• StereoTrespasser@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Except he’s not dumb. He will go down in history as one of the world’s most infamous conmen. He knows how to manipulate, cheat, steal, and fire up rioting crowds. He is a piece of shit, but he’s not dumb.

    • WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      If he was smart he wouldn’t be flailing so badly now. All he’s ever done is act according to his basic impulses, but he happened to find himself in a position (inheriting a lot of money and living in a culture that prizes loud ignorance) where those impulses worked to his advantage. If he was actually smart he’d be able to adapt to changing circumstances, and he’s repeatedly shown himself to be incapable of that.

    • bostonbananarama@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      I don’t think I’ve read an interview from anyone who has worked with Trump that doesn’t say he’s one of the dumbest people they’ve ever interacted with. He’s absolutely a con man but he’s also stupid.

    • Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works
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      3 months ago

      Being a good salesmen doesn’t automatically mean someone is smart.

      He is dumb, he is just good at convincing other dumb people.

    • DancingBear@midwest.social
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      3 months ago

      Meh, I dunno… he started off with the total life wages of a thousand regular folks, and by all accounts he has managed to lose some net worth in our crazy capitalist system

    • MushuChupacabra@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Except he’s not dumb.

      This is the same guy that was staring directly at an eclipse without protective eyewear, correct?

    • michaelmrose@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      To be smart is to have universal reasoning skills. Having particular skills doesn’t make you smart. Plenty of people have worked to acquire narrow skills without having much general intelligence.

    • Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      3 months ago

      I’ve been arguing this for years, and it’s insane the pushback I get when I suggest this. He’s very intelligent, he’s a narcissist. He’s an actor. He’s playing a dumbass and doing it well. It plays to the crowd he wants to play to amazingly.

      You don’t get to where he is in life by being dumb. You get there by being manipulative.

      • michaelmrose@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        You get where he is by starting with a massive pile of money. His father funneled hundreds of millions to him. He would be doing as good or better if he had just stuck it in an index fund and drawn his salary from it. Meanwhile the real estate market in his lifetime has exploded in value. If he was smart or any good at it he would be richer than he plays on TV.

        His move from unsuccessful but still rich “developer” to celebrity then president is down to three things. The apprentice where he pretended to be richer and more successful than he actually is, a massive backlash against the first black president, and the fact that he faced off against Obama in the public eye and put himself forward.

        He is basically the fucking avatar of ignorant, stupid, white privilege. A man who “succeeded” in terms of not losing the hundreds of millions of dollars given to him convincing himself and others that he hit a triple when he was born on third base and gabbed and postured his way into the head of a crowd with no higher aspiration than making America white again.

    • prole
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      3 months ago

      He may have a form of cunning, but that is not the same thing as intelligence.

      He’s fucking stupid.