How can any Donald Trump fans think that he is intelligent?

[Workingclasslass]

Donald Trump has just done a big speech to Am fest turning point. He literally said that drugs are bad like fentanyl they ruin your face. They ruin your looks. They ruin your teeth and nobody has said that before and we are going to tell people that drugs are bad.
So basically, just like the just say no campaign that was there back in the day and of course people have as there’s literally pictures of people all over the Internet and every government has said this. This is what I mean. I want to know how people can think he’s so bloody original and intelligent saying stuff which is stupid because it’s already been said before.
The next thing he said at that speech how vaccines were linked to autism which we know full well that’s debunked then how he says how now it was like one in so many thousand people that had autism now it’s one in 36 but causation and correlation doesn’t mean to say that that’s to do with a bloody vaccines .
so yes I want to know how any Donald Trump fans can listen to any of this and think wow he’s so intelligent when he really isn’t?

I certainly got the popcorn out tonight watching that press conference. Then he said something about the Middle East "blowing up" if the hostages weren't returned before he was inaugurated as president. If only it weren't so chilling it would be quite entertaining. I can only hope that there are intelligent people behind the scenes who can put the brakes on, but I'm not confident.

I don't even understand how people can be a Trump fan.

I love the question, but was checking to make sure I hadn't answered it before because it sounded familiar. But then again, maybe it sounded familiar because American Democrats are always asking that.

The main reason Trump's supporters imagine he's intelligent is that he tells them so. And they're incredibly gullible. They started by believing the pre-presidency reality-TV lie that he was a good businessman, which created the illusion that he'd "smart." Never mind that the kind of smarts needed for business are not the same kind of smarts needed to be president.

Overall, Trump voters are less educated. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean they're stupid and gullible, but it does imply that they are possibly less used to thinking analytically, applying logic, and doing research. Trump himself is known for his declaration, "I love the poorly educated!"

And, of course, he tells them what they want to hear.

There are many wealthy Republicans, too. The GOP was always a party of elites. What Trump has done is that he's gathered a grassroots base to supply the Republicans with voters.

Have you ever met a Trump supporter? They are absolute morons and want a president who is as stupid as they are.
I have, and they were perfectly decent people.
You, and people like you, are one of the reasons that Trump won

Before you critique someone else’s ‘intelligence ’, you might like to have a look at your own syntax and punctuation . Motes and beams come to mind.

Ooh, bad syntax
You've really put me bang to rights there

I mean, he won two elections when all the pundits said it would never happen.

I'm in Canada right now. He has the political class here now running around like Chicken-Little, terrified about what's going to happen with trade. He will have the advantage when it comes to negotiating, much as he did when he was elected and they had to renegotiate NAFTA last time.

He's very canny.

Yeah - my gut feeling is that Vance is the guy to watch here.

He who was oh so briefly the darling of the left.

This however is very much the sort of thing conservative black Americans say about the Democrats - And black Americans, after many years of being solidly solidly Democrat voting as a group, are starting to be less of a sure thing.

It's already happened with the Hispanic vote.

The people voting that way see it to a large degree in terms of a kind of working class solidarity across race lines.

So the question is - why are working class people not wanting to vote Democrat - a group not comparing mainly middle class and professionals? Why are those people, people with assets, so inclined to vote Democrat?

The assumption on this thread seems to be that they are too stupid to know what is good for them. I think that s never a great starting theory.

If you want an explanation of why people voted for Trump then this is one of the best (and funniest) explanations:

These bar graphs show that in general, the more education voters have, the more likely they are vote Democrat.

I'm using education as an indicator of intelligence.

Presidential election exit polls: share of votes by education U.S. 2024 | Statista

I'm sure you're right, but I believe Democrats weren't voting this time. Why was that?

Well he’s certainly got more going on upstairs than either Biden or Harris, so I think that’s a big part of his appeal.

