New citizenship test swings to the right

Questions longer, harder, more political under Trump

Why did the United States go to war in Vietnam?

Historians debate multiple motives, such as maintaining Western colonialism after France’s military and economic withdrawal from Indochina. Political scientists discuss the entanglement of Cold War ideologies in a Southeast Asian civil war. And millions of protesters took to the streets to denounce a war they attributed to U. S. imperialism.

But for the hundreds of thousands of legal immigrants taking the Trump administration’s new, longer and more demanding civics exam for U. S. citizenship applicants, there is only one correct answer: “To stop the spread of communism.”

Why did the United States enter the Persian Gulf War in 1990? “To force the Iraqi military from Kuwait,” wouldbe citizens must reply, without mentioning such unstated motives as oil.

Why is the Electoral College important? The “correct” answers omit any reference to the 18thcentury agreement

“The shift parallels the effort from the Trump administration to shrink the boundaries of the political community.”

Ming Hsu Chen, University of Colorado law professor

See the entire new test here: bit. ly/ CitizenQuestions

SOME SAMPLE QUESTIONS:

1. The president of the United States can serve only two terms. Why?

2. How many Supreme Court justices are usually needed to decide a case?

3. What was the Great Depression?

Answers:

1. The 22nd Amendment. Or, to keep the president from becoming too powerful.

2. Five.

3. The longest economic recession in U. S. history.

Carlos Osorio / Associated Press 2020 U. S. District Judge Laurie Michelson ( left) administers the citizenship oath to Hala Baqtar in Detroit in June.

Washington Post / Getty Images 2020 Rutilia Ornelas ( left), 65, stands with daughter Paola Espinoza before her naturalization ceremony in Milwaukee in November.