In “Trump is His Own Worst Enemy”, Charles M. Blow argues that President Trump’s seeming lack of wit will prevent Trump from executing his controversial proposals, such as the building of the wall. As an op-ed columnist of the reputable New York Times newspaper, Blow certainly has credibility as a qualified editorial writer on politics. His audience, which is mainly the American public (particularly democrats), will find themselves nodding their heads in agreement due to Blow’s sound reasoning.

Blow is blunt in his descriptions of Trump’s ineptitude. Through mocking statements such as referring to Trump’s “gnat-like attention span”, he illustrates Trump as an individual who lacks the intelligence and dedication expected of a president. However, Blow backs up such remarks by providing evidence such as Trump’s quote “I think he’s going to respect your president if I’m elected and I hope he likes me.” By including Trump’s quote on being shocked when Russian President Vladimir Putin referred to former President Obama as the N-word followed up by revealing Trump’s desire that Putin will “like” him, Blow effectively conveys Trump’s questionable morals. He also references Joshua Green, author of Devil’s Bargain. Because Green’s book delves into the inside story of Trump’s election, his claims are backed with credibility. In an appeal to authority, Blow quotes Green’s assertion that the idea of building a wall is “one of Trump’s greatest hits but it wasn’t Trump’s idea”. Thus, Blow underscores how Trump lacks the most important quality of a leader: the ability to think for himself and for his people.

Blow’s editorial is refreshing and can be considered as humorous due to the numerous ridiculing statements. However, the editorial could be strengthened with more statistics from reliable databases. Numbers are appealing to readers because they are objective, after all. Although Blow does use credible evidence, he could build a more concrete foundation for his argument by adding more evidence, such as statistics from polls.