It’s the Name That President game show! And you, our contestants, are here to show your mettle and knowledge by matching the correct president to his statements and accomplishments. What fun!

In today’s game, you have a choice between President X and President Y, so let’s get started.

Here’s your first clue, which president rode down a golden escalator to announce his campaign for president in the election of 2016? While accusing Mexico of sending immigrants across our border he said, “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.” I know this first one is pretty easy, and you are correct, it was President X. Great job!

Ok, now this will get harder as we go. Who, as president tried extremely hard to reduce or eliminate the crushing student debt crisis in this country, now totaling around $1.7 trillion. So, what’s your answer? Great, you are correct again. This time it was President Y, though, unfortunately, his first effort was struck down by the Supreme Court. But he continues to work on this issue, having successfully made other smaller changes, with another attempt just this past month.

Next question, which of these two presidents made the following statement: immigrants coming to the U.S. are “poisoning the blood of our country?” You are right again. That was President X at a rally in New Hampshire in December and he was referring to the current President, Y, and his party for supposedly allowing uncontrolled immigration of non-white people into the country. That President X, he sure knows how to get the crowd riled up with his Hitler quotes.

Here’s another for you. Which president said this in a speech just last week, ” ... our campaign is about America. It’s about you. It’s about every age and background that occupy this country. It’s about the future we’re going to continue to build together.” I am just so impressed with all of our contestants. Yes, that was President Y speaking on the day before the third anniversary of the January 6th insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. I guess it’s not too difficult to recognize the different speaking styles of these two presidents.

You’re all doing fantastically well with your correct answers, but let’s see if you can get this one right. Which president jacked up the national debt by almost $7.8 trillion as a result of his tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations during his time in office? Wow, you got that one right too, it was President X.

This next question might catch you off guard, but let’s see what you say. Which president currently running for reelection to the Oval Office stated in public that he would be a dictator, but only on day one of his tenure, as if he would stop being a dictator on day two? Seems like you did know the answer to that one. Of course, it was President X, the guy who has promised if reelected to empty the government of the thousands of non-partisan civil servants that keep so much running in our country, and replace them with his loyalist supporters. The one who says he will punish those in our legal system for prosecuting his many corrupt and illegal actions before and during his past administration. Yes, that guy.

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Just a few more questions. Try this one, under which president’s administration did employers create more than 14 million jobs during his first three years in office? I can see some of you weren’t sure about this one, but more than half of you got it right. It was President Y whose economic plan has created so many jobs, reducing the unemployment rate down to 3.7%, whose Federal Reserve kept us out of recession while bringing high inflation down. By the way, have any of you noticed that gas prices are dropping below $3 a gallon?

And here’s the last one, which president “shepherded several massive bills through Congress, including the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, which contained substantial Covid-19 relief; the Inflation Reduction Act, which included historic investments in clean energy and health care; and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which contained significant funds for roads and bridges”? Of course, you all had that one nailed, it was President Y who did all that. And that’s not all. He also passed the CHIPS Act which is beefing up semiconductor manufacturing here at home, so we aren’t dependent on technology from elsewhere. And there’s so much more.

So, here we are at the end of the game. How did you folks at home fair? Did you manage to guess which president was which? And now I’m sure you can see how we’ve all benefited from President Y’s steady leadership and how dangerous President X would be to our democracy should he manage to be reelected in November.

But we won’t let that happen. We’ll register to vote, then make sure to vote, and get everyone we know to do the same. President Y is our guy.

Karen Gardner of Haydenville can be reached at opinion@gazettenet.com.