# Has Trump shown the ability to actually think? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [March 28, 2025, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-shown-the-ability-to-actually-think/1016269 "2025-03-28T20:40:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-shown-the-ability-to-actually-think/1016269/1 "2025-03-28T20:40:20Z")
What I mean by that is as we age we seem to get more and more stuck in our ways, unable to break out of patterns we have established. Trump seems to default to typical patterns, such as witch hunt for personal wrong doings, previous admin did it for anything negative, take full credit for anything positive and the list goes on a bit, but critical thinking (or any thought) doesn’t seem part of the process. I can’t recall any actually thinking demonstrated by the prez, just everything shoved into old predictable patterns. Has he shown any signs of actually thinking? ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-shown-the-ability-to-actually-think/1016269/2 "2025-03-28T20:44:36Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Has he shown any signs of actually thinking? Comparing Trump 47 to 45, he has learned a lot about how to control the government. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-shown-the-ability-to-actually-think/1016269/3 "2025-03-28T20:49:33Z")
Not as far as I can tell. Penn Jillette, who worked with him on “The Apprentice” and got to know him a bit, has said that two things really stuck out to him about Trump. The first is that he has never seem him laugh. Non genuinely, at least. He’s seen him laugh at the expense of others, but aside from that, there seems to be no actual awareness of humor within him. The second is that Trump has zero appreciation of any sort of music. He seems unable to enjoy music in any form. Jillette says (I’m paraphrasing) that Trump may be the only person he’s ever met who demonstrates either of these behaviors, let alone both. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-shown-the-ability-to-actually-think/1016269/4 "2025-03-28T20:50:49Z")
I speculate that a lot of history has been created by elderly leaders undergoing mental decline. There was an elderly lady who was a member of my church congregation; and while she was a dear beloved by everyone, by the time she had to go into a nursing home she was running on automatic pilot 80-90% of the time. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-shown-the-ability-to-actually-think/1016269/5 "2025-03-28T21:27:12Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > I speculate that a lot of history has been created by elderly leaders undergoing mental decline. That would be a way to reconcile my impression of Trump as a typical elected autocrat skillfully consolidating power with the impression of others that he is in mental decline. Is there something about mental decline that helps make you a more powerful dictator? Maybe it helps you ignore unnecessary detail and concentrate on the main point. As for the elderly part, I myself posted, in past years, that this made Trump less dangerous. I was wrong. Trump is sufficiently vigorous and mentally astute to do what he has set out for himself. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-shown-the-ability-to-actually-think/1016269/6 "2025-03-28T21:54:43Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > Is there something about mental decline that helps make you a more powerful dictator? It makes you more pliable and controllable by those pulling the strings (i.e., Heritage Foundation) and therefore more effective as their puppet. ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-shown-the-ability-to-actually-think/1016269/7 "2025-03-28T22:46:50Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > _Jillette says (I’m paraphrasing) that Trump may be the only person he’s ever met who demonstrates either of these behaviors, let alone both._ I’ve met several people in my 72+ years who exhibited absolute zero sense of humor, who seemed unable to laugh at anything any normal person would find amusing. I realize it’s probably unfair to judge a person’s character on something like this, but I’ve learned never to trust anyone who doesn’t have a sense of humor, and I’ve never been proven wrong. Does anyone think Stephen Miller ever let’s loose with a good belly laugh? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-shown-the-ability-to-actually-think/1016269/8 "2025-03-28T22:48:01Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > Is there something about mental decline that helps make you a more powerful dictator? No, and it doesn’t. Trump isn’t consolidating power because he’s a genius, but because he’s surrounded by a system designed to push people like him into positions of power and wealth, and by people who want to create a fascist government. A corpse could do as well, if the cultists maintained loyalty to it. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-shown-the-ability-to-actually-think/1016269/9 "2025-03-28T23:10:54Z")
Trump doesn’t find things funny, or listen to music on its own behalf. He uses both to get certain reactions from people, nd if neither are around the music will not play and the humor will not be heard, let alone understood. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-shown-the-ability-to-actually-think/1016269/10 "2025-03-28T23:30:38Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > > [@PhillyGuy](#): > > > > Is there something about mental decline that helps make you a more powerful dictator? > > It makes you more pliable and controllable by those pulling the strings (i.e., Heritage Foundation) and therefore more effective as their puppet. Trump’s priorities overlap with Heritage Foundation/Project 2025, but it’s [more that Trump pushed them to embrace tariffs than vice-versa.](https://www.heritage.org/trade/commentary/how-i-learned-stop-worrying-and-love-tariff-system) As for Greenland, looking at Project 2025 page 223, all they wanted was our [opening a consulate](https://static.project2025.org/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf) there. The only canal mentioned is Suez. There are many mentions of Canada, but in the context of them being an ally, not a target for expansionism. Does this sound like what Trump is doing: > [@](#): > > The U.S.–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) contained the strongest and most far-reaching labor provisions of any free trade agreement (FTA), with protections and commitments to reduce labor abuses and raise wages. It also established new modes of enforcement.For future FTAs, the USTR should replicate the labor provisions of USMCA, especially the provisions to: > > Eliminate all forms of forced or compulsory labor. > l Protect workers’ rights to organize and participate voluntarily in a > union without employer interference or discrimination. > l Create a rapid-response mechanism to provide for an independent > panel investigation of denial of labor rights at covered facilities. > l Shift the burden of proof by presuming that an alleged violation > affects trade and investment, unless otherwise demonstrated. I’m not saying that passage of Project 2025 is at all typical. I’m just questioning that Trump is a passive vessel controlled by the Heritage Foundation. Trump is actually thinking. The problem is that they are almost all bad thoughts. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2025, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-shown-the-ability-to-actually-think/1016269/11 "2025-03-29T01:10:20Z")
