English teachers everywhere know when students haven't done the required reading for a class. You'll ask the most basic question and a student will hesitate, equivocate, try not to answer, maybe re-frame the question, or just shift ground entirely.
The question doesn't have to be anything very deep, either, nothing probing or requiring a lot of thought. You could ask about the student's favorite scene in the chapters that the class had to read, and you'll get something like "I don't have a favorite--I enjoyed every scene, they were great." You press further, but all you hear is more vagueness, more stalling because the student is hoping you'll give up and turn to someone else.
That's what I thought of when I read about this interaction in the Washington Post:
Trump was asked last year what his favorite Bible verse was after he said it was his favorite book.
"Well, I wouldn't want to get into it, because to me that's very personal," Trump said. "You know, when I talk about the Bible, it's very personal, so I don't want to get into verses."
"There's no verse that means a lot to you?" an interlocutor asked. "That you think about or say?"
"The Bible means a lot to me, but I don't want to get into specifics," Trump said.
"Even to cite a verse that you like?"
"No, I don't want to do that."
Another question: "Are you an Old Testament or a New Testament guy?"
"Probably equal," Trump said. "I think it's just an incredible, the whole Bible is an incredible--"
Trump trailed off for a brief second, then continued.
"I joke very much so," he said. "They always hold up The Art of the Deal. I say, 'My second favorite book of all time.'"
Classic interactions: Avoid, avoid, don't say anything specific, and deflect with a joke. But the joke's on us. Because he could be our next President.
Of course, nobody in the media making a big deal of this story is wondering why it even matters whether he has a favorite Bible verse or not. And that's not a joke, but a sad commentary on the state of our culture and our elections.
Lev Raphael is the author of The Death of a Constant Lover and 24 other books of fiction and nonfiction available on Amazon.