{"id":1274,"date":"2026-06-05T09:36:59","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T09:36:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1274"},"modified":"2026-06-05T09:36:59","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T09:36:59","slug":"judy-chu-doesnt-know-much-about-woodrow-wilson-but-heres-why-you-should","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1274","title":{"rendered":"Judy Chu doesn&#8217;t know much about Woodrow Wilson \u2014 but here&#8217;s why you should"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Judy Chu, a Democrat who has been in Congress for 17 years, faced a straightforward question in the House Ways and Means Committee hearing this week:\u00a0Who was the US president during World War I?<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1272\">Zelensky calls for face-to-face negotiations to end war in public letter to Putin<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tossed her that softball amid talk of inflation and wartime economics under President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n<p>Her reply, delivered with confidence: \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The ensuing viral clip of the exchange between Chu and Bessent didn\u2019t just sting politically; it also highlighted a deeper rot of political competence.<\/p>\n<p>Woodrow Wilson, the 28th president (1913-21), isn\u2019t some obscure, dusty footnote. He guided America into the\u00a0GreatWar\u00a0in 1917, wrestled with skyrocketing inflation, launched the Federal Reserve, championed women\u2019s suffrage, and dreamed up the League of Nations.<\/p>\n<p>These facts aren\u2019t mere trivia for\u00a0Jeopardy!\u00a0contestants. <\/p>\n<p>They are a key part of the story of how the US became a global player and how presidents have historically juggled global leadership and domestic needs \u2014 the very issues Chu was lecturing about moments earlier.<\/p>\n<p>Yet there she sat, blank-faced. The timing made the fumble deliciously ironic.<\/p>\n<p>Chu had been pressing concerns about rising costs of living \u2014 gasoline, electricity, airfare \u2014 tied to global tensions. Bessent politely referenced Wilson as a historical parallel under wartime leadership.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of engaging, Chu offered the intellectual equivalent of the shrug emoji.<\/p>\n<p>For a legislator who\u2019s spent years positioning herself as a thoughtful progressive voice on everything from small business to veterans\u2019 affairs, it was a spectacular own goal.<\/p>\n<p>One wonders if her staff briefing packet skipped the part labeled \u201cBasic American Presidents 101.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters <\/strong><\/h2>\n<div>\n<p><strong>California Post News<\/strong>: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, WhatsApp, LinkedIn<br \/><strong>California Post Sports<\/strong> Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X<br \/><strong>California Post  <\/strong>Opinion <br \/><strong>California Post Newsletters<\/strong>: Sign up here!<br \/><strong>California Post App<\/strong>: Download here!<br \/><strong>Home delivery<\/strong>: Sign up here!<br \/><strong>Page Six Hollywood<\/strong>: Sign up here!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Sure, everyone blanks under pressure. But let\u2019s be real: This wasn\u2019t a pop quiz on quantum physics. This was grade-school history.<\/p>\n<p>Chu holds advanced degrees (a Ph. D.), has chaired caucuses, and has logged more time in Washington than most.<\/p>\n<p>When a sitting member of Congress responsible for trillion-dollar budgets and national policy can\u2019t summon Woodrow Wilson, it stops being a \u201csenior moment\u201d and starts looking like incompetence \u2013\u2013 or systemic indifference to the country\u2019s own story.<\/p>\n<p>Wilson was also a key figure in the Democratic Party. He championed the progressive idea that the government should be run by experts to achieve desirable social outcomes. <\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1270\">Party divisions persist past primary \u2014 on both sides<\/a><\/p>\n<p>He believed that the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence were just means to an end, at best. And he believed in a multilateral international order, led by global institutions.<\/p>\n<p>These beliefs remain at the core of Democratic Party ideology.<\/p>\n<p>Wilson was also a racist \u2014 which is why his name was taken off some public buildings and institutions during the woke frenzy of the Black Lives Matter movement.<\/p>\n<p>Of course a member of Congress should know who Woodrow Wilson is.<\/p>\n<p>Chu\u2019s failure is the kind of moment that makes voters ask, \u201cIf they can\u2019t handle this, what else are they winging?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The fallout extends beyond one awkward exchange. Political debate runs on historical analogies \u2014 comparing today\u2019s inflation fights to the 1970s, or modern alliances to Wilson\u2019s internationalist vision.<\/p>\n<p>When elected officials fumble the references, their arguments lose weight and their oversight role turns performative.<\/p>\n<p>Chu\u2019s record includes real work on AAPI issues and economic matters, yet none of that immunizes her from the expectation of knowing foundational facts.<\/p>\n<p>Even Wilson, who served as a Princeton University president and professor, would probably raise an eyebrow at a successor who couldn\u2019t place him in the timeline he himself helped define.<\/p>\n<p>This gaffe is emblematic of a larger trend. <\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Years of educational fashion that prizes feelings and frameworks over hard chronology have produced leaders fluent in niche policy but strangely adrift on our nation\u2019s greatest hits.<\/p>\n<p>In an age of renewed superpower rivalry and economic whiplash, Americans deserve representatives who can intelligently invoke Wilson\u2019s triumphs (wartime mobilization, progressive reforms) and failures (civil liberties crackdowns, racial policies) rather than stare into the void when prompted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know\u201d might fly in casual conversation; it lands like a lead balloon when you\u2019re shaping policy that affects more than 340 million people.<\/p>\n<p>This will endure as a teachable moment \u2014 mostly for what not to do on live television.<\/p>\n<p>Voters should expect more: leaders who treat American history as essential knowledge, not optional trivia.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1268\">Legislature\u2019s data-center ban is economic suicide for New York<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Richie Greenberg is a political commentator based in San Francisco.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Judy Chu, a Democrat who has been in Congress for 17 years, faced a straightforward question in the House Ways and Means Committee hearing this week:\u00a0Who was the U.S. president during World War I?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1273,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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