Robert Reich, former labor secretary in the Clinton administration, writes that although serial sex abuser Donald trump (SSAT) is mind-numbingly stupid, he does have one skill that has enabled him to achieve the level of success that he has.
I have to wonder why the mainstream media isn’t discussing Trump’s extraordinary stupidity.
The media continues to discuss Trump’s criminal indictments, and is — finally! — noticing that Trump is becoming less and less coherent. But why isn’t it reporting on something almost every lawmaker and journalist in official Washington knows — that Trump is remarkably stupid?
I don’t mean just run-of-the-mill stupid. I mean extraordinarily, off-the-charts, stupifyingly stupid.
…Consider the views of the people who worked most closely with him during his presidency. Anyone remember when Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called Trump a “f—king moron?”
Or when National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster called him a “dope?” And Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, and even Rupert Murdoch all referred to Trump as an “idiot?” (Technically, Murdoch called him a “f—king idiot.”)
Trump’s chief economic adviser Gary Cohn described Trump as “dumb as sh-t,” explaining that “Trump won’t read anything — not one-page memos, not the brief policy papers; nothing. He gets up halfway through meetings with world leaders because he is bored.”
When one of Trump’s campaign aides tried to educate him about the Constitution, Trump couldn’t focus. “I got as far as the Fourth Amendment,” the aide recalled, “before his finger is pulling down on his lip and his eyes are rolling back in his head.”
After providing more examples of SSAT’s stupidity, Reich says that he does possess one aspect of what is known as ’emotional intelligence’ and that is the ability to “recognize and influence the emotions of others.”
This is where Trump’s brain outperforms the brains of ordinary mortals. He knows how to manipulate people. He has an uncanny ability to discover their emotional vulnerabilities — their fears, anxieties, prejudices, and darkest desires — and use them for his own purposes.
…This genius — combined with utter stupidity in every other dimension — poses the clearest and most terrifying danger to America and the world.
People will be analyzing SSAT’s weird and dangerous psychology for decades to come, trying to understand what it is that makes so many people fall under his spell.
I think Reich is largely wrong in this regards. Trump isn’t a genius manipulator, he is a serial abuser. He can only operate from a position of power. His total lack of regard for others, the law, basic decorum and so on let him run over certain types of people. People that expect that they will get repaid if they do Trump a favor will do him some number of favors before discovering that Trump doesn’t return favors or keep his promises. People that respect authority will get run over again and again, doing more then they should while getting underpaid.
You can see this in the way he went through staff at the White House. The ones that put loyalty to the law or country first get ejected quickly. The ones that put respect for the president first lasted a while until they got burned out on his constant asking for favors without returning any.
“He has an uncanny ability to discover their emotional vulnerabilities — their fears, anxieties, prejudices, and darkest desires — and use them for his own purposes.”
.
He is a one-trick pony, but this -- coupled with inheriting enormous wealth- har brought him very far.
Without wealth he would just be a low-level criminal and grifter, periodically ending up in prison.
… stupifyingly stupid.
Somebody created a {$ Somebody}’s Law about putdowns, which this evokes. Please double-check your spelling, Mr. Reich!
“I got as far as the Fourth Amendment,” the aide recalled, “before his finger is pulling down on his lip and his eyes are rolling back in his head.”
Why did this aide start with the Third Amendment?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muphry%27s_law
(although I can’t see the mistake you’re referring to…)
Pierce, he started with the fourth 😀
@4 “stupefyingly” is the correct spelling.
@3 & 6 maybe the aide is stupid, too, and forgot they hadn’t yet left the 4th part of the 1st.
Ah… Didn’t spot that. Thanks.
I’d have thought his main (?) strength was actually his willingness to chase the lowest common denominator, plus the near walled garden of strongly supportive conservative media, plus the willingness of the conservative body to fall in line even if reluctantly.
Peter Seller’s last movie Being There was about an idiot becoming president. But the exact opposite of Trump. He was so refined and benign that it was assumed he was a man of great intelligence and integrity.
https://www.allmovie.com/movie/being-there-vm427831
Sad that reality turns out to be much, much worse than fiction.
Trailer for a 45 year old movie: