That’s been my take on it for the whole time. He’s trolling, which I wish a President wouldn’t do, but I get it on a visceral level. This is a dude who doesn’t need to be in that office for personal gain and I don’t believe is, who just won an incredible election victory in the face of an unprecedented effort to stop it, survived what seems like it very well might have been an inside job assassination attempt, and is now the most radical counter-revolutionary in the western world. Maybe the guy from Argentina might have him beat. I think he is also a tantric sex coach.
I have never understood why anyone would evaluate Trump to be unintelligent. Brash, boorish, prone to embellishment, sure. Stupid? Not in the least.
So far, this administration still has an A- from me, but beginning to slip towards B+.
That’s a great question. Do you know the right answer?
I like the idea of generational roots. If you were born and raised in a place, you are native to that place. In Maine, I’m officially “From Away”, as I should be. Unfortunately, so are many of our politicians. Our Mayor is from Arizona and I think he might have tried to sell me magic mushrooms at Bonaroo Music Fest in 2003. My idea of “native” seems like the only practical concept for The Future of Humanity, an erotic science fiction novel I’m considering writing to make lots of money.
I hope Russel Means can forgive me for using Grok 3 to quickly learn that “native identifying” populations have gone WAY up in the USA. This makes sense, when Elizabeth Warren can get special treatment at Ivy League schools for identifying as a native.
I think the real question is whether or not it is okay to be white, black, heavily freckled, or one of you people whose ancestors have occupied this land the longest. I think it is okay to be those things, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with wanting to keep that aspect of your humanity going.
“In 2020, the American Indian and Alaska Native alone population (3.7 million) accounted for 1.1 percent of all people living in the United States, compared with 0.9 percent (2.9 million) in 2010.”
Just sayin.
Edit: Ahh, fuck. @jshaving I realized why you were asking.
Yeah, but how are they defining and counting Natives?
Let’s say we only count two redskins going at it to make a redskin baby, and not John Redcorn activities among people with ancestry polluted by off-continent genetics.
The likelihood of that happening is zero, as it is impossible for me to process politics in that kind of silo. It seems rather silly to think about national politics without considering local politics. It is the elephant in the room that I cannot ignore.
Besides, we had ALL KINDS of Trump threads during his first term, often several going at once. I hope all of the people who started them are still alright, as many no longer seem to post here. There’s no need for my idea dumping ground to be the only Trump thread on T-Nation.
I think it’s quite easy to evaluate him as stupid, because the other option is hes lying all the time and trying to come off as stupid with the amount of stuff he gets wrong and the way he thinks about things
Let’s take trade and tariffs
This will be impossible for you to do , but imagine your reaction if Biden had tariffed an island inhabited only by animals because we had a trade deficit with it. That is a very, very stupid thing to have done. One might even say his dementia is so bad he needs to be removed from office immediately if he had done that
He thinks trade deficits are inherently bad and that the country in the deficit is “losing” and getting ripped off
Imagine if Biden tariffed the entire world… and the number he used to do it was a “reciprocal tariff” but in fact was just our countries trade deficits cut in half… then did away with them… then put them back… then started making exceptions for companies who’s ceos take him out to dinner… then kept raising them against china for no particular reason … then says he may drop them
Which is all weird because he says he likes tariffs because they make us rich… so why is he doing away with them again ? He doesn’t want us to be rich?
Even if the idea at the root of it is sound - shoring up Americas position in the global economy, increasing our self reliance so we aren’t so beholden to others for our needs - The execution has been very, very, very stupid and the things he has said about it (other countries pay the tariffs) have been very, very stupid
Or hes lying about everything he says and is secretly a genius playing an idiot
I harken back to “who knew healthcare could be so complicated?” Uhhh literally everyone but you Donnie… he is a simpleton that lucked into being born a Trump, inherited his daddies money and real estate empire, and is used to ruling his companies as a king and telling smart people what to do and being a bully to people who can’t stand up to him.
If Trump is unintelligent, I don’t know what I am.
You can dislike him and dislike things he says or does, but calling him unintelligent is laughable.
And it is usually people living paycheck to paycheck or poor crying this.
You may be smarter or have a higher IQ on some random bullshit test, but let’s compare bank accounts and life success - you know a metric that actually matters and can be measured with precision.
I’d also say winning the presidency twice… for the most powerful country the world has ever seen is pretty damn good and commendable.
At any rate this entire thread reinforces why I’ve pulled away from society to my compound to enjoy my life and success. Federal elections don’t matter in the grand scheme. Local elections affect you far more.
I probably won’t vote in another federal election anytime soon or maybe ever…
I see where you’re going however, Kim Kardashian has more money and life success than the guy who is much more intelligent and better educated, but will come up with a cure for cancer.
