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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIs Trump smart?
Myself, I see Trump like a trained monkey who got very good at learning a few corrupt tricks. Over all I think he is extremely ignorant on many issues. He does watch the news and learns a few things.
Trump spent his whole life surrounded by corrupt lawyers and corrupt people. I think he spent most of his time asking them questions. He is always asking peoples opinion because he doesn't know what to do. He constantly looks for ideas from other people and many times he takes the wrong, the worst, advice. He constantly makes mistakes that lawyers have to bail him out of.
In the J6 report Hope Hicks testified Trump asked her if J6 was as bad as everyone is saying it was? That is a dumb question. Hicks told him yes and Trump said he did not think that was fair.
Trump did not come up with the fake elector scheme. He did not know about the 12th amendment. Corrupt people gave him the idea. I believe Trump comes up with very few ideas of his own.
There is no doubt Trump is very conniving. He has spent his whole life learning how to be corrupt from very corrupt people. But I would never call Trump smart.
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twodogsbarking
(18,785 posts)
KarenS
(5,050 posts)In the past few years, he simply tapped into the lowest common denominator with racist angry misogynistic government-hating disenfranchised-feeling people,,,, but they had already been 'groomed' by Reagan & Bush Jr (Rove). So I don't know exactly what he did or how he did it,,, but we are living with the results and from what I'm reading the ring-wing is rising around the world,,,,
SouthernDem4ever
(6,619 posts)He tapped into a really stupid part of our society and was aided and abetted by the greedy parts of society who could have stopped his corruption but looked the other way because of their own version of fascism. I am talking about every repuglican in the senate who could have stopped him during impeachment and didn't. They and their puppet masters are really to blame. Stupid people were always out there, but they needed that support of the true fascists to put someone as greedy and dumb as trump into office and allow him to snub his nose at the constitution and break the law which we all have to abide by.
brush
(61,033 posts)Had the advantage of his old man's money all his like (and money he stole from his brother's estate), otherwise he'd be just another Joe Shmoe. Remember, he had to connive to get out of college—someone else taking exams for him.
Had lawyer and fixers all his life getting him out of jams.
Nah, he's just another magat, which is why he's always getting caught. I mean who steals reams of top secret government docs and stores them in his basement when the Nat'l Archives knows what docs there are and will eventually miss them, goes bankrupt running CASINOS, fails at multiple business from airlines to steaks to colleges and on and on?
Nah, again. Even if he was money laundering for the Russians, the mob has been money laundering for forever out of their casinos and never ever ever went bankrupt running casinos. Casinos are literally legal ways to just about print money.You can't lose, except if you're real dummy
Enter Donald J. trump.
Crazyleftie
(458 posts)have a literacy of less than a 6th grade level.
(google)
That says it all
twodogsbarking
(18,785 posts)Happy Holidays.
IjustDontlikeRepugs
(741 posts)Prairie_Seagull
(4,689 posts)Possibly, she already does.
whathehell
(30,468 posts)gab13by13
(32,321 posts)and got away with it. There is no better show man in the history of the world. Trump is an evil genius, he plays the fool, and convinces people that he is stupid, convinces not just his Magat followers. Everything he says in his speeches and texts, he says with a purpose. There is no better person on earth at projection.
Trump has a big advantage over people who believe he is stupid. Trump is the greatest con man ever.
Haggard Celine
(17,821 posts)Con man extraordinaire!
fightforfreedom
(4,913 posts)He got away with everything because he used his money and lawyers to bail him out of his countless mistakes. I have never seen a bigger fuck up than Trump. I mean he fucks everything up.
Every thing Trump touches dies, is a very true statement. During speeches, rallies Trump would repeat things he heard on Fox News and if the crowd cheered he would repeat it at all his rallies. If they didn't cheer he would not say again. That does not make him a genius.
