8 ms·

this is a crock. it was a crock when it was written and it's still a crock now. the idea that someone can for 8 years in the spotlight disguise themselves so mu

this is a crock. it was a crock when it was written and it's still a crock now. the idea that someone can for 8 years in the spotlight disguise themselves so much so that appear wholly opposite is ludicrous. it takes months for professional actors to produce 90 minutes of performance - the guy was on camera for literally weeks. he's not "smarter than you" this kind of revisionist nonsense is politically motivated - people were saying the same exact thing about Trump before he took office and we are now all very sure it's not the case.

QAPereo 9y ago
Some people probably can, but then in addition to being intelligent he’d have to be an incredibly talented and disciplined actor. Unlikely.
monochromatic 9y ago
> people were saying the same exact thing about Trump before he took office and we are now all very sure it's not the case Don't be so sure. First, he outsmarted both political parties to become the most powerful man in the world. And in his first year as president, he's been far more effective at getting things done than most. The fact that some people dislike the things he's getting done doesn't take anything away from that.
- macintux 9y ago
  > And in his first year as president, he's been far more effective at getting things done than most. Citation (other than him or his spokespersons) needed.
  - monochromatic 9y ago
    http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/trumps-top-9-accomplishments-of-2017/article/2644478 http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/trumps-top-9-accomplishmen... http://blog.dilbert.com/2017/11/13/president-trumps-2017-report-card-first-draft/ http://blog.dilbert.com/2017/11/13/president-trumps-2017-rep...
    - Daishiman 9y ago
      Those are BS accomplishments and their twisting of logic is beyond ludicrous.
      - monochromatic 9y ago
        > The fact that some people dislike the things he's getting done doesn't take anything away from that. What’s BS about them?
        s73ver_ 9y ago
        You don't get to claim judicial appointments as one of your accomplishments when the only reason they are there is because another member of your party, who happened to be the Senate Majority Leader, basically said "You Shall Not Pass!" to all the previous President's nominees. As for "government waste", arguably he's wasting far, far, far more with his golf trips than any that he "saved". And many of those "savings" came at the expense of social programs that, without, will likely end up costing us more. The travel ban is a giant example of his racism that I guess you could put on his accomplishments, if only to show how brazenly racist he would be in office. Even then, it's initial rollout was a complete and utter disaster, and it was prevented by injunction several times. Trump has NOT defeated ISIS. Not even close. Throwing gasoline on an already fiery situation in the Middle East is NOT an accomplishment. Dooming the US to irrelevance by being the one first world nation to not participate in the Paris Climate Accords, thus ceding our position as leader of the world, is also NOT an accomplishment.
- spectra72 9y ago
  If the recent book is to be believed at all, we now know that the person that Trump outsmarted most of all was himself. He never intended to actually win.
  - jrs235 9y ago
    Or, perhaps Putin is the wisest leader of all?
  - monochromatic 9y ago
    Trump's whole persona is about winning brashly and bigly. It's ludicrous to think that he entered a race he didn't intend to win. > If the recent book is to be believed at all It isn't to be believed, literally at all. http://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/367902-dont-believe-michael-wolffs-book-about-trump-if-you-want-the-truth http://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/367902-dont-believe-m... https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/01/03/michael-wolffs-unbelievable-sometimes-literally-tell-all-about-the-trump-administration/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/01/03/mi...
    - gilbetron 9y ago
      "by Sebastian Gorka" Yeah, no thanks. I'll believe 100% of the book before I believe 0.01% of what Gorka spouts.
      - monochromatic 9y ago
        Well that’s silly, but you also chose to ignore the other link.
  - Aunche 9y ago
    Just because he didn't expect to win doesn't mean that his victory was a fluke. You can't accidentally get yourself elected as President.
- ModernMech 9y ago
  > he's been far more effective at getting things done than most. You say this as we're on the brink of a government shutdown (a government controlled entirely by the President's party), which has been exacerbated by the President. The Senate Majority Leader (again, of the President's own party) said just yesterday the President is the primary impediment to keeping the government open, because no one knows what exactly he will sign, since he changes his mind by the hour.
  - meragrin 9y ago
    >a government controlled entirely by the President's party Not quite. They cannot easily get by a filibuster.
tormeh 9y ago
Do you think you could become president of the US if you just wanted to? Probably not. Trump is smart. I would be in literal, not figurative, disbelief if any president in the history of modern US weren't. The competition for that position is very sharp and only the best make it. There are many problems with Trump, but IQ isn't one of them. Hitler wasn't dumb either. Being a good demagogue is hard. The strategy and skillset is somewhat different to ordinary politics, but don't mistake that for ease. While we're at it: Youtubers and fashion bloggers aren't dumb either. Trump is narcissistic, insecure, mean, ignorant and has no honor, but dumb he ain't. Underestimating the guy is unwise.
- Retra 9y ago
  Hitler put himself into a situation where the best option, in his opinion, was to blow his own brains out. So he's not winning any awards for being brilliant. Perhaps being a good demagogue has more to do with luck and circumstance than it does with skill and intelligence? Maybe that's why it's not so common? Intelligence means achieving your goals on purpose. It is something that can be taught and reproduced in others. You can't just wait for entropy to spontaneously arrange for your success and claim to be a genius, even if it works the one time you try it.
  - watwut 9y ago
    Your definition of intelligence is quite unorthodox and so is idea that brilliance somehow excludes suicide or risk taking or over confidence - all things that can make you loose big time. Hitler ability to speak was not luck. It was work, skill and talent. And world did not just spontaneously arranged itself for them to get power, Hitler took a lot of calculated deeps to make it so, it is not like he was only one trying to get that power. Saying that it was nothing but luck is ahistorical. Not that it makes him any less immoral.
    - namelost 9y ago
      Hitler was perhaps one of the stupidest people to ever grace the history books, and managed to wipe out vast numbers of his own people, including himself, in a completely pointless war of his own making, wherein he managed to make enemies of three of the most powerful entities in the world at that time.
TheCoelacanth 9y ago
It wouldn't be that big of an act. Even smart people can be naturally inarticulate. And a big part of the reason he was perceived as being dumb wasn't even him saying stupid things, it was just him saying things in a way that was stereotypically associated with lack of intelligence.
- vkou 9y ago
  He said plenty of seemingly stupid things too, but in hindsight, they have been more deliberately dishonest then stupid.
emmelaich 9y ago
Possibly, very possibly you're wrong. You're operating on superficial impression and comparing that to people who know him? Part of the reason he is blamed for stupid decisions is that he never sloughed off responsibility. (Unlike some certain other recent presidents and president wanna-bes)
booleandilemma 9y ago
You don’t become president of the United States by accident.
- QAPereo 9y ago
  I wonder if he had some kind of political connections that could have helped?
- jacquesm 9y ago
  No, it is not an accident. It is mostly a matter of money applied with some precision. Brand recognition helps.
  - qznc 9y ago
    So who was responsible for applying the precision and maintaining brand value?
    - mrguyorama 9y ago
      The several companies Trump spent large sums of money on who do that as their job?
qznc 9y ago
> people were saying the same exact thing about Trump before he took office and we are now all very sure it's not the case. Here is one guy who was "saying the same exact thing about Trump before he took office" and is still very sure it is the case: http://blog.dilbert.com/2018/01/18/fake-news-awards-persuasive/ http://blog.dilbert.com/2018/01/18/fake-news-awards-persuasi...

QAPereo 9y ago

Some people probably can, but then in addition to being intelligent he’d have to be an incredibly talented and disciplined actor. Unlikely.

monochromatic 9y ago

> people were saying the same exact thing about Trump before he took office and we are now all very sure it's not the case Don't be so sure. First, he outsmarted both political parties to become the most powerful man in the world. And in his first year as president, he's been far more effective at getting things done than most. The fact that some people dislike the things he's getting done doesn't take anything away from that.

macintux 9y ago
> And in his first year as president, he's been far more effective at getting things done than most. Citation (other than him or his spokespersons) needed.
- monochromatic 9y ago
  http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/trumps-top-9-accomplishments-of-2017/article/2644478 http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/trumps-top-9-accomplishmen... http://blog.dilbert.com/2017/11/13/president-trumps-2017-report-card-first-draft/ http://blog.dilbert.com/2017/11/13/president-trumps-2017-rep...
  - Daishiman 9y ago
    Those are BS accomplishments and their twisting of logic is beyond ludicrous.
    - monochromatic 9y ago
      > The fact that some people dislike the things he's getting done doesn't take anything away from that. What’s BS about them?
      - s73ver_ 9y ago
        You don't get to claim judicial appointments as one of your accomplishments when the only reason they are there is because another member of your party, who happened to be the Senate Majority Leader, basically said "You Shall Not Pass!" to all the previous President's nominees. As for "government waste", arguably he's wasting far, far, far more with his golf trips than any that he "saved". And many of those "savings" came at the expense of social programs that, without, will likely end up costing us more. The travel ban is a giant example of his racism that I guess you could put on his accomplishments, if only to show how brazenly racist he would be in office. Even then, it's initial rollout was a complete and utter disaster, and it was prevented by injunction several times. Trump has NOT defeated ISIS. Not even close. Throwing gasoline on an already fiery situation in the Middle East is NOT an accomplishment. Dooming the US to irrelevance by being the one first world nation to not participate in the Paris Climate Accords, thus ceding our position as leader of the world, is also NOT an accomplishment.
spectra72 9y ago
If the recent book is to be believed at all, we now know that the person that Trump outsmarted most of all was himself. He never intended to actually win.
- jrs235 9y ago
  Or, perhaps Putin is the wisest leader of all?
- monochromatic 9y ago
  Trump's whole persona is about winning brashly and bigly. It's ludicrous to think that he entered a race he didn't intend to win. > If the recent book is to be believed at all It isn't to be believed, literally at all. http://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/367902-dont-believe-michael-wolffs-book-about-trump-if-you-want-the-truth http://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/367902-dont-believe-m... https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/01/03/michael-wolffs-unbelievable-sometimes-literally-tell-all-about-the-trump-administration/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/01/03/mi...
  - gilbetron 9y ago
    "by Sebastian Gorka" Yeah, no thanks. I'll believe 100% of the book before I believe 0.01% of what Gorka spouts.
    - monochromatic 9y ago
      Well that’s silly, but you also chose to ignore the other link.
- Aunche 9y ago
  Just because he didn't expect to win doesn't mean that his victory was a fluke. You can't accidentally get yourself elected as President.
ModernMech 9y ago
> he's been far more effective at getting things done than most. You say this as we're on the brink of a government shutdown (a government controlled entirely by the President's party), which has been exacerbated by the President. The Senate Majority Leader (again, of the President's own party) said just yesterday the President is the primary impediment to keeping the government open, because no one knows what exactly he will sign, since he changes his mind by the hour.
- meragrin 9y ago
  >a government controlled entirely by the President's party Not quite. They cannot easily get by a filibuster.

