A high quality conservative journal asks if Trump is "stupid or nefarious"

This is alarming and sobering. I was already alarmed and sober, but in case you were not, take heed.

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[X] Ailes [X] O'Reilly [ ] Trump

By Arthur T. Murray (not verified) on 20 Apr 2017 #permalink

Yes - both are true. He is both stupid and nefarious. Stupid in his understanding of how various cultures/countries react to his antics and nefarious in his dealings.

By David Jones (not verified) on 20 Apr 2017 #permalink

The precedent Rachel is looking for can be found in the biography of Captain Peter Peachfuzz. From Wikipedia.."Peachfuzz was, from his youngest days, an incompetent sailor. As a child, even his toy boats sank. At the age of 18 he joined the navy. He was awarded numerous medals, all of which were donated by the enemy. Sailing the wrong way through the Panama Canal and becoming the only captain of an icebreaker in the South Seas earned him the nickname "Wrong Way" (an allusion to the American pilot Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan). After receiving a large inheritance from an aunt he purchased and took command of the S.S. Andalusia.. His crew considered mutiny but decided rather to install a dummy control room, so that Peachfuzz would think he was in command, while the crew actually controlled the ship from another location. Unfortunately, Peachfuzz takes a wrong turn and winds up in the real control room."

Hanlon's (or Heinlein's) Razor admonishes us not to attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

The trouble is that there are plenty of both in the world, and they often co-exist in the same person. Which is dominant? Does it matter?

By Mal Adapted (not verified) on 22 Apr 2017 #permalink

It can be that malice is better. At least then there's a way to fix it: the actor is capable of it.

Incompetence tends to remain unmoved, because it's frequently the maximum ability possible.

You're on to something, Wow. On the march for Science today, I conversed with a retired microbiologist and college administrator in Oklahoma. He said he'd had as much face time with Sen. James Inhofe, R-OK, as he could stand. He told me he thinks Inhofe simply doesn't have the intellectual wattage to think for himself on AGW or any number of other science-related topics. In Inhofe's case, while malice can't be ruled out, it isn't required to explain his behavior.

I was actually disappointed to hear it, for the reasons Wow mentions.

By Mal Adapted (not verified) on 22 Apr 2017 #permalink

What is it with the war lords bags under his eyes. Gross!

By Marge Cullen (not verified) on 28 Apr 2017 #permalink