I would call Trump the luckiest, conniving, dumb fuck that ever lived.
certainot
(9,090 posts)like all authoritarian tyrants and dictators he has a bad case of sex on the wrong brain. his brain mixes sex and logic, leading to a severe dependence on closure and certainty. fear and avoidance of uncertainty - nature, disorder, unpredictability, etc has led him on a constant search for closure, finality, certainty.
his brain also mixes sex and math/numbers and constantly needs more, bigger, faster.
his life is a game of golf, one hole after another. he sees, he wants, he takes. he has no imagination because that involves anxiety and fear-inducing uncertainty. he cannot imagine how his actions affect others, or a reality in which he is not king and always right.
for his sex on then wrong brain followers certainty is more important than truth. and they could smell treasure. he wanted to live in the white house forever so they played caddy and handed him the clubs he needed to get to the next hole.
how insanely stupid would he have to be to take highly classified documents to mara lardo? he could not imagine negative consequences.
Rorey
(8,514 posts)You nailed it.
Some of those who controlled him have been smart enough to keep themselves out of trouble. Trump was dangerous because he could be manipulated so easily.
It is my opinion that when he won the nomination in the 2016 election, those in power in the Republican party were not pleased, but they knew their best strategy was to make lemonade out of that big disgusting lemon. He was a useful idiot. Always has been.
Alexander Of Assyria
(7,839 posts)The justice system prosecuting individual and mass corporate malfeasance even unto mass death, by opioids in example, is met with fines no jail!?? Such justice undermines the entire justice system…do they not see that?
Genki Hikari
(1,766 posts)with intelligence.
That....thing is stupid to a depraved degree.
Sharks aren't smart, either, but they have just enough cunning to be good at one thing--finding food. Then they use their brute strength to kill to get it.
But smart, they aren't.
Same thing with that...thing. He's not smart, but he has just enough cunning to get him through the moment in front of him, most of the time. He'll find his food (whatever it is he wants), and then use his brute strength (being wealthy) to get it.
betsuni
(29,078 posts)doing and could read a room and so on is an idiot too. Trump would say one thing and the opposite in the same sentence and like a dog looking for treats repeat anything that got a good response. No thought there. At least dogs feel guilty when they've been bad and poo inside or chew up the furniture. Trump never does.
True Blue American
(18,579 posts)Seeking publicity any way he can. He may be cunning, he is not smart. His IQ level is very low.
gab13by13
(32,321 posts)You and I bought new golf carts for Trump's golf course, and then Trump charged the Secret Service every time they used those carts.
Who are the dummies?
True Blue American
(18,579 posts)Better Days Ahoy
(706 posts)He's Gigante, the mob boss who played an incompetent walking around Greenwich Village in his pyjamas for 30 years.
Trump to himself: Maybe if I can't walk down this ramp or drink water out of a glass, then ....
Nah, then he blows his cover by declaring himself a genius and the smartest person in the room.
ProfessorGAC
(76,706 posts)You don't hide by living in a 20,000 square foot apartment in Manhattan with gold toilets and appearing at WWE events.
Vinny the Chin was actually a smart guy. He started at the bottom, not at the top.
I don't think we can compare the two.
Better Days Ahoy
(706 posts)That said, I was partially joking. I'd just watched a Mob documentary and it was fresh in my mind.
My note was also not a complete comparison.
Sometimes you can just go with it.
Happy Holidays!
ProfessorGAC
(76,706 posts)You have a great holiday, too!
Better Days Ahoy
(706 posts)Nice to meet here. Appreciate the different views and perspectives.
ProfessorGAC
(76,706 posts)..I still enjoy it, too.
Now, I have to think about what we're eating today. Tomorrow's menu is set. (Surf & turf: filets with red wine mushrooms, seared scallops in a brown butter sauce, butter poached shrimp, saffron rice & asparagus. )
Something simpler today I think.
Better Days Ahoy
(706 posts)Enjoy your holidays and holiday cuisine.
Irish_Dem
(81,266 posts)Clever in an animal way, not intellectual, not educated.
His close associates and family say he is hands on, micromanager, many of the ideas come from him.
But yes of course he hires people to give him more criminal ideas.
Like a mob boss he surrounds himself with enablers and fall people, who do his bidding.
