• Yeather@lemmy.ca
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    3 days ago

    I feel we also devalue Bush jr. for the way he chose to speak to people. I feel you could call Bush a smart man, even politically savy, while still talking like a layman. However, Trump is genuinely dumb like his speech implies, and people just roll with it.

      • futatorius@lemm.ee
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        2 days ago

        Bush Jr was very good at recalling people’s names he met at some event years ago. That’s more a memory feat than intellicence, but useful in politics. My impression is that he wasn’t a stupid man, but instead, one of average intelligence, also lacking in intellectual curiosity.

        By contrast, Trump is as dumb as a bag of hammers, couldn’t find his ass with both hands, a map and a flashlight, and yet he believes he’s the smartest guy in the room, which wouldn’t even be true if the room only contained him and a housefly.

        • merc@sh.itjust.works
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          1 day ago

          I used to think that Trump was just dumb. But, recently I’ve become convinced that he’s actually able to seem smarter than he actually is. Meaning, he appears to have an IQ of maybe 90, but he’s faking it because he’s actually closer to 80. His various coping mechanisms allow him to seem smarter than he is, but that “smarter than he is” still doesn’t bring him up to average.

      • blargle@sh.itjust.works
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        3 days ago

        He was dumb but playing dumber. I can’t think of many other examples of people like that except Joe Rogan.

        • merc@sh.itjust.works
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          3 days ago

          Yeah, that I can get behind. His Texan shtick was an obvious act. But, even without that, I don’t think he had an IQ of 100. Like most politicians he had good emotional intelligence, and an ability to connect with people. Still, it was clear that even pretty basic concepts were a stretch for him.

          • Yeather@lemmy.ca
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            3 days ago

            There was a Histioriometry test done, and the journal Political Psychology estimated around a 119 for ol’ W.