Agree. It's the same problem the Left have in this country. As I heard someone say re Trump, people are more likely to vote for someone they hate than for someone who hates them. Trump fans didnt win him the election. Swing voters and Democrats who couldn't face voting democrat so didnt vote won it for him. The Left in the US and here love calling people stupid but hate looking at themselves and wondering why people would rather vote for an absolute clown than vote for them. A large part of that is that they are made up of largely White, wealthy intellectuals who don't really understand immigrant communities or the diversity within them. Identity politics, trans rights, Palestine and Critical Race theory obsessions mean the Left couldnt care less about actual people in poverty either, so they may as well just vote for someone who may just shake up the status quo.Calling people stupid because they voted a certain way ( some are, eg the medicare people) but many weren't. Mexicans aren't a homogenous group and they aren't all stupid. Many voted for Trump. They dont want people involved in drug cartels turning up through the border to terrorise them.

@Tomatotater couldn’t agree more - it’s the whole “they’re so stupid “ trope that I just can’t stand. See Brexit also.

He does have a certain kind of intelligence though.

He knows how to rile people up and what buttons to push to meet his goals. He's charismatic, and he knows the words to say to get people on his side.

He's obviously not booksmart/ academic, but that is only one kind of intelligence.

I wouldn't want to underestimate the cunning and manipulation he's capable of.

Yes, I agree too. He is playing the long game and keeping his head down. Unless the Democrats come up with a better offer, he will be President in 2029. He is astonishingly bright, and even then, he is not as bright as his wife.

100% this. I see him being dragged a lot here on MN and it makes me shake my had. He is everything the left claim to embrace, working class, disadvantaged, pulled up by his bootstraps, mother who overcame her substance abuse demons, married to a fabulous, achieving woman from another culture, mixed heritage children. He could be everything the US needs, balance, albeit Republican in name, yet they scream and attack him. People demand perfection in Republican politicians yet were happy to settle for old, demented Biden and the completely not up to the job Harris. Baffling.

Thats because university/college is not just educating but also indoctrinating people into left wing thinking! Its the same in the uk, has been for years.

Indeed. Ably assisted by Labour policies of get as many young people as possible into university during the Blair years. Almost a countrywide indoctrination programme of which we see the results right here on MN every day.

My brothers moved to America decades ago. They support Trump. They are very well educated and also an ethnic minority as are Chinese. They attended really good UK Universities and got sponsored to study at post grad level in America.

They just want to pay less tax that’s it really, they don’t like a big welfare state as it means more tax. They are the the living embodiment of the American dream. I think what many don’t understand is that some Immigrants are very willing to pull up the ladder after them. Every single person I know who really hand wrings over immigration in the Uk has been white. It doesn’t mean ethnic minorities are not concerned or supportive but I think white guilt pays a huge part here.

@CharSiu

"They just want to pay less tax that’s it really, they don’t like a big welfare state as it means more tax. They are the the living embodiment of the American dream. I think what many don’t understand is that some Immigrants are very willing to pull up the ladder after them"

Actually I just think your brothers are being honest when they say "they just want to pay less tax".

I don't think it's anything to do with being an immigrant or not.

I get that there may be an element of they have managed to climb to success the hard way through their own sacrifices and hard slog so why should they subsidise those that are not willing to do this and where the skin colour of those people they are subsidising is entirely irrelevant.

Donald Trump, and his ilk, are the reason why we have to put 'DO NOT DRINK' warnings on fekkin bleach ffs !

He is a certifiable MORON, a true believer in the craziest 'theories' and an outspoken believer in misogyny !

It truly beggars belief that enough Americans are crazy enough to actually support him in his insane quest to bring the whole world to an end by 'putting America first'.

Don't they realize that it's only with co-operation and support that we MIGHT be able to limit climate temperature, and thereby avoid a planet wide catastrophe?

Don't they see the correlation between the USA trying to take over other countries (Canada/Greenland/Panama canal etc) will only result in WAR???

Don't they realize that taking away womens rights is abusive, and also counter productive to growing their own bloody economy?

I simply don't understand how a 1st world country can have such 'backwards' beliefs?

@lovelysunshine22

"Thats because university/college is not just educating but also indoctrinating people into left wing thinking! It's the same in the uk, has been for years."

Can you imagine being a student at a UK university and openly being a supporter of the Conservative Party let alone say Reform or say wearing a MAGA hat.

At best you would be ostracised and at worst physically assaulted.

The intolerance and shutting down by the left of opposing views is shocking.