Trump has been a very successful career criminal, has gotten away with all of his crimes.
And in fact has been able to attain the position of most powerful man in the world as POTUS.
And then went on a crime spree that is unbelievable. People are still afraid to go after him.
To underestimate Trump is not a good strategy.
gab13by13
(32,321 posts)who when caught with classified documents was given a year to return them, claimed he returned them, found out he was lying and had more documents, would not sign a document that all documents were returned, more documents were found at another location, would not have been arrested immediately. Name me one other person who would have gotten away with that and is still getting away with that. Trump is a genius. I am almost certain that many of our foreign assets were murdered as a result of the stolen documents and Trump will never be able to be charged with that because the information is top secret classified.
Michael Cohen claims that Trump could be arrested today for tax avoidance and fraud, but instead he plays golf every day.
Sure many of Trump's projects failed like the Trump tower in Baku, Azerbaijan. It never even opened for business, but it was never intended to. It was used to launder money, some of it was laundered for the Iranian Republican Guard. Brilliant.
Over 50 years Trump committed crimes, most of them out in the open, and Trump plays 18 holes of golf a day, sometimes 27. Brilliant.
rubbersole
(11,223 posts)But more evil and self centered.
Irish_Dem
(81,266 posts)Most powerful man in the world, able to swindle $billions.
And now has a permanent magic shield to protect him.
How in the world can this be seen as the work of a stupid man?
judesedit
(4,592 posts)Irish_Dem
(81,266 posts)
Joinfortmill
(21,165 posts)Tutored by Roy Cohn, attorney to the mob. In some ways he's just a two trick pony.
fightforfreedom
(4,913 posts)Trump was issued a grand jury subpoena for the documents, including top secret documents. At that point you have two choices. Turn over the documents or try to conceal them in some way. What did Trump do. He took secret documents to his office and put them in his desk. That is dumb as you can get.
After he got caught what did he do. He went straight to his lawyers. Help me fix my stupid mistake. Trump did not come up with the idea of a special master. He never heard of a special master. He got that idea from a lawyer. Trump did not find Judge Cannon, his lawyers did.
This is an example of Trumps entire career. He would constantly do something really stupid, then run to his lawyers and ask them to save him. For most of his life he got away with business corruption, Some tax fraud, because of lawyers. Then he became president and made stupid mistakes almost everyday. The office protected him, a corrupt AG protected him. He was a complete fuck up as president. Look how he handled Covid. You call that smart.
Now Trump committed the two biggest, by far the most serious dumb fucking crimes in his life. J6 and the stolen documents. Let's see how these two things turn out for the so called genius. The genius may go to prison for a long time.
Joinfortmill
(21,165 posts)dalton99a
(94,121 posts)
Deuce
(960 posts)gab13by13
(32,321 posts)twodogsbarking
(18,785 posts)when he starts accusing others of his crimes. Same ole Trump.
gab13by13
(32,321 posts)and DOJ has the evidence to indict him and yet it does not.
SoCalDavidS
(10,599 posts)He knows that he will Never be held accountable, and takes full advantage of that. If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying.
Genki Hikari
(1,766 posts)At least not indict him for his felonies.
Only a grand jury can do that.
no_hypocrisy
(54,908 posts)and to gamble on not being made to stop his corruption.
BlueJac
(7,838 posts)
leftyladyfrommo
(20,005 posts)messing things up.
He's really bad at everything else.
jerseyjim
(129 posts)or badly connected to a pre-frontal lobe in his brain. It is the part of the brain that examines consequences.
Teenagers have a yet, undeveloped, lobe., which is why they take ridiculous risks. I remember doing some stupid things as a teen. Fortunately, I was taught and grew up out of it.
gab13by13
(32,321 posts)I had the fastest sled around when I was a kid. I would sled ride down a steep hill and lay down on my sled to pass under a barb wired fence at the bottom of the hill. I get chills today thinking about that.
gab13by13
(32,321 posts)Trump supplied free lawyers to people being investigated by the J6 committee and the FBI. Trump's lawyers instructed their clients to just say, "I don't recall." Brilliant strategy, better than taking the 5th. We know what Trump is doing, it is out in the open, he is intimidating or promising favors to people testifying against him. Fucking former SOS Mike Pompeo used the "I don't recall," strategy.
