• TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
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    4 days ago

    This is just a person who has a limited definition of human intelligence. If you’re not smart in the same way I am, then you’re just an idiot.

    Trump might be lacking in the traditional academic understanding of intellect, however I think it’s hard to deny that he’s an extremely potent bullshitter. Which in my opinion takes a certain level of intellect.

    If we keep trying to frame Trump as a complete buffoon it gives him an edge. It’s about time we stop underestimating his ability to manipulate not just the general public, but the media apparatus and capital holders as well.

    Plus, if he’s actually an idiot…what does that make the people he’s beating at the polls? Politics is a popularity contest, it’s not a science symposium.

    • snooggums@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      He is fooling the part of the population that puts hate over their own self interest and have a 24/7 coordinated media campaign to stoke that anger and drive them to the polls. He didn’t win on his own, he just happens to be stupid enough for Republican voters to feel they can relate to while he sells them a shit sandwich that the peolle around him came up with.

      Being a snake oil saleman doesn’t require intelligence. It requires being stupid enough to buy your own hype.

      • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
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        4 days ago

        He is fooling the part of the population that puts hate over their own self interest and have a 24/7 coordinated media campaign to stoke that anger and drive them to the polls.

        And that can be said of any conservative president since Nixon. It still takes some sort of competency to control that voting block with an iron grip.

        Being a snake oil saleman doesn’t require intelligence

        I respectfully disagree.

        • snooggums@lemmy.world
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          4 days ago

          Trump would not be where he is without 24/7 promotion by conservative media. They were the ones who figured out how to sell a New York real estate scammer to rural idiots.

          He speaks with the conviction of a tent revival evangilist, which is a skill, but isn’t intelligence.

          • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
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            4 days ago

            which is a skill, but isn’t intelligence.

            I would argue that’s a semantic dispute. The definition of intelligence changes based on the context of the argument.

            Most people would say neurosurgery requires a high degree of intellect…and then there’s Ben Carson.

            So is neurosurgery, one of the higher degrees of modern medicine simply a skill? If so, what exactly is intelligence?

            Imo intellect is just human construct that is used to delineate certain types of skill from others. People on a whole aren’t usually competent outside of their fields of expertise, and defining intellect as competency in all aspects just makes nearly everyone an idiot.

            • snooggums@lemmy.world
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              4 days ago

              Skills are what you can do, intelligence is what you know. They interact with each other.

              • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
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                4 days ago

                And how do they delineate? Wouldn’t you by definition have to know something to be able to do something?

                Kinda sounds like you are just trying to construct artificial barriers to segregate certain types of knowledge from perceived intellect.

                • snooggums@lemmy.world
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                  4 days ago

                  Wouldn’t you by definition have to know something to be able to do something?

                  It is like practicing something and doing it.

                  Are you doing the thing when you practice? Does doing something count as practice? Why do we have two words if they are the same thing?

                  And again, they interact with each other. Obama’s speeches were like 50% intelligence and 50% skill because he thought about what he was saying and had skill in conveying it. Trump is 100% skill because he spouts whatever comes to mind at that moment and he changes it up entirely based on the crowd reaction.

                  • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
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                    4 days ago

                    Are you doing the thing when you practice? Does doing something count as practice?

                    Lol, this is semantic reasoning.

                    Why do we have two words if they are the same thing?

                    Have you not heard of a synonym?

    • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      if he’s actually an idiot…what does that make the people he’s beating at the polls?

      It means 95% of humans are idiots and we already knew that

    • andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works
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      4 days ago

      I wonder how much of that is because of his support team making his messaging more effective.

      Can’t deny though that he was a host of a comparatively dumb TV show for many years. He’s probably reiterating the same formula with minor corrections.

      And while doing that he could afford saying he walked on teen models and hanged out with Epstein without his personal brand being killed right after that. That speaks a lot.

    • the_q@lemm.ee
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      4 days ago

      Interesting. You’re not smart the same way I am and are in fact an idiot.

      • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
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        4 days ago

        So honored to be speaking to the head of Mensa… So glad you could take a minute of your busy schedule shit posting to drop by!

        • the_q@lemm.ee
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          4 days ago

          Oh it’s no problem. I figured someone like yourself could benefit from interacting with someone who is very far above you in terms of intelligence.