The Simple Truth on Trump: He's Dumb as Rocks

[babylonsister]

https://www.advocate.com/commentary/2017/5/17/simple-truth-trump-hes-dumb-rocks


The Simple Truth on Trump: He's Dumb as Rocks
He's no master strategist, writes Amanda Kerri, but a fool enabled by money and privilege.
By Amanda Kerri
May 17 2017 5:26 AM EDT


Over the period of Donald Trump’s political career, from candidate to president, there have been assessments of his personality and history that have ranged from shrewd businessman to Machiavellian strategist to narcissist to huckster. People have called him clever and clueless, a showman and a showboat. Everyone has a take on Trump, and after this past week, I finally have to conclude that almost all of these are wrong. There’s only one correct take on Trump — he is probably the dumbest man alive.

No, really, the man is as bright as a one-watt bulb. The wheels are turning, but the hamster is dead. The gates are down, the lights are flashing, but there’s no train of thought coming. If there is one easily quantifiable thing to be said about Trump, it’s that with enough money and lawyers, the most slack-jawed goon can succeed. Well, only if he’s a straight cis white male.

Some people have said that if he wasn’t born a millionaire, he would be a used car salesman in Queens. That’s far too generous; he would be selling “Luke Vitton” bags from a card table off Canal Street, because he was the only three-card monte dealer in the city to actually lose because he didn’t know how to throw the cards. He wouldn’t even be worth the beat cop’s effort to chase down the street. Why do I say this? Because that’s about the level that most people with his measure of "savvy" make it. Trump was born with millions of dollars and an army of lawyers to cover his behind, something a two-bit hustler never has. Because of this, this guy has never actually learned from any screw-up of his. Not even to shut up and wait for a lawyer. Seriously, what’s the first thing you’ve ever seen someone getting arrested by the cops say? They always yell, “I want my lawyer!”

The cops are even required by law to give you the Miranda warning: “You have the right to remain silent…” Trump has never figured this out. Every time he’s gone to court, he’s exhausted his opponent with legal gymnastics or settled. The few times he’s testified, he’s gibbered like a hyperactive monkey and ended up spewing some of the most self-incriminating, face palm–inducing garbage you've ever heard. Now that he’s president, he doesn’t even think he needs to listen to advisers to tell him to sit down and shut up.

snip//

Trump is probably the best argument against capitalism, reality television, and bankruptcy laws. He’s the beneficiary of thousands of years of human advancement, because someone as thick as him usually got eaten by wild animals early in their life. Only a person who has succeeded due to enough sycophants mopping up behind him and enough money to hire the kinds of lawyers that make the higher order of demons recoil in disgust could have made it this far. Everyone says that he’s this great showman and this great businessman, but if he’s honestly this bad at media manipulation and strategy, I really have to wonder how many times he thought he was the con man but was actually the mark? I guess the only person who can answer that is Vladimir Putin, and I don’t think he’ll stop laughing at us long enough to tell.

[smirkymonkey]

1. I am amazed that this absolute moron has gotten this far in life.

If it wasn't for his money, he would be slapping together sandwiches at a 7th avenue deli.

[ProfessorGAC]

3. I'm Thinking More Like Collecting Beer Cans

For the scrap aluminum

[smirkymonkey]

8. *snort*

You're probably more on the mark than I am.

[Mr. Evil]

25. He might have been the counter help at the local tire store.

[smirkymonkey]

30. He is the tire.

[byronius]

2. Weirdly, oddly, horribly true. He thinks only with his amygdala.

A lizard-like man. And not a Gorn, either. A straight-up gecko.

[Dustlawyer]

35. He learned one MO, have people around him sign confidentiality agreements, stiff people,

and then threaten with attorneys. Now he threatens Comey just like he was pulling his schtick in NY real-estate business. He admits he fired Comey for the Russia investigation because he is so stupid and thinks he can get away with anything. In the end EVERYONE will want to see him in prison pinstripes!

[Hortensis]

4. He has a personality disorder, including

apparently a severe inattention problem that makes him astonishingly ignorant. And, yes, effectively dumb as rocks on most subjects. A true know-nothing who appeals to proud modern-day know-nothings.

[FakeNoose]

21. Tony Schwartz, the author of "Trump the Art of the Deal"

... Tony has been quoted on DU before and he's written several articles about Cheeto 45.

A long read, but very interesting and telling about our POTUS* can be read here:
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/25/donald-trumps-ghostwriter-tells-all

What's relevant to Babylonsister's discussion is that Trump has probably never read a book in his adult life. He won't listen to anyone (unless they're praising him) and his attention span is less than 5 minutes. So how does he ever learn anything?

We know he watches Fox News all day long, and how much can he learn from that?
I agree with you - he does have a personality disorder but it's so much more than that.

If you Google other articles about Tony Schwartz you'll find a video of his speech that he gave last fall at Oxford College. Very telling analysis of Trump's personality disorder(s) by a man who spent 1 1/2 years writing a book about him.

Tony is actually the ghost-writer for the book that came out as a bestseller in the early '90s. At the time people believed that Trump wrote the book, but Tony tells us that Trump wrote not-one-word. His non-disclosure agreement has expired so he can now tell the truth about our POTUS*.

[Hortensis]

32. Five minutes if it somehow engages him. Far, far less,

not even a few seconds at the other extreme. A few people have said that he frequently parrots the statements of whoever he talked to last, no matter what came before.

