About my Trump Derangement Syndrome
Some of my commenters believe I’m suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome. If I only thought about things rationally, I’d see the greatness of our Dear Leader.
Maybe . . .
But as you guys sit in your mom’s basement, surfing alt-right sites and trolling the MoneyIllusion, I’d like you to briefly consider an alternative hypothesis, just for a moment. Is it possible that you are the one suffering from this disease.
BTW, this comment is not directed at some of my smarter commenters who like Trump’s tax cuts and Supreme Court nominees, favor less immigration and sanctions on China, but also see Trump’s downside. I’m talking about Trump’s hardcore fans; those who reflectively reject any accusation of dishonesty made against him.
Consider:
AFAIK, all the economists I greatly respect have a low opinion of Trump. That doesn’t mean I can’t respect an economist who likes Trump, it’s just that the guys who I think are flat out brilliant have a low opinion of him.
AFAIK, all the conservative commentators I greatly respect have a low opinion of Trump. And that’s not reverse causality; these are people who I respected before Trump came along. The George Wills, Ross Douthats, David Brooks, Jonah Goldbergs of the world all have a negative view of him. Yes, some famous conservative commentators like Sean Hannity and Lou Dobbs like him. But these guys are not exactly the sharpest blades in the drawer.
Four of the past five GOP presidential nominees voted against him. These guys are free to speak their minds because their careers are basically over. (Romney’s protected by a safe seat in Utah.)
Republicans in DC who publicly support Trump will privately ridicule him when speaking to reporters. Ditto for the GOP Congressional staff.
Trump’s own aides call him a moron and an idiot and a kindergartener when speaking privately to reporters.
Trump’s own tweets are written at the level of a fifth grader.
None of this means the corporate tax cut was a bad idea, or that his Supreme Court picks are bad. But when you look at all these facts, isn’t there just a tiny, tiny, possibility that I’m not the one with the Trump Derangement Syndrome? Is that a hypothesis that you are at least willing to entertain?
I mean think about it. If it really were true that YOU were the one with Trump Derangement Syndrome, you were the one taken in by his demagoguery, don’t all the stylized facts that I presented resemble what the world would look like?
I’m also not the sharpest blade in the drawer (as I’m sure you’ve noticed from my grammar), and I’m not capable of knowing my own biases. That’s why I look at all this external data for objective clues about “reality”.
So here’s my request. If you want to convince me that I’m suffering from TDS, explain to me why all these other brilliant people came down with this “derangement” at roughly the same time. After all, if one intellectual suddenly thinks he’s the reincarnation of Jesus or Alexander the Great or Napoleon, all other intellectuals don’t simultaneously suffer from the same delusion.
Then explain to me how you know that YOU are correct, and these other intellectuals are wrong. No, not what you like about Trump or why you disagree with them. That information is worthless, as you may be biased too. I want you to tell me why a view from 64,000 feet indicates that YOU are the one we should all be listening to, and not all these brilliant intellectuals.
I want you to explain to me why your eighth grade dropout-level taunts in the comment section are an indication of your intellectual clarity. What makes you so smart?
One possible explanation is that these smart pundits who have a low opinion of Trump are blinded by their intelligence. On the other hand, I’ve noticed that many Trump supporters are big fans of IQ research, and indeed oppose immigration due to fears of America being swamped with dumb people. But IQ research says that people with high “g” tend to be good at everything—so how can high intelligence make people so wrong about Trump?
PS. If Hunter Biden were corrupt, in what way would the corruption have shown up? One possibility is that he would have gotten deeply involved in Ukrainian politics and business and engaged in corrupt transactions. Or, his corruption might have taken the form of trying to influence his dad to help his paymasters in the Ukraine. Can you guess which type of corruption is 100 times more likely than the other?
Now consider this, in each case who would you have investigate the case? If he were doing corrupt things in the Ukraine, you’d have the Ukrainians investigate. If he were doing corrupt things with his dad, you’d have the Justice Department investigate.
Now assume Trump didn’t actually think Biden was guilty. Which of the two investigators could you more likely convince to put out dirt on Biden, even if not true?
Do you see where I’m going with this? If Trump thought Biden were guilty, he would have had the US authorities investigate the case. The corruption would have occurred here. The fact that he asked the Ukrainians to investigate is powerful evidence that he thinks Joe Biden is innocent. But deep down you already knew that, didn’t you?