Is he really that stupid?

[bluescribbler]

Or is he just pretending? I am no longer certain. Clearly, from the tapes Bob Woodward has, he understood early on just how serious this COVID-19 is. He seemed to be smart enough then, and yet he chose not to take action that would have protected tens of thousands of Americans from this catastrophe. I really cannot decide.

[C_U_L8R]

1. He's that depraved

This guy is really fucked in the head.

[chowder66]

2. +1

[Freedomofspeech]

3. Exactly.

[2naSalit]

4. +1

[ananda]

7. He can be both depraved and stupid.

His decision making always veers toward the
lowest common denominators in his murder-
suicide cult.

[brush]

14. He is all of that. And I understand Kushner determined that the virus...

was hitting blue states (NY, WA, CA), so he advised trump to do nothing early on.

Both are evil bastards, inept bastards as what sentient being with any knowledge would think a contagious virus would stay within just blue states in a country where people travel state to state at will.

Of course it was going to spread all over the nation.

[uponit7771]

25. ..👍🏼

[Walleye]

5. He can't even comprehend what he's reading aloud.

He is depraved but he’s also very dumb. He’s had people helping him fake it all his life and cheat

[LuckyCharms]

6. He's not stupid, but he is brain addled.

He has a mental illness or personality disorder that makes him behave the way he does.

In street terms, he is a fucked up mess, but many many people with mental illness are not stupid, and some are brilliant. However, their intelligence might not be apparent because of their disorder.

So in terms of raw intelligence, he's not exactly stupid, but he is no rocket scientist. He has a goal, and his handler(s) tell him how to achieve his goal. He is good at following orders.

[ooky]

16. His ignorance is compounding his issues.

He's not been able to hide it as well as he used to, but it's clear he has almost an elementary level understanding of the world around him, because he has always been too lazy to read. Now, with deteriorating mental illness, he is opening his mouth when he shouldn't and displaying that ignorance for all to see.

[uponit7771]

26. +1,

[lame54]

22. He is stupid for choosing the economy over...

The pandemic as if they are separate

They are intertwined

[onecaliberal]

8. Evil and soulless to the core. Without humanity.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

9. He's that evil.

He knew how bad it was but he didn't want to spook the stock market. He's also that stupid because he thinks the stock market is the entire economy and he was counting on a strong economy to get him re-elected.

[uponit7771]

28. +1, text book short sighted

[KY_EnviroGuy]

10. I usually frame everything Republican like this.....

Republicans always give business interests top priority over everything: over life, national security, justice, rule of law, liberty, democracy, etc.

Seen through that lens, most things they do then usually make sense. Add in hunger for personal wealth and power, that wraps up their shit sandwich.

In this instance, tRump only wanted to protect the economy without concern for human life or misery.


KY.....

[MoonRiver]

11. In addition to being an evil sociopath, I do believe he's pretty stupid.

I administered IQ tests for 25 years, and I estimate his IQ to be in the low to mid 90s. Not intellectually impaired, but way too low cognitively to be up to the job he, unfortunately, is in. Actually it's a blessing he's kind of dim, otherwise imagine the damage he could do!

[dubyadiprecession]

12. You really have to feel empathy for trumps family.

It’s sad that their patriarch parades his mental illness on the world stage, and they pretend he’s fine.
Is he fine? Really?

[Blue Owl]

13. And proud of it

[gratuitous]

15. He choked

He didn't know how to proceed, and rather than ask for help and risk looking weak and impotent, he just turned his back on the country. Trump choked.

[betsuni]

17. In the tapes he sounds like he does understand.

But when we see him, when he's in public, he's high on whatever drugs he does and performing his insane Trump Show riffing. He's like an animal trained to do tricks for treats. When he doesn't get treats he bites.

[CrispyQ]

18. While he's definitely not the brightest bulb in the pack,

his real problem is that he's a reactionary, not a strategist. He says and does whatever is politically expedient at the moment, who cares if it contradicts something he said or did five minutes ago? If it weren't for his family's wealth and influence, he would be the same MAGA hat wearing loser that attends his rallies.

[Demovictory9]

27. that sums it up

[BlueStater]

19. He sounded sharper 20 years ago.

His vocabulary was better then as opposed to the simplistic speaking style he uses now. Mind deterioration because of advancing age, possibly?

But even at his peak, I don’t think he was all that bright. He was born rich and got richer through shameless self-promotion and appealing to the lowest common denominator, which absolutely anyone can do regardless of intellect.

[tanyev]

20. After hearing the Woodward tapes, I think the mistake I consistently make

with Trump is putting too many ticks in the blithering idiot column and not enough ticks in the raging sociopath column. There are still plenty of ticks in both columns, but I’ve apparently been giving him too much benefit of the doubt.

[spanone]

21. He knew the truth and decided to lie about it....pre-meditated murder.

[GoneOffShore]

23. To paraphrase Philip Pullman: 'We have reached a point in history where the really stupid is ...

‘We have reached a point in history where the really stupid is indistinguishable from the really wicked’.

[0rganism]

24. whether stupid or just pretending, there is a clear lesson for humanity here

Trump admitted publicly to both action and inaction leading to the deaths of many thousands of Americans. his core supporters, around 2/5 of our population, still consider themselves "patriotic".

this is a phenomenon worthy of study.