Trump is even controlling the investigations, openly witness tampering, and then he plays golf, 18 holes or 27 holes.
23 months and counting. The Iowa caucus is Jan. 22nd, 2024.
fightforfreedom
(4,913 posts)Trump is not controlling the investigations.
RAB910
(4,030 posts)gab13by13
(32,321 posts)is Trump a fool or does he play the fool?
RAB910
(4,030 posts)However, in my life, I have encountered people who are not smart but who are crafty/devious. They are skilled in the arts of deception and manipulation, but they are not very smart
Prairie_Seagull
(4,689 posts)New cognitive test.
TV, Court, handcuffs, Slammer, TV
Paladin
(32,354 posts)DemUnleashed
(633 posts)How anyone could think he is smart, is beyond me! He was a useful idiot for evil Republican politicians and evil right wing media (and for Putin). Hopefully, this will have all backfired on them
I truly believe (I have said this before) one surefire way for MAGAts to see how dumb he is, is if he ever does a Presidential debate again, the moderators need to ask him questions from the Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader game show! Ask his opponent questions from Jeopardy. Let MAGAts finally see that not only is Trump not a genius, but he is dumber than a doormat!
gab13by13
(32,321 posts)a question on Jeopardy, but I wouldn't take my car to anyone else, and I would never ever call him stupid.
Vinca
(53,994 posts)
Blue Owl
(59,106 posts)Then he got rich, found a little power, and scorned his “marks” while sitting on his gold toilet, crafting poorly written ‘tweets’ that expose his insecure, petty, narcissistic self…
Roisin Ni Fiachra
(2,574 posts)make Stephen King cringe in horror.
jerseyjim
(129 posts)have never known a person who does nothing but. Everything is cheating, lying, hating. I wonder how he compares to Al Capone or John Gotti.
LuckyCharms
(22,648 posts)You do not have to be intelligent to take a wrecking ball to everything you are involved in.
You do not have t be "smart" to manipulate people.
You can be violent in your ways without being "smart".
He's nothing more than a reckless, grifting, supreme asshole with no shame.
He gets his way via intimidation. No "smartness" is necessary to do that. You just need to be a prick, and you need to believe you will not be punished.
The only reason he recognized the gullibility and idiocy of the worst among us is because he is that way himself, and he capitalized on that.
QED
(3,352 posts)to those who are even more corrupt and know how to play to his vanity and ego.
purr-rat beauty
(1,257 posts)A conniving, coddled, and enabled narcissistic dick....yes
does he have some kind of intelligence?
He does, he is good at digging into the slimy souls of scum-suckers and stewing up their putrid perceptions of the world
KS Toronado
(23,727 posts)
Botany
(77,323 posts)Why he is still walking free I don't know. He should die in prison.
His response to C-19 has led to the deaths of 14 million people world wide. President Obama along
with help from Anthony Fauci left the personal, the protocols, and the materials in place that would
have no doubt changed the outcome of the virus/disease.
He raped a woman, E. Jene Carrol. End of story.
He got something like 200 American troops "traumatic brain injury" as a response to his killing of
an Iranian general.
He led a violent coup against the outcome of an election that he knew he lost.
God only knows the billions he and his family grifted from the American people. Hell, he had American
military planes fly out of their way so they had to buy jet furl from him and stay at his golf club in Scotland.
He stole and no doubt sold America's top secrets to the Russians, the Saudis, and no doubt China.
He was installed into the White House by Vlad Putin in what is no doubt part of the biggest crime in our History.
He is a Russian asset. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/03/trump-russian-asset-election-intelligence-community-report.html
"A New Report Adds Evidence That Trump Was a Russian Asset
He helped Putin manipulate the U.S. election in 2020, as he did in 2016."
