During a press conference in Japan Saturday, President Trump seemed less than familiar with the terms "busing" and "Western liberalism"—two basic concepts in American political history.

When asked by reporters if he sees busing as a "viable way of integrating schools," Trump replied vaguely that, "it has been something that they’ve done for a long period of time."

"Busing" is often used as a shorthand for the integration efforts of the 1970s that sought to overcome the residential segregation that often causes de facto educational segregation by sending children to schools outside their home districts by bus. The term was back in the news after Thursday night’s Democratic primary debate, which found California Senator Kamala Harris nailing former Vice President Joe Biden on his history of opposing efforts to achieve school segregation via busing.

"There aren’t that many ways that you’re going to get people to schools," said Trump Saturday.

So this is something that’s been done. In some cases it’s been done with a hammer, instead of a velvet glove, and that’s part of it. I think if Vice President Biden had answered the question somewhat differently it would have been a different result, because they really did hit him hard on that one…but it is certainly a primary method to get people to schools.

Trump’s description of the debate and his mention of the “hammer” and “velvet glove” suggest that the president does have some idea of the mandated nature of ‘70s busing programs as well as the reason that the term is back in the news. But much of his answer also seemed to suggest that he understood the busing issue to be one of transportation, not integration.

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Trump on busing: “It is certainly a primary method of getting people to schools.” pic.twitter.com/ersbSr6mj1 — Josh Billinson (@jbillinson) June 29, 2019

In another exchange with a journalist, Trump was asked to respond to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent claim that "Western-style liberalism is obsolete."

"[Putin] sees what’s going on, I guess, if you look at what’s happening in Los Angeles, where it’s so sad to look," the president replied to the reporter. "And what’s happening in San Francisco and a couple of other cities, which are run by an extraordinary group of liberal people."

Trump seemed to believe that Putin had not been referring to liberal democracy, but progressive politics on the American West Coast:

I don’t know what they’re thinking, but he does see things that are happening in the United States that would probably preclude him from saying how wonderful it is...But I’m very embarrassed by what I see in some of our cities, where the politicians are either afraid to do something about it, or they think it’s votes or I don’t know what. Peter, I don’t know what they’re thinking. But when you look at Los Angeles, when you look at San Francisco, when you look at some of the other cities—and not a lot, not a lot —but you don’t want it to spread. And at a certain point, I think the federal government maybe has to get involved. We can’t let that continue to happen to our cities.

Of course, Putin wasn’t talking about local politics. Instead, he was referring to classical liberal democracy and the values of freedom and government by consent—you know, the philosophy that forms the very basis of the American nation. Check out the moment below.

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Here is Trump humiliating himself with a rant about West Coast liberals because he doesn't know what Western-style liberalism is. pic.twitter.com/2vWvVdvLc3 — PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) June 29, 2019

Gabrielle Bruney Gabrielle Bruney is a writer and editor for Esquire, where she focuses on politics and culture.

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