Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/03/18/michael-moore-urges-anti-trumpers-to-try-harder-because-trump-is-smarter-than-us.html
…
8 Likes
C’mon, Michael. Just because someone is successful at gaining power doesn’t mean they’re “smart” in any meaningful sense. Trump isn’t Lex Luthor, he’s Biff Tannen. (Literally; that character was based on Trump.)
30 Likes
Von Clownstick is a talented confidence man. That doesn’t require smarts, just raw animal cunning and an innate ability to gull dimwits (and in his case, being born into a wealthy family. Those traits alone are dangerous enough without insulting the intelligence of his opponents.
28 Likes
While I wouldn’t bank on Trump being smarter than my dog, I think Lao Tzu’s advice applies here: “There is no greater danger than underestimating your opponent.”
34 Likes
I think the words Moore is looking for is Criminally Insane. trump is more Criminally Insane than us probably.
A good cult leader trait.
13 Likes
I think there are all kinds of smartness. The ability to read what his base wants and to call out to their base instincts is a real thing. None of the Trump imitators have it – that’s a small saving grace for America right now. It’s not just about being bigoted and cruel and petty and vain and anti-intellectual, etc. etc. etc. All the Ron DeSantises have that in spades, but they’re not as good as Trump in turning that into a legion of rabid followers.
That is a kind of smarts, and Moore is right, we underestimate that at our peril.
31 Likes
8 Likes
For certain definitions of “us”, sure. Trump is smarter than any anti-Trumpers who won’t actually bother to vote against Trump when election time comes. If that weren’t the case, “trying harder” would be as simple as voting. Instead trying harder means voting AND taking on the responsibility of somehow getting those people off their asses to do the bare minimum to save democracy.
14 Likes
Richer and more powerful does not mean smarter. If I had access to Trump and RNC money then both Trump and the Republican party would be little more than footnotes in history. They wouldn’t be physically harmed, but they would be neutralised to the point of insignificance.
12 Likes
It also requires White Male Supremacy; the absolute certainty that myth of self and righteous place above everyone else on the planet must be true.
18 Likes
I believe that is exactly how Moore meant it. Sane people, the news media, and the Democratic party, didn’t take the threat seriously the first time around. This time might be our last chance.
22 Likes
People keep overestimating Trump and it’s killing us. They keep imagining he has some cunning plan and being afraid of what secret angles he might have, while he keeps smashing straight through boundaries like an idiot bull. We need to recognize he’s shameless, not smart, and reinforce the fences.
24 Likes
It’s not that he’s smarter, nor that he has no shame - he’s ashamed of much different things than most of us are. His values are orthogonal to my values.
15 Likes
Trump doesn’t have to be any smarter than it takes to listen to those who are. Could and idiot have gotten this close to dismantling a democracy that has been stable for centuries without knowledgeable help? He knows exactly where the line is and comes right up to it, constantly, without stepping over far enough to take serious damage. Every year, no, every MONTH since January 2017 I have expected him to do something foolish enough to fail out, or perhaps keel over from his crappy physical habits. This dude survives somehow, again and again!
I think he has a reliable back channel to his best pal in Russia, personally. The FBI began investigating one in 2017 that magically disappeared after a reporter made a phone call.
4 Likes
Key is: Go vote. When I see voter turnout numbers and see my generation trailing behind, I sometimes feel like we deserve whatever we get.
6 Likes
They took some liberties. Biff Tannen’s casinos were profitable.
25 Likes
Maybe it gangrene. Fingers crossed.
6 Likes
“Smart” is a funny way of putting it but I get what he means.
It’s not so much intelligence as it is a kind of conniving talent. Trump at some point figured out that you don’t have to be smart if you hire good lawyers and accountants to clean up your messes. At this point he’s managed to get the GOP machine to clean up his messes, when they were looking down their noses at him early in 2016.
9 Likes
…Trump has been hiring good lawyers? When did that start?
12 Likes
OK, point taken.
But I think early in his business career there were competent lawyers willing to represent him.
4 Likes