He fed the already toxic brains of bigoted mouth breathers racism, antisemitism, sexism, and anti intellectualism.
And he has taken up way too much space in the brains of my fellow DUers.
lark
(26,081 posts)That is his driving forces - hate & greed..
Sancho
(9,205 posts)He has an extreme personality as well-documented. He inherited a criminal enterprise set up by his grandparents and parents. He learned the system and the role suited his warped narcissism.
In some ways, he was extremely lucky to have gotten as far as he did without consequences, but the Trump organization was fine tuned over many decades going back to his grandfather - and he has made mistakes due to being dumb and unable to overcome his dysfunctional personality.
Maybe this time he will lose, but I suspect he will die without ever facing consequences for all the crimes.
mopinko
(73,726 posts)other ppl do his thinking. i dont think running was even his idea.
and no way he formed a cabal big enough to burrow into the fed govt the way they did. they corrupted every damn dept. in just 4 yrs.
his brain is now, and has been since his studio 54 days, badly, badly damaged. he is an easily manipulated puppet of the oligarchs who rly run shit. putler is just 1. murdoch, the mercers, the russian mafioso, koch, and god knows who else.
i hope some day dr ronnie jackson is thrown in the brig for dereliction of duty for that whitewash from the wh podium. and i honestly dont know how they got away w that charade. man, woman, person, camera, tv are never the 5 words on that screening. it’s always 5 unrelated words. how is this not a thing every person in america knows?
fitness 4 duty is a thing that admiral johnson understands perfectly well. that’s why he was offered the sec of v.a. for his performance, and thank ja jon tester shot that nonsense down. but i dont think he sits in the house on his own merits.
yaesu
(9,328 posts)Smart to outsmart or corrupt the Justice Department, IRS
gab13by13
(32,321 posts)No one would argue that Jimmy Carter is way smarter than Donald Trump, so why did Jimmy Carter have to sell off his beloved peanut farm because of a "possible" conflict of interest and Trump was allowed to make millions of dollars from being president? Brilliant.
Trump should have never been allowed to buy the DC Hotel, yet he did, and when people came to visit Trump at the White House they stayed there. Then trump is allowed to sell the Hotel and make millions more money. Brilliant.
Was Carter stupid for selling off his peanut farm?
fightforfreedom
(4,913 posts)Trump did not want to give up the DC Hotel, his charity, his fake school, casinos, etc. He had to give them up because he was stupid, corrupt. He had to pay millions of dollars in fines. Lawyers saved him. Now his organization has been charged with 17 counts of tax fraud, he may be charged next.
Trump was worried the covid pandemic would hurt his business and hurt his chances in the election. What did he decide to do. Pretend there is no covid, tell people it will go away soon, tell people testing is bad. Which of course made the pandemic much, much worse. Dumb as hell. Extremely incompetent.
ancianita
(43,307 posts)How fucking dumb he is. Only his father’s money has given him any appearance of functionality. It only takes a dwarf to destroy what others build.
So no. He and his clever-by-half coup club will be swept away by Jack Hold My Beer Smith.
DenaliDemocrat
(1,777 posts)He is not intellectual or erudite. He does understand people and how to motivate/intimidate
keroro gunsou
(2,305 posts)A single called amoeba? Even that is a stretch. The amoeba is smart enough to get away from something it perceives as bad for it. Trump just doubles down on it like a crazed, coked up amateur blackjack player on his last dollar at the 5 dollar table.
Or, he is a case of being smart enough to know that playing the fool is the easiest way to coast through life as he is generally a rich idiot with no day job. Only a smart person can fake being that stupid.
In terms of book smart, he is most assuredly not. He is people smart to a point, knowing how to manipulate them, made easier by the fact that the ones he dupes are not all the bright to begin with. He has what I call world smarts, meaning he knows how the world “works” and how to game it to his advantage… you know, it’s called being a fucking sociopath.
Laura PourMeADrink
(42,770 posts)- bottomless self-promotion - best in modern history?
- toeing and inevitably crossing the line with laws, rules, and accepted traditions.
