Trump’s tariff reversal came after he watched an interview on Fox Business with JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, during which the bank boss said that a recession was a “likely outcome” of the new trade policies, according to the Washington Post.
Trump was asked by a reporter on Wednesday when he decided to put a pause on the tariffs.
“I would say this morning. Over the last few days, I’ve been thinking about it. Fairly early this morning,” he said.
I don’t think Trump is an idiot anymore. I think he’s playing a persona just like Borris Johnson. It’s a cover for him. It’s not his stupidity that’s harming us, it’s his self-centered, ego and greed driven maliciousness thats destroying our futures.
He’s not a stupid person. He’s an evil person.
Oh my gourd please stop
He is a failed nepo baby whose only successes in life were being a hired hand on a reality tv show and accidentally stumbling into politics via undisguised racism.
He
Is
A
Fucking
Moron
The difficulty in convincing fellow Americans of this simple and obvious fact is the truly damning bit.
We’ve all been conditioned to not accuse our political opponents of being stupid.
For one, it can cause you to underestimate your opponents — you don’t want to be caught unawares of some secret plan.
Second, there’s an aspect of pettiness to just labeling your opponents dumb. Most often people attribute “stupid” to “I don’t understand this”. For example, the idea of it being stupid for poor people in Kentucky or whatever to vote against their interests and aid billionaires and oppose their own healthcare — when it’s not stupid, it’s a misunderstanding of how important identity politics are to these groups.
Third, there’s a pushback to the “Jon Stewart effect”, where we sit back and laugh about how our opponents are dumb and we smugly know we are smarter. This is an excuse to do nothing, and it’s an ugly impulse and we must fight it.
But all this conditioning — and more — has led us to a point where we can’t actually recognize stupid when it’s staring us in the face.
Your first point still applies anyway, though.
#notallAmericans
Intelligence is more complicated than binary. He can be a moron in most ways and a successful grifter in others.
You don’t need to be smart to be a grifter. It’s not doctors and scientists buying most of the snake oil.
The point was “smart” isn’t any one thing. I have a former friend who would be judged a moron in almost every regard. He’s a conspiracy theorist, obsessed with Alex Jones, believes thousands of idiotic lies. But at the same time, out of the correct history that he knows, he could run circles around me reciting it. I have a shitty memory, he has no bullshit detector
A talking monkey could stumble on phrases that make people clap and repeat them.
It doesn’t take that many smarts to respond to the pavlov effect. A dog can do it.
Great examples, dogs and monkeys are both a different type of intelligence. Calling them stupid is easy, but not entirely accurate…
Never underestimate the enemy.
Over-estimating is just as dangerous. People – and our governments – keep getting surprised by this pattern of behaviour because we pig-headedly refuse to admit the truth.
In order for our countries to plan economic matters, and defense and intelligence and more – we need to expect the same patterns of stupidity and irrationality as we’ve seen demonstrated time and time again. This doesn’t mean all the actions will be stupid – folks like Putin other intelligent evildoers are in the mix of those who are manipulating the president. But they have shown a lack of ability to fully control the irrational behaviour from surfacing in policy whims.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me thousands of times… c’mon at some point we have to learn.
Yeah, honestly I used to view the likes of Putin as a rational chessmaster. Life is teaching me a great deal, especially that leaders are not powered by raw intellect. Rather, it is the willingness to be assertive that separates the ordinary person from a leader, be they good or foul.
Why not both? More often than not, evil favors bold stupidity over cautious thinking.