Aseahawkfan wrote:Being thin-skinned doesn't necessarily mean you're dumb.
Of course, it doesn't. But it is a piece of the puzzle that makes up a person's state of mind. Add that piece to his very primitive vocabulary, his laughable recollections of 'facts, his avoidance of reading things like his morning briefing, and picture begins to take shape.' And like I said, I don't necessarily think he's always been this stupid, he's just so lazy that he doesn't bother taxing his mind with what he regards as menial labor.
Aseahawkfan wrote:Like I said, I don't know if I agree with you. He's under constant attack as president by a left wing media that hates him and he seems able to turn it into power to his followers. He seems smart enough to dismantle the most dangerous political candidate, while turning his whole impeachment into witch hunt point of empowerment for his followers.
He's no different than any other POTUS of the modern era. The
'left wing media' went after Slick Willy like a pack of jackals. If there's one thing that transcends political ideology, it's sex. It's the one subject that everyone understands. Are you old enough to remember Gary Hart? Additionally, there's a very large conservative media out there to counteract a good portion of the left wing agenda that for the most part didn't exist before the mid 80's. Richard Nixon never had Fox or Rush Limbaugh to defend him. Additionally, Trump has an advantage over all of his predecessors in the form of his Twitter account where he can bypass the media altogether and get his version of events directly to his 55 million followers without going through their filter.
Aseahawkfan wrote:I'll agree that he's likely ignorant of history and other factual elements of the office and world due to as you say laziness than pure low IQ. As far as managing public situations and crowds, I would say he's up there with some of the best. That dude knows how to work crowds and push things in his favor. No other person I can think of could withstand the withering attacks upon him by the left (attacks that weren't even this bad under Bush) and somehow empower himself.
Well, we can agree that Trump's ignorance is more due to his laziness than it is his IQ. As far as working crowds, keep in mind that what we see is all highly orchestrated. Those are all red hat wearing MAGA folks that are screened before they are admitted. Do you ever see any hecklers in those crowds? There would be if they were selected at random. And as far as the attacks being worse than Bush 43, I agree, but then again, W didn't have a Twitter account with 55 million followers. It's truly a different ball game.
Aseahawkfan wrote:Even now he is further empowering himself by using the entire Ukrainian impeachment fiasco by the Dems to purge the White House of anyone perceived as disloyal. That is some seriously intelligent power counter-intelligence moves by Trump and whoever his Republican backers are. If the Dems don't take the Senate or White House this year holy crap he will be empowered. If the Republicans take back the House, he will do what he wants.
From a purely political perspective absent moral or academic arguments, Trump is really politically cunning. He has a cult of personality I haven't seen in years. I don't think large groups will kill for him or anything stupid like that, but he is tapping into the built up hatred towards the left and the liberalization of America unlike any president I've seen before.
I'm not going to necessarily disagree with that summation. I do think that Trump has some good political instincts. You can't just argue like our friend HT would and say that he doesn't have any redeeming qualities AT ALL. He had to have done something right to have gotten himself elected POTUS, especially if what we're saying is true, ie that he's lazy and stupid.