My hypothesis: Trump is smarter than I am-again.

Politics & Elections
1

I know it is popular to look at all the stupid things Trump does and laugh at his bumbling stupidity. But I have to admit he always turns out to be smarter than I am.

For instance,
He is picking on Congress-a lot. Seems pretty stupid, after all he needs their support. Well, I will point out that there is probably no national entity in the country with a lower popularity rating than the US Congress. If you decide to pick on someone, they are a pretty safe target. Well, the media might have lower popularity than Congress, but that is the only contender I can think of.

He is trashing Obamacare. Which has the effect of destroying the large part of the spending portion of the law while leaving the tax portion entirely intact. So he keeps a Republican promise AND keeps the money. Pretty stupid if you ask me. He is putting Congress in a position to either to man up and fix Obamacare or take full responsibility for it’s collapse. Whether Congress can rise to the challenge is yet to be seen. Reason and logic hasn’t worked. Promises haven’t worked. Perhaps fear will do the trick.

Same strategy with the Iran deal. He has “lived up” to his promises. And he fends off the united advice of everyone that the agreement should be saved by dumping the problem on Congress. If Congress were to actually start doing their job, this problem would go away as well. Leaving Trump looking good to his base either way.

So, he picks at an extremely unpopular Congress, puts them under pressure to solve the problems he won’t solve, and leaves his base happy. Like the one supporter on the news I heard recently. After nine months the voter likes Trump even less and supports him even more.

None of his actions are reasonable or good ideas. But I have to admit for someone who is so blindingly stupid, he is starting smarter fights than I could.

2

Anybody who thinks that trump is smarter than they are is probably right.

3

He does have a few skills. The main ones are particular genius for self promotion, and a lack of integrity, that allows him to run businesses/countries into the ground so long as he isn’t left holding the bag. This “strategy” is just more of the same. Take as much credit as he can and shift all the blame on to others.

But this is more of a reflex action than any part of a grand plan.

4

Nice.

5

Bullies know which kid they can get away with bullying, based on body language. Wolves and deer and goats, similarly, know which of the other animals in the pack can be picked on and hounded out of a good meal. Chickens can figure out the “pecking order”.

Your examples do not convince me that there is particularly immense intellect going on here. If a goat can figure this out, it’s not a real head scratcher.

I’ll also note that all Trump has to do to figure out who he can fight is complain about X o the people around him and say, “I want to ruin them! How can I ruin them?” And then the people around him will say, “I’m sorry, sir, but you can’t go after X because of blah blah.” And then Y makes Trump angry and he asks the people around him, “I want to ruin them! How can I ruin them?” And then the people say, “Well, sir, if you do blah blah, Y will be put out a many.”

6

He’s starting fights that he can’t win. Those are not smart fights.

When Trump starts a fight and then loses, it makes him look weak and ineffective - and stupid for starting the fight.

7

Blammo!

8

If you can compose a sentence of this length it is certainly incorrect.

9

rbroome - based on your assessment of Trump’s cunning, do you expect his approval ratings over the next two months to remain about the same, go up by a few points or more, or go down by a few points or more?

10

When Trump was inaugurated, I was willing to be convinced that there was a brain there. An unconventional one. He had, after all, gotten to the Presidency. That’s normally considered quite difficult and a very hard competition. And he did it by generally confounding expectations and doing the opposite of what conventional wisdom advised. So I though, maybe he is bright in an unusual way, easily mistaken for stupidity.

Then he proceeded to make enemies of the press and the secret services. Just for laughs, it seems. There was nothing to be gained by rejecting them, and considerable potential loss. If that is not stupid, the word really does not have the meaning it is generally understood to have. And its gone downhill since then.

11

We have three dogs. Two are smarter than Trump, while the third is better looking.

12

I thought it was supposed to go: one is smarter, one is better looking, and one has better handwriting.

13

The (possibly*) dumbest thing about Trump is that nothing about his actions speaks of care and concern for the well-being of ANYONE except himself, including his supporters. He is the anti-President, the anti-leader. He lacks awareness of the role and function of the President and also lacks awareness of the implications of any of his actions. The only thing he can see is the future votes of his supporters. That is beyond stupid.

If he IS aware that he is destroying the country and is doing it anyway, then that is immoral and criminal.
*I’m open to hearing about dumber things.

14

I was just thinking something similar today. I was considering his continuing rallies to keep the devoted frothing with support, often for things against their own interests. (Like losing entitlements, healthcare, a border wall that slices through their property etc, etc.)

So what if he’s a true believer of the Steve Bannon theory of a Great Leap Forward always following great upheaval like a world war. (Like happened after WW2) And what he’s doing now is thoroughly pissing off the left, effectively destroying decades of advancements on environment, civil rights, etc. While keeping the virulent Right in a constant froth. He’s also fully exposing the true nature of a lot of Republican politicians, as having no real soul, or conscience.

So what if he’s setting the table for an American conflict? Not just any conflict, but one that will see the extermination of the worst idiocies of the Right. The nazi, racist, anti immigrant, let’s turn back time believers, finally laid to rest such that no one will EVER try to reanimate that corpse again.

What if ‘draining the swamp’ actually meant revealing the elected Republicans for the morally bankrupt party they’ve become, as to destroy any future they might have had. At the same time creating a conflict that will see HIS very supporters eliminated as a political power, metaphorically or otherwise.

And when it’s all said and done, he’s left standing, (with $ filled pockets, of course!), the country is a huge mess, but the virulent, backward driving Right is so discredited as to leave the rebuilding to the Left, mostly unopposed. The rebuilding creates prosperity and America is reshaped into the kinder gentler society its founders may have imagined!

(I know, it’s scary, right?)

15

As we all should know, there are lots of different kinds of intelligence. While Trump seems to be deficient in many of the types, it’s pretty clear that his is quite good at marketing. Especially at marketing himself. If you can’t recognize that, some internal reflection might be in order.

16

Oh, John, you scamp! Quit it with the jokes!

17

I’m dying to know what you think are the examples of his exemplary marketing skill.

You do know he lost a popularity contest against Hillary Clinton, right?

18

I have two dogs, both are less repugnant and one of them eats her own poop. :rolleyes:

both are certainly better looking: where could you find any dog less attractive than the bloated shit stain in the oval office?

19

Nor are they meant to. I certainly don’t think Trump is particularly smart. His level of actual intelligence is pretty obvious. And your examples of animals behaving like Trump is right on the mark.

I am really trying to point out that there is a certain group of people, a group to which I belong, that too easily dismisses Trump’s actions as simply stupid.
Stupid actions have to meet a certain constraint-the actions have to result in failure or a negative result. I am simply pointing out that as stupid as Trumps actions have been, they haven’t met that constraint from Trump’s point of view.

Did anyone read the NY Times article on Senator Flake of Arizona? He has actually written a book about how stupid Trump is and is running for re-election in 2018. His popularity in Arizona is currently at 18%.

20

remain the same. which is, I will point out, about where they were when he won the Presidential election. :frowning: