General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy is DT so horribly witless about the world?
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/why-is-donald-trump-still-so-horribly-witless-about-the-world...
The President has little understanding of the contextof whats happening in the worldand even less interest in hearing the people who want to deliver it, Michael Hayden, a retired four-star general and former director of both the C.I.A. and the National Security Agency, told me. Hes impatient, decision-oriented, and prone to action. Its all about the present tense. When he asks, What the hells going on in Iraq? people around him have learned not to say, Well, in 632 . . . (That was the year when the Prophet Muhammad died, prompting the beginning of the Sunni-Shiite split.*)
He just doesnt have an interest in the world, Hayden said.
...
The sheer scale of his lack of knowledge is what has astounded meand I had low expectations to begin with, David Gordon, the director of the State Departments policy-planning staff under Condoleezza Rice, during the Bush Administration, told me.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)NewJeffCT
(56,829 posts)but, Bush knew he wasn't the smartest guy in the room. Trump thinks he's smarter than the generals and knows more than them about ISIS and everything else.
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)Looked on favorably too by those who like him. It's not so much "tell it like it is" as "tell you how it's going to be". He's so obnoxious and litigious very few have the nerve to bother correcting the record. It's worked for him for a long long time, where he literally doesn't care if he's "found out" because he knows his supporters love the powerful illusions he spins. They can't admit it's bullshit, never will.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,927 posts)He believes everything he says, at least when he says it. His willingness to say something completely different a day or an hour later does mean he's given thoughtful consideration to the first statement, just that he's decided to say something else.
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)On the campaign trail just to excite people- he admitted not caring about locking up Hilary or the Wall.
He's full of shit and knows it. I think he thinks it's useless to be intelligent - or to care about anything but it own bottom line, so I do think he thinks other people are wrong headed for wanting to do good or get involved in public service for any other reason except for Fred. That's the only way he sees himself as "smart"- is that he has plans to screw everyone else. But learning or caring are things he doesn't respect.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)He's like some kind of weird psychological mutant we maybe haven't seen before.
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)And say has one of two purposes, to promote their own agenda, or to tear down anyone who doesn't like them. No lie is too big or small, and I don't think they stop to think about it at all. They try the charm offensive, like Trump and actually get super angry and vengeful when people don't go along with it. they really do enjoy getting over on people, running scams and manipulating them- it seems to be the only thing that gives them joy.
And they do get away with a lot of their bullshit because they're willing to repeat the lies over and over again- they wear everyone down. I've heard there's a common thread or clusters in families with other mental illnesses like schizophrenia, and it seems to be true in my family.
GetRidOfThem
(869 posts)... That does not make W look good. He was really, really bad too. Don't forget Iraq, wanting to privatize social security, etc..
Little Star
(17,055 posts)I think this dimwit is even worse, much worse. If there would have been no Cheney in W's admin I don't think there would have been a invasion of Iraq.
dhill926
(16,387 posts)DFW
(54,502 posts)Maybe he knows?
At least as frightening is the fact that a couple dozen million of his supporters find nothing at all wrong with Trump's ignorance.
JI7
(89,287 posts)ashling
(25,771 posts)secondwind
(16,903 posts)"Oh", they all cry, "he's one of us!"
syringis
(5,101 posts)At least as frightening is the fact that a couple dozen million of his supporters find nothing at all wrong with Trump's ignorance.
Who said opposites attract ?
PS : Merci pour l'accueil chaleureux. Tant que j'y suis, ton néerlandais est probablement meilleur que le mien Je n'en garde qu'une bonne connaissance passive, faute d'avoir pratiqué
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)The man is a complete bore. He has no interest in anything but himself.
Scarsdale
(9,426 posts)and his daughter Ivanka. Worst person to EVER occupy the WH. Overgrown child, simplistic in every way. Telling the British Prime Minister that he would postpone his visit until she can make the people behave was a classic. He honestly thinks he is KING of the world. I doubt that even Kelly will be able to rein this ass in. He is used to doing whatever pops into his tiny little mind, consequences be damned. The fact that the gop are supporting him is very telling. They will pay for this disaster.
Little Star
(17,055 posts)Donkees
(31,524 posts)GreenEyedLefty
(2,073 posts)He has had access to all the resources for learning that money can buy but instead he has carefully cultivated a steadfast and pernicious ignorance. I would even wager that he is astoundingly stupid when it comes to his actual wheel house - real estate.
My FB news feed has been quiet, mainly due to unfriending and unfollowing after the election. Last night I saw a friend of a friend who commented on a post with a picture that was ridiculously racist, so I went and looked at her profile. Not only rabidly racist but barely literate, and a big fan of Trump. It kind of confirmed my theory that it's the dregs of society who are sticking with Trump - the "poorly educated" that he loves so much.
shanti
(21,675 posts)There are plenty of college-educated supporters of Chump. I know of two, both fundies, and sadly, family members, and their sole reason for voting for him was the issue of abortion. Thing is, they just don't care how stupid, racist, sexist (whatever) he is.
LonePirate
(13,437 posts)Violet_Crumble
(35,984 posts)The level of ignorance and courseness is how they judge his success on the world stage. While rational folk are face palming, his mindless fans are cheering at the most uncouth and moronic crap he spouts on behalf of the US. Because somehow it's their way of telling the rest of the world that Donald and his minions are far, far more intelligent than the rest of the world and we all need to behave like he does. Urgh. I detest Malcolm Turnbull (the Australian PM), but I had a moment of pride when I read that transcript and saw him saying things like 'let me explain this to you' and not backing down from the childish bullying on the other end of the phone...
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)Orrex
(63,263 posts)Yes, we hear that his all-important base is shrinking, but the Trump supporters that I know will look at his catastrophic ignorance and say "that's what I like about him."
mgardener
(1,825 posts)Sarah Palin.
How sad that Republicans believe that ignorance, hubris and obnoxious behavior belong in the White House.
syringis
(5,101 posts)The President has little understanding of the context
It is the understatement of the century, if not of the millenium.
In comparison, Bottomless Trump's ignorance, makes the abyssopelagic looks as deep as an inflatable pool kids...
Javaman
(62,534 posts)a failed college student who runs drug grifts to fun his cheeto habit.
apnu
(8,759 posts)He's Male.
He's white.
He's straight.
He's rich.
He was born into money.
He's American.
He check every single privilege box there is. He has never known actual work or any kind of labor in his 71 years of life. He's never been in a position where his wealth and power can't solve every single problem he faces. Even his bankruptcies, his combined super privilege protected him. He doesn't have to confront anything or learn anything, he's got people to do that for him. He's a pampered prince who's never left his castle. He's in a more opaque bubble than W. Bush ever lived in.
shanti
(21,675 posts)In the next life, he'll come back as a feckin single-celled protozoa.
apnu
(8,759 posts)dreamland
(964 posts)So he's in tuned to nothing but himself because the world revolves around him.
kairos12
(12,896 posts)Warpy
(111,437 posts)He's not only ignorant of it, he's not even curious about it. No one can harsh his narcissistic mellow by trying to inform him, either, he knows everything.
Scary.
Bettie
(16,145 posts)He lives in a bubble and has never had to face regular people, never had to pay his debts, never had to take responsibility for anything he's ever done.
He has surrounded himself with people who tell him everything he does is wonderful...he's the kid who wishes people into the cornfield in the old Twilight Zone episode, only without the capacity to love anything outside of himself.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,927 posts)and that is that many, perhaps most people in this country don't value any kind of learning or education. Not to mention that for the most part history is very badly taught in high school, which is the last time most people ever take a history class or read anything about what's happened in the past.
It doesn't help that newspapers and news media often present things without context, without giving any sense of what happened before, what led up to the current story. Not to mention they'd rather cover the latest celebrity nonsense instead of anything substantial.
So Trump, while an extreme example, fits in quite nicely with what passes for mainstream America.
yallerdawg
(16,104 posts)He never thought he could really win. He was all bombastic self-promotion and witless cruelty and ugliness. Even he had to wonder who the hell would vote for him?
The original numberless primary candidates eliminated each other through attrition and lack of desire.
The array of narrative forces thirty years in the making against his eventual opponent and a 'fluke' in our democracy leftover from our racist beginnings as a country all transpired to give him at least the "most improbable" victory of all time.
He was never supposed to be president, he never anticipated actually being president, he was never qualified or of a right temperament, he is merely a brand and brand-name and can't ever stop selling (campaigning).
We can fix what happened.
No one could have guessed what did. It was an accident.
spanone
(135,924 posts)tanyev
(42,669 posts)maxsolomon
(33,449 posts)Nothing exists outside of Donald Trump.