tormeh 9y ago

Do you think you could become president of the US if you just wanted to? Probably not. Trump is smart. I would be in literal, not figurative, disbelief if any president in the history of modern US weren't. The competition for that position is very sharp and only the best make it. There are many problems with Trump, but IQ isn't one of them. Hitler wasn't dumb either. Being a good demagogue is hard. The strategy and skillset is somewhat different to ordinary politics, but don't mistake that for ease. While we're at it: Youtubers and fashion bloggers aren't dumb either. Trump is narcissistic, insecure, mean, ignorant and has no honor, but dumb he ain't. Underestimating the guy is unwise.

Retra 9y ago
Hitler put himself into a situation where the best option, in his opinion, was to blow his own brains out. So he's not winning any awards for being brilliant. Perhaps being a good demagogue has more to do with luck and circumstance than it does with skill and intelligence? Maybe that's why it's not so common? Intelligence means achieving your goals on purpose. It is something that can be taught and reproduced in others. You can't just wait for entropy to spontaneously arrange for your success and claim to be a genius, even if it works the one time you try it.
- watwut 9y ago
  Your definition of intelligence is quite unorthodox and so is idea that brilliance somehow excludes suicide or risk taking or over confidence - all things that can make you loose big time. Hitler ability to speak was not luck. It was work, skill and talent. And world did not just spontaneously arranged itself for them to get power, Hitler took a lot of calculated deeps to make it so, it is not like he was only one trying to get that power. Saying that it was nothing but luck is ahistorical. Not that it makes him any less immoral.
  - namelost 9y ago
    Hitler was perhaps one of the stupidest people to ever grace the history books, and managed to wipe out vast numbers of his own people, including himself, in a completely pointless war of his own making, wherein he managed to make enemies of three of the most powerful entities in the world at that time.

TheCoelacanth 9y ago

It wouldn't be that big of an act. Even smart people can be naturally inarticulate. And a big part of the reason he was perceived as being dumb wasn't even him saying stupid things, it was just him saying things in a way that was stereotypically associated with lack of intelligence.

vkou 9y ago
He said plenty of seemingly stupid things too, but in hindsight, they have been more deliberately dishonest then stupid.

emmelaich 9y ago

Possibly, very possibly you're wrong. You're operating on superficial impression and comparing that to people who know him? Part of the reason he is blamed for stupid decisions is that he never sloughed off responsibility. (Unlike some certain other recent presidents and president wanna-bes)

booleandilemma 9y ago

You don’t become president of the United States by accident.

QAPereo 9y ago
I wonder if he had some kind of political connections that could have helped?
jacquesm 9y ago
No, it is not an accident. It is mostly a matter of money applied with some precision. Brand recognition helps.
- qznc 9y ago
  So who was responsible for applying the precision and maintaining brand value?
  - mrguyorama 9y ago
    The several companies Trump spent large sums of money on who do that as their job?

qznc 9y ago

> people were saying the same exact thing about Trump before he took office and we are now all very sure it's not the case. Here is one guy who was "saying the same exact thing about Trump before he took office" and is still very sure it is the case: http://blog.dilbert.com/2018/01/18/fake-news-awards-persuasive/ http://blog.dilbert.com/2018/01/18/fake-news-awards-persuasi...