Is Donald Trump an intelligent man?

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

America history suggests exceptionally smart Presidents are not necessarily good ones. Converse for Washington, who was pretty dumb compared to his super genius contemporaries, and yet outshines them all in the history books.

[Ljube]

I think that George Washington was super smart.
Trump is a genius.

[pbrower2a]

He's smart enough to do well what he does well. Beyond that?

The Peter Principle applies. He's a good mover-and-shaker in business. The Government is just too big for his capacities. Unless the President has dictatorial powers that include the prerogative to fire people (with a firing squad!) he must show respect for people that he really does not like.

The Presidency would be clearly past his final position of competence.  See also George W. Bush.

[President Johnson]

Yes. TRUMP is a gifted candidate, who runs one of the most efficient campaigns in history, a world class businessman, a successfull television personality and a good author.

[Nichlemn]

Intelligence is a tricky thing to quantify. Trump is intelligent by some measures, unintelligent by others.

[Fuzzy Says: "Abolish NPR!"]

I'll bet if Trump were President in 1919, he'd have gotten the Treaty of Versailles deal done.

Doing so might have prevented WWII.

[Statilius the Epicurean]

He has a base level of cunning. I wouldn't call it intelligence per-se, in how we think of the concept.

[Zanas]

The answers to this thread are appallingly revealing about the level of exigence you have in your country, geez.

[ag]

He is very intelligent - and very dangerous.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

I think that George Washington was super smart.
Trump is a genius.

Compared to his contemporaries Hamilton, Madison, Jefferson, Adams etc he was not an intellectual heavyweight. He was however a better President than any of them were (or would have been), due to his other attributes.

[blackwidow]

not sure

[RaphaelDLG]

If Trump was a D&D character... (10 is average for those of you who don't know, +2 is a standard deviation).

Strength 8 (12 in younger days)
Dexterity 10
Constitution 10 (12 in younger days)

Wisdom 10 (very uncanny/street smart but also an idiot with no filter who continuously bites off more than he can chew)

Intelligence 10 (transfered into Wharton from Fordham because of Daddy's money decades ago when college admissions weren't that competitive and were mostly a function of money/prep school connections)

Charisma 18 (has one of the greatest forces of personality of anyone on earth.  The only people that this guy can't bowl over are insanely shrewd lawyers, bankers).

[Lief 🗽]

Uh, Trump would have 20 dexterity, because he is a nimble navigator.

[The Mikado]

If Trump was a D&D character... (10 is average for those of you who don't know, +2 is a standard deviation).

Strength 8 (12 in younger days)
Dexterity 10
Constitution 10 (12 in younger days)

Wisdom 10 (very uncanny/street smart but also an idiot with no filter who continuously bites off more than he can chew)

Intelligence 10 (transfered into Wharton from Fordham because of Daddy's money decades ago when college admissions weren't that competitive and were mostly a function of money/prep school connections)

Charisma 18 (has one of the greatest forces of personality of anyone on earth.  The only people that this guy can't bowl over are insanely shrewd lawyers, bankers).

Trump would have very high Intelligence but subpar Wisdom.

[Lincoln Republican]

Donald Trump is not nearly as intelligent as Ted Cruz or Hillary Clinton, but he is nevertheless intelligent.

[Mr. Morden]

Not unintelligent.  Just woefully ignorant about public policy.  James Fallows said it better than I could:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/03/after-the-nice-nicedebate/473394/

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Etc, etc.  Many other examples out there, several of which were in that WaPo interview I talked about in this thread:

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=232782.0

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

What percentage of Americans do you think have the most basic clue on policy? I'll even extend that to politicians. They likely know little beyond their specialty. Obama was a once in a lifetime kind of candidate who combined charisma, intelligence, and actual knowledge of how it all worked.

[Senator Cris]

Yes. I think he's a disgusting human being, but what happened in this election cycle proves that he's an intelligent man. He's not the most intelligent man in the world, but his bit of intelligence combined with a bit of stupidity of GOP electorate is giving him the nomination.

[Mr. Morden]

What percentage of Americans do you think have the most basic clue on policy? I'll even extend that to politicians. They likely know little beyond their specialty. Obama was a once in a lifetime kind of candidate who combined charisma, intelligence, and actual knowledge of how it all worked.

I would say that Trump has shown less of a grasp of policy than any other major party candidate who ran in this cycle except for Carson.  Some of them are pretty clueless about much of it, but at least know one area.  I can't really think of a single area of public policy where Trump has shown much of anything.

He is basically Palin redux on that score, but his ignorance actually ends up getting very little media attention, because the media is more focused on the "controversies" surrounding him.

[Meclazine for Israel]

Yes. I think he's a disgusting human being, but what happened in this election cycle proves that he's an intelligent man. He's not the most intelligent man in the world, but his bit of intelligence combined with a bit of stupidity of GOP electorate is giving him the nomination.

It was just perfect timing for a defensive nationalist to come in. You dont have to be intelligent in this race.

His media status in the USA and obtuse views were massive turnons for voters fed up with the usual mundane routines of politicians like Jeb "Please Clap" Bush and Little Marco.

Like an ancient Roman colesseum, Trump attacks fellow politicians in the throat and the paying customers are loving the entertainment of blood gushing from their dying bodies as the lions feed on their victims.

The populist wins the day and the crowd cheers for Hillarys throat.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Not unintelligent.  Just woefully ignorant about public policy.  James Fallows said it better than I could:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/03/after-the-nice-nicedebate/473394/

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Etc, etc.  Many other examples out there, several of which were in that WaPo interview I talked about in this thread:

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=232782.0

I agree that Donald is dangerously uninformed on the actual details and business of government, but I'm coming around to think he is also unintelligent.

The various forms of wordplay are often considered a sign of intelligence. It's not particularly hard to find examples of the other candidates cracking jokes or making puns. Donald's idea of wordplay (and humor) seems to be stuck at the playground level. I've been keeping an eye peeled as I watch news coverage, and I still haven't ever seen him engage in wordplay of any sort.

If anyone has a convenient clip of Donald (the gold-colored one, not the duck) engaging in actual linguistic humor, please share.