-delaying legal system to the bitter end
NJCher
(43,165 posts)This is even a topic for discussion.
fightforfreedom
(4,913 posts)
kentuck
(115,406 posts)He has no scruples and no guilt.
Javaman
(65,711 posts)That’s all you need to know
Joinfortmill
(21,165 posts)
Shermann
(9,062 posts)His understanding of the pandemic as demonstrated in that Woodward interview is informed and nuanced, which is in stark contrast to his public statements on the subject.
He isn't smart enough to stay in his lane when riffing on the subject, which got him dinged up by the bleach and UV light.
fightforfreedom
(4,913 posts)Went with the crazy experts he probably seen on Fox , hired them. Which made the pandemic much worse and killed over a million people, which hurt him politically. Dumb and extremely incompetent.
fightforfreedom
(4,913 posts)Remember, what he said, I'm not going to wear a mask. Dumb as hell.
Shermann
(9,062 posts)That's how they get smart, they work to fill in the gaps.
He's definitely not THAT smart. He just benefits from privilege and access.
spinbaby
(15,389 posts)Which is a different thing altogether.
Kaleva
(40,365 posts)In running the government, he listens to people who tell him what he wants to hear.
fightforfreedom
(4,913 posts)zentrum
(9,870 posts)He has a ferral instinct for how to manipulate people's worst fears and longings, using circus illusion. The rest is idiot.
Buckeye_Democrat
(15,526 posts)As you already surmised.
His ego has been stroked over several decades because he inherited wealth, or Trump MIGHT have realized himself that he was stupid long ago.
He only has the intellectual energy to watch a lot of TV and imitate what he heard on Fox News, which is how he connected with a lot of people who asserted that Trump "tells it like it is" back in 2016.
Few people in the world crave constant attention like him, so that's about his only "elite" trait... if we can call it that.
Enoki33
(1,605 posts)smart enough to constantly appeal to the worst in people. People who all seem to have cruelty as their stock in trade. Could be part of his considerable ability to con.
Polybius
(21,901 posts)He's not that smart, but not nearly as stupid as we make him out to be. If he had cut the nasty Tweets and wasn't a POS to Biden in the first debate, he may have won. He wasn't smart enough to realize that. However, he's an exceptional conman. He knows how to stir a crowd.
Hotler
(13,747 posts)feeding him what to do. And I think the same group is behind the coups in Peru and Germany etc. There may be a global fascist group operating around the world funded by the rich from all over the world. Nazi's?
moondust
(21,286 posts)Maybe smart in the ways and means of corruption, but a lifetime of malignant narcissism has likely prevented him from learning much about the world outside his self-serving bubble.
betsuni
(29,078 posts)Trump ... we collectively, because the Democratic Party ... was helping to pave the way for him."
That Trump voters aren't racist: "They're not racist. They twice voted for a man whose middle name is Hussein."
That President Obama will only be known as the first black president, this is how he'll be remembered: "'He was the first black president.' Okay, not a bad accomplishment, but that's it. That's it, Mr. Obama." He thought Obama ran as a populist, "The last guy who really won big was Obama. He ran as a populist, he governed as a centrist."
Repeated for years debunked conspiracy theories about Democrats rigging things, that Democrats ignored the (white) working class because they're clueless elites with too much education. He only had one year of a commuter college, "So I wasn't conditioned to think of things the way liberals and people on the left do."
"I've come to the conclusion that the old guard of the Democratic Party is a greater roadblock to social progress than Trump is. Because they're taking half-measures, because they're beholden to the same money interests."
He doesn't understand his own country and how its government works, doesn't understand Trump. At least right before general elections he supports Democrats, but it would be nice if he did it all the time.
mahina
(20,645 posts)Run not walked away from the spotlight but he’s just broken in that particular place. He couldn’t stay away from the footlights.
chriscan64
(1,789 posts)As mentioned above, his ideas come from his enablers. He is only smart enough to pick the one that strokes his ego the most, not smart enough to pick the one that would best serve his interests even though serving his own interests seems to be all he is about.