There is a reason why folks like Russ Vought and Leonard Leo have such tremendous influence in the Trump Administration. It's because, for all the cult believes Trump is some indefatigable champion of the forgotten man who works ceaselessly on their behalf all hours of the day, in reality, Trump is an indolent ignoramus who is content to outsource every bit of work and cognitive overhead required of the job of the presidency. Vought said he would make all the personnel decisions so Trump wouldn't have to, and that's a great deal to someone as stupid and lazy as Trump. It was why anyone who found credible Trump's disavowals of Project 2025 during the campaign is a person who hasn't been paying attention. Leo offered Trump vetted judicial candidates by the dozens; Trump had to do nothing but bask in the credit of appointing hundreds of judges. No work, lots of adulation, an irresistible deal for a lazy narcissist who really wants people to think that he's actually working very hard. The degree to which so many people seem to have no idea who Trump really is, a lazy, corrupt, ignorant, corner-cutting, cheating sleazebag, it's really hard to navigate a world with this many willfully blind people.
I seriously doubt that Trump has ever done a day's work in his entire life--unless you count schmoozing himself to the media and public work. He is the give orders and then move on to the photo op type.
I thought I was one of the laziest people on earth until I saw Trump in (in)action. I am an amateur and a Sisyphean laborer in comparison.
He is also apparently an idiot and uneducated beyond his instinctual abilities to manipulate and bully people.
Smart people often make the error of thinking that these types of people are safe to boost into positions of power as stalking horses or front men, because they are (seemingly) easily controlled--except people like Trump only really listen to their inner demons--and if you get in the way of the inner demon, they will turn and rend you in an instant with the power that you foolishly handed them.
That is why the SCotUS immunity decision kind of flabbergasted me--could these supposedly smart and educated people NOT see where such a decision would lead? Not if you are blinded by your theories/ideology, I guess. A massive disconnect between idea and reality, like most ideologies.
Never fall in so much love with your ideas that they blind you to reality. I have lots of ideas that I think are really great and would solve problems (like sortition replacing elections), but they fail a reality check--and while I still like to play with them and talk about them, I understand the difference between that and what the real world actually is.
Many of Trump's apologists do seem to be willfully blind, apparently believing their own bizarre defenses of his character and their claims that his opponents are all "corrupt." But some of them are surely smart enough to know that he is stupid and amoral and not deeply committed to some of their top agenda items. Those people must have recognized that they could exploit his stupidity and amorality and lack of firm convictions in service to their own purposes.
In some ways, the plan has been spectacularly successful, but Trump's attack on the FedSoc might be exposing (even to his zealous apologists) the dubious wisdom of empowering a sociopath and expecting him to be a dutiful champion of morality and rule of law.
Go look at the most recent presidential portrait (WH.gov) and tell me you don't see the triumph of image over substance. Trump has an ambiguous expression - not a scowl, not a grin. Something like a promo ad from "The Apprentice."
Exactly what I've been thinking all along. He's their useful idiot, allowing them to run rampant and create their ideal white nationalist, "Christian" country.
There is a reason why folks like Russ Vought and Leonard Leo have such tremendous influence in the Trump Administration. It's because, for all the cult believes Trump is some indefatigable champion of the forgotten man who works ceaselessly on their behalf all hours of the day, in reality, Trump is an indolent ignoramus who is content to outsource every bit of work and cognitive overhead required of the job of the presidency. Vought said he would make all the personnel decisions so Trump wouldn't have to, and that's a great deal to someone as stupid and lazy as Trump. It was why anyone who found credible Trump's disavowals of Project 2025 during the campaign is a person who hasn't been paying attention. Leo offered Trump vetted judicial candidates by the dozens; Trump had to do nothing but bask in the credit of appointing hundreds of judges. No work, lots of adulation, an irresistible deal for a lazy narcissist who really wants people to think that he's actually working very hard. The degree to which so many people seem to have no idea who Trump really is, a lazy, corrupt, ignorant, corner-cutting, cheating sleazebag, it's really hard to navigate a world with this many willfully blind people.
And Leonard Leo does not care what names Trump calls him, as long as Leo gets the court system he fantasizes about.
Pretty much nailed it.
I seriously doubt that Trump has ever done a day's work in his entire life--unless you count schmoozing himself to the media and public work. He is the give orders and then move on to the photo op type.
I thought I was one of the laziest people on earth until I saw Trump in (in)action. I am an amateur and a Sisyphean laborer in comparison.
He is also apparently an idiot and uneducated beyond his instinctual abilities to manipulate and bully people.
Smart people often make the error of thinking that these types of people are safe to boost into positions of power as stalking horses or front men, because they are (seemingly) easily controlled--except people like Trump only really listen to their inner demons--and if you get in the way of the inner demon, they will turn and rend you in an instant with the power that you foolishly handed them.
That is why the SCotUS immunity decision kind of flabbergasted me--could these supposedly smart and educated people NOT see where such a decision would lead? Not if you are blinded by your theories/ideology, I guess. A massive disconnect between idea and reality, like most ideologies.
Never fall in so much love with your ideas that they blind you to reality. I have lots of ideas that I think are really great and would solve problems (like sortition replacing elections), but they fail a reality check--and while I still like to play with them and talk about them, I understand the difference between that and what the real world actually is.
My sister said during PINO 1.0, " Thank God he's stupid!" I said that makes him more dangerous. She's always annoyed when I'm right.
Many of Trump's apologists do seem to be willfully blind, apparently believing their own bizarre defenses of his character and their claims that his opponents are all "corrupt." But some of them are surely smart enough to know that he is stupid and amoral and not deeply committed to some of their top agenda items. Those people must have recognized that they could exploit his stupidity and amorality and lack of firm convictions in service to their own purposes.
In some ways, the plan has been spectacularly successful, but Trump's attack on the FedSoc might be exposing (even to his zealous apologists) the dubious wisdom of empowering a sociopath and expecting him to be a dutiful champion of morality and rule of law.
Go look at the most recent presidential portrait (WH.gov) and tell me you don't see the triumph of image over substance. Trump has an ambiguous expression - not a scowl, not a grin. Something like a promo ad from "The Apprentice."
You forgot to add “incompetent” to the list.
Exactly what I've been thinking all along. He's their useful idiot, allowing them to run rampant and create their ideal white nationalist, "Christian" country.