But a wide variety of traits can manifest in personality disorders, and they vary greatly in severity. If he were, unlikely as it seems, actually charged with serious crimes and facing prison, he could be formally diagnosed to use that as a defense, which would be interesting. Kurt Eichenwald of Newsweek once said that he believed Rump was institutionalized for a while in the 1990s but he couldn't prove it. If so, he would have been diagnosed then, but who knows how accurately in a boutique business catering to the very wealthy.

[FakeNoose]

36. I look at him and I see

... dementia.

Just sayin'

[Mr.Bill]

37. Dementia would generally imply

that it has come with age. I've been watching this clown since the early 70s. He's always been this way.

[moonscape]

38. Exactly - in terms of personality disorder, lying, morality, etc. However,

since you're likely a NYer and saw/heard him, he used to be able to make full sentences, track conversations, and even be parenthetical in speech without losing track. His words were not salad and his vocabulary was far better.

I'm not arguing he has dementia, but there has been a sharp mental decline of some sort whether a form of dementia or some other mental illness.

[Hortensis]

40. Agree. Gary Trudeau used him as a source of material

for Doonesbury for 30 years before becoming POTUS. Serious, chronic, and perhaps worsening personality disorder would completely explain all his behaviors. Stress can be expected to worsen mental disorders, including personality, so no surprise if he were exhibiting a decline in function.

Of course, although his extremely well documented history completely rules out later onset of dementia as a sole explanation of his behavior, it's not unreasonable to wonder if symptoms of dementia could be developing now given the clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's in his father.

[thbobby]

5. Trump or us. Which is stupider?

You are correct. Trump is excessively stupid.

But he was elected in America.

We don't vote.
We don't strive to be smarter.
We live in fantasy. TV - not books. Conspiracy - not cold hard truth. Blame - not accepting fault. Religion not science.

I love DU. Many intelligent and responsible people here.

Remember that the soul of our county is threatened.

We must be an intelligent and compassionate America in order to save our country.

[Squinch]

6. Welcome thbobby. Good post.

[TheBlackAdder]

7. My Scottish grandmother would say, "His father was born before him." He'd be nothing w/o his dad.

[tanyev]

9. "I have to wonder how many times he thought he was the con man but was actually the mark?"

That is a very good question.

[rock]

10. He's as dumb as I am dumbfounded

That everyone doesn't see that very fact!

[Bluepinky]

11. He's dumb, which is why a lot of his voters like him.

They see themselves in him; he doesn't use big, scary words like some other politicians.

[MrPurple]

17. Yeah, he's just a regular guy that shits in a golden toilet atop a skyscraper

who hasn't had a thing to do with anyone who wasn't a celebrity or a billionaire unless he wanted to scam or fvck them.

[RainCaster]

12. What do you have against rocks?

IMHO, rocks are much nicer than the Cheeto Tweeter.

[oxbow]

14. At least a rock knows when to stfu.

Otherwise, the op-ed is totally true. The last paragraph in particular was great for my heart to read!

[pirateshipdude]

13. Another liberal and I were saying exactly the same thing, yesterday. Eom

[leftstreet]

15. DURec

[Leith]

16. The Only He dolt45 Has Figured Out Is How to Be Outrageous

It's his only trick and he uses it every minute of every day.

[BigmanPigman]

18. He is as dumb as rocks and his base is dumber. We are in trouble.

[Amaryllis]

19. Whether dumb or not, he is an expert at creating distractions, whether intentional or not.

And that is a major problem.

[sagesnow]

20. All Hail to the Gaslighter in Chief. n/t

[Initech]

22. Trump is the wrong answer to everything!

[jb5150]

23. To rephrase a joke I saw recently ...

If Trump is the answer, it must be an really stupid question.

[NastyRiffraff]

24. A LOT of people think that richsmart

Dump is proof of how wrong they are.

"If you're rich they think you really know"
---Tevya, from Fiddler on the Roof, If I Were a Rich Man

[malaise]

26. Nailed it

Rec

[Goonch]

27. IVANKA

[grantcart]

28. Actually I think he is disassembling, becoming more incoherent.

Before he would do something vile or evil it was coherent and occasionally clever. Now you can't even understand what point he is trying to make.

Is it sleep deprivation or something more serious?

[ginnyinWI]

34. He is mentally ill. n/t

[shadowmayor]

29. Actually

He would have made a helluva televangelist. Selling magic water and prayer packets etc. A certain block of our society would have flocked to him. And his hair is perfect for the job.

[ashling]

31. Hes the beneficiary of thousands of years of human advancement,

because someone as thick as him usually got eaten by wild animals early in their life.

[DinahMoeHum]

33. Unh unh, he's "Like A Rock. . .Only Dumber"

. . .as the bumpersticker/T-shirt would say. . .

[L. Coyote]

39. Dumb as rocks, and he's a really small man too.

[Vinca]

41. He's smart in one way, though. The art of the con. He's a master at that.

[Orrex]

42. I've seen a lot of wasted ink telling us how smart he actually is

He's brilliant in *this* way or in *that* way, but not in any way that normal, functional adults would recognize as intelligence.

It's akin to the endless assurances that Dubya had high "social" intelligence, when for all practical purposes he came across as a complete dumbass. Of course, Trump makes Dubya look like an atom-splitting, poetry-writing Nobel laureate, so who can say what's what anymore?

[Gothmog]

43. Trump is an idiot