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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy Is Donald Trump Still So Horribly Witless About the World? (Robin Wright, The New Yorker)
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/why-is-donald-trump-still-so-horribly-witless-about-the-worldMax Boot, a lifelong conservative who advised three Republican Presidential candidates on foreign policy, keeps a folder labelled Trump Stupidity File on his computer. Its next to his Trump Lies file. Not sure which is larger at this point, he told me this week. Its neck-and-neck.
Six months into the Trump era, foreign-policy officials from eight past Administrations told me they are aghast that the President is still so witless about the world. He seems as clueless today as he was on January 20th, Boot, who is now a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said. Trumps painful public gaffes, they warn, indicate that hes not reading, retaining, or listening to his Presidential briefings. And the newbie excuse no longer flies.
Trump has an appalling ignorance of the current world, of history, of previous American engagement, of what former Presidents thought and did, Geoffrey Kemp, who worked at the Pentagon during the Ford Administration and at the National Security Council during the Reagan Administration, reflected. He has an almost studious rejection of the type of in-depth knowledge that virtually all of his predecessors eventually gained or had views on.
Criticism of Donald Trump among Democrats who served in senior national-security positions is predictable and rife. But Republicanswho are historically ambitious on foreign policyare particularly pained by the Presidents missteps and misstatements. So are former senior intelligence officials who have avoided publicly criticizing Presidents until now.
-snip-
Six months into the Trump era, foreign-policy officials from eight past Administrations told me they are aghast that the President is still so witless about the world. He seems as clueless today as he was on January 20th, Boot, who is now a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said. Trumps painful public gaffes, they warn, indicate that hes not reading, retaining, or listening to his Presidential briefings. And the newbie excuse no longer flies.
Trump has an appalling ignorance of the current world, of history, of previous American engagement, of what former Presidents thought and did, Geoffrey Kemp, who worked at the Pentagon during the Ford Administration and at the National Security Council during the Reagan Administration, reflected. He has an almost studious rejection of the type of in-depth knowledge that virtually all of his predecessors eventually gained or had views on.
Criticism of Donald Trump among Democrats who served in senior national-security positions is predictable and rife. But Republicanswho are historically ambitious on foreign policyare particularly pained by the Presidents missteps and misstatements. So are former senior intelligence officials who have avoided publicly criticizing Presidents until now.
-snip-
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Why Is Donald Trump Still So Horribly Witless About the World? (Robin Wright, The New Yorker) (Original Post)
highplainsdem
Aug 2017
OP
Yet, his base still prefers a willfully ignorant leader...we're really screwed.
BigmanPigman
Aug 2017
#4
tanyev
(42,635 posts)1. Because the only world he cares about is the one that revolves around him.
Demit
(11,238 posts)2. Remarkable piece. Juicy quotes from former officials, all Republicans.
bucolic_frolic
(43,362 posts)3. Trump is like an index fund, waiting for a crash
if you ignore the details long enough, it's a long ride downhill
BigmanPigman
(51,638 posts)4. Yet, his base still prefers a willfully ignorant leader...we're really screwed.
Beartracks
(12,821 posts)5. Some Repubs are praising Trump's little bits of "learning"?
Basically, when Trump expresses surprise at how complicated something could be -- "Who knew?" -- he's simply learning about his own ignorance. And these Republican apologists are like: "See? He learned something today! He's so presidential!"
Trying to spin turds into gold, as they always do.
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