Trump clearly has had a life long fascination with strongmen and at least a decades long obsession with tariffs. What may seem like thinking may be delusions based on these old fixations come to the fore once he lost the cognition to keep them in check. > [@PhillyGuy](#): > > Trump is actually thinking. The problem is that they are almost all bad thoughts. His thought processes are those of a toddler. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2025, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-shown-the-ability-to-actually-think/1016269/12 "2025-03-29T01:14:46Z")
He does remind me of the old joke of a gravestone labeled _“Born 1910, Died 1930, Buried 1980”._ ---
**Author:** ![TeroSunbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terosunbear/32/14748_2.png) [@TeroSunbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeroSunbear)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2025, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-shown-the-ability-to-actually-think/1016269/13 "2025-03-29T01:30:27Z")
No. He does not really think about many things. Only real estate and who owes whom. The rest of it on TV is just “I don’t know anything about it” and repeating phrases from people around him. And doing things “very rapidly.” ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2025, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-shown-the-ability-to-actually-think/1016269/14 "2025-03-29T01:36:15Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > His thought processes are those of a toddler. If his thoughts were those of a normal competent dictator, how would we be worse off? One possibility is that SDMB would be gone ☹ Maybe the problem with my thinking is that I see no association between morally good leadership and intelligence. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2025, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-shown-the-ability-to-actually-think/1016269/15 "2025-03-29T01:41:40Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > One possibility is that SDMB would be gone ☹ It’s early. Although if we’re lucky he’ll think SDMB is some sort of bondage site and he’ll let us be. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2025, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-shown-the-ability-to-actually-think/1016269/16 "2025-03-29T08:09:46Z")
A counter question for our OP, and to be clear, this isn’t snark or an attack, but in _Trump’s_ specific case, I’m not sure the first line applies: > [@kanicbird](#): > > What I mean by that is as we age we seem to get more and more stuck in our ways, unable to break out of patterns we have established. I think the argument can be made is that in his specific (again) case, he learned a set of behaviors at a comparatively early age (and he’s not alone in this) and has never appreciably changed them, rather than _only_ falling into a reactive rut as he’s aged. The “attack, attack, attack” and the “never admit to ever being wrong” seem to have been with him his whole adult life, based on Roy Cohn’s and his father’s teachings. And if he sticks with it, in part, it’s because it’s always worked for him, since he’s been so successful in cheating, borrowing, or otherwise slipping out of his various trials and tribulations. But, and to be clear, I do NOT think highly of Trump, it’s arguable that such habitual ruts are not uncommon to many people who aren’t self-reflective, and who do not value judgements other than their own. They know they’re right, so why think about anything that might challenge that? So follow whatever their whim might be, which, honestly is very close to: > [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > His thought processes are those of a toddler. In short, I don’t think his actions are specifically because of his intellect (failing or not), but instead his (a)morality and poor impulse control. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2025, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-shown-the-ability-to-actually-think/1016269/17 "2025-03-29T09:29:19Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > or listen to music on its own behalf. He’s also the very definitive example of the phrase “[white men can’t dance](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0926170/)” (link to IMDB movie of that name) ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2025, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-shown-the-ability-to-actually-think/1016269/18 "2025-03-29T09:33:02Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > Although if we’re lucky he’ll think SDMB is some sort of bondage site Well, I do feel ties to this place… ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2025, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-shown-the-ability-to-actually-think/1016269/19 "2025-03-29T15:17:11Z")
> [@XOldiesJock](#): > > I’ve learned never to trust anyone who doesn’t have a sense of humor, and I’ve never been proven wrong. Nate Wright, a British writer, agrees with you. Back in Trump’s first term, he posted an answer on Quora to the question “Why don’t the British like trump?” A blogger has re-posted the whole thing, and it’s worth a read, but this passage sums it up: > [@](#): > > And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing – not once, ever. > > I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility – for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman. > > But with Trump, it’s a fact. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is – his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty. > **[Why the Brits Don’t Like Trump](https://dianeravitch.net/2019/11/06/why-the-brits-dont-like-trump/)** > > This is one of the best descriptions of Trump—ever—by a British writer. Someone on Quora asked “Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?” Nate White, an articulate and witty writer from En… ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2025, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-shown-the-ability-to-actually-think/1016269/20 "2025-03-29T15:33:47Z")
I’ve said it before: it won’t be long before, like two negatives making a positive, trump’s dementia and advanced syphilis will combine to create a super brain which will solve all our problems. Two weeks tops. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-shown-the-ability-to-actually-think/1016269.md?page=2)