favor of wokeness. And yet there is that abysmal ignorance.
Nor does Chu say something like, “I know, it’s on the tip of my tongue but I forgot for the moment.” That would be more acceptable. But no; she merely says “I don’t know” and proceeds with her prepared talking points.
I’ve grown increasingly dismayed by what a bunch of empty suits our congressional members seem to be. Especially with the Dems, they appear to be mere figureheads for agendas and decisions made elsewhere. Democratic representation? Democrats could care less.
I had a brief off-hand discussion with a friend not long ago, and suggested that congresspersons were literally phoning in votes or having proxies vote for them, rather than appearing in person to vote. Not having researched the issue, I let it drop when I got pushback. Thankfully, it was short-lived, but I was correct.
The author of this tome:
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https://www.academia.edu/124331680/The_Politics_of_Diversity_Immigration_Resistance_and_Change_in_Monterey_Park_California_American_Dreaming_Immigrant_Life_on_the_Margins_Multiculturalism_from_the_Margins_Non_Dominant_Voices_on_Difference_and_Diversity
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had an affectionate regard for her. Pretty amusing she switched from psychology to politics ca. 1986 but lacked minimal historical knowlege.
Random recollection alert:
For a few years, before I got bored, I would watch CSPAN which sometimes aired congressional hearings. One such viewing was of a Senate hearing about union dues and coffers and the uses of these funds.
Ted Kennedy had a Q&A period and he inquired about the total amount the annual dues would generate in a large union or large group of unions. This rapidly degenerated into heated exchange as to the correct ballpark number. It amused me as a younger physics professor as they had the dues amount, $500 IIRC, and the total number of members, probably in the millions. Just multiply it! You know… scientific notation, mantissa and exponent.
Ted did the quick multiplication and came up with a number that was off by 100 or 1,000. OK, he was elderly, but not nearly as bad mentally as we’ve seen some politicians in recent years.
The most astonishing thing was that Ted proceeded to berate the person testifying at great length, because the witness’ correct number didn’t match Ted’s grossly incorrect number. While Ted continued his lengthy harangue, you could see other senators shift uncomfortably in their chairs as they had no doubt understood which number was the correct one, but none were willing or able to cut it short.
Look who cares who was President over a hundred years ago? What’s that have to do with right now? What difference at this point does it make?
Good Lord these people are Year Zero with everything.
The reason he brought up Wilson would have sailed miles, if not parsecs, over her head any way. It was in regard to us going to war with Iran. He was trying to point out that Wilson entered the war in spite of the fact there was no direct attack on the U.S. to draw us in, it was the threat to us that her perceived the Triple alliance posed.
I’m sure she was just baffled by the point he was trying to make and besides, she had a lecture to deliver, not answers to listen to.
Last night I saw a meme which said
“I am seriously not smart enough for this many people to be stupider than me.” Judy Chu, D, CA
If this surprises anyone, you haven’t been paying attention. sharksauce Is exactly right.
Today is Midway Day!
I hear there are Democrats who think Abraham Lincoln was a Democrat. Ignorance of American history and American civics is epidemic.
I suspect Democrats don’t know who was the president after FDR or even what “FDR’ means. They may be stupid and ignorant but they are also evil.
Rubio nailed it when he said, and I’m paraphrasing, “You don’t want me to answer your questions, you just want to record your TikTok video”.
Starting the topic I was about to cut Chu some slack as maybe an 80s kid, but she was born in 1953.
I was a questionably educated boomer kid, who went on to become a hippie, but I knew Wilson was president during WWI in 8th grade.
Ignorance of history is not just a specialty of the left , I will say no more .
Since she’s a Democrat, I have no love for Judy Chu, but…
Without seeing the context, it looks like Bessent was grandstanding. (Doesn’t everyone at these hearings?)
If her not knowing the answer is the worst thing about her, I would be jazzed.
Also, why is Bessent in focus, but she looks like a Kabuki actress in a horror movie?
Ask 1000 college kids who was Woodrow Wilson , and do not be surprised if most of them would have no idea who he was .
Ask them when did WWI take place; most would not know.
Ask them which nation was the enemy during WW1 ; most would not know.
A great book to read; “All Quiet on the Western Front,” and also watch the movie based on the book .
To be fair, she did grow up in a foreign country.
I don’t really expect Californians to know anything about America.
Sailorcurt: I see what you did there!
I saw an interesting take on Bessent recently: he worked for George Soros when Soros broke the Bank of England. The writer wonders if he is not working to break the economy of China in a similar fashion. Interesting thought. I wish him well.
Keith said:
“Ignorance of history is not just a specialty of the left. I will say no more.”
You are correct, but people having the combinaton of advanced degrees and older than 65 have a very good understabnding of American history – the highest demograohic according to Pew Resaerch,
Madame Chu is in that category and she is in Congress. We would expect more of them.
Then again Sheila Jackson Lee from Houston went into the NASA facility there wanting to see a picture of the flag that Neil Armstrong had planted on Mars.
Sailorcurt said:
“To be fair, she did grow up in a foreign country.
I don’t really expect Californians to know anything about America.”
Sailorcurt appears as capable of reading the article above as Madame Chu is of knowing anything about American history.
From the article:
“Chu was born in Los Angeles as the second of four children to May Lin and Judson Chu. ”
We are happy Sailorcurt is not in Comgress.
I’ll go out on a limb here and surmise that she’d likely claim, asaChu, to far prefer looking forwards rather than back, while fervently insisting that since she is working feverishly—and selflessly—to destroy her state and her country, she has no time to waste on just another DWM…not her precious time, anyway…even if the DWM in question was supposedly a “Progressive”…
OMMV…
John Galt III, I read Sailorcurt’s comment as humor. He knows full well that California is in the US. His comment is another version of the saying in the 1960s that the US was tilted, and all the nuts rolled down to California. (My LA cousin, whose parents moved to California circa 1940, would agree with those who cast California as a foreign country. )
I am reminded of a friend of my LA cousin, who thought that Connecticut was near Wisconsin.
How would Trump do on that question?
I’d contend that John Galt III’s inability to grok* my comment without having someone explain it to him says way more about John Galt III than it does about me.
Apparently I’m not the only one we should be grateful isn’t in Congress.
*reference to Heinlein, not the social media site formerly known as Twitter.
I suspect her degree is a PsyD, not a PhD.