House of Eratosthenes

Well, Donald Trump has done it yet again. It’s pointless to call out which time he did it, or to argue that this latest example pushes him over some kind of edge, achieving some sort of status to be denied to all the other examples. Pointless to provide a link. Pointless to compare the number of times he did it on this day, compared to the number of times on that other day. Comes as naturally to the man as breathing.

He waxed eloquently about how superbly capable he is of meeting some challenge, or doing some thing, or thinking through some thing. Without showing a single sign of identifying what it is that has made him that way. Today he’s probably going to do it a few more times, and then next week he’ll do it some more.

Trump haters, on both the left and the right, are correct to criticize him for this. They are recalling from the Twenty things that are non-partisan, or darn well ought to be what could arguably be the most important one, Number Five:

If I must learn something new to meet my objective, I will have to admit that I don’t know it, in order to learn it.

I see some common ground shared between myself, and all sorts of different factions involved here. Let me dispense with the least comfortable first: I identify with what is called the “Republican establishment” in their criticism of Trump. Trump, who knows it all, bases seemingly every word of everything he has to say on this faulty premise that he’s the master and hasn’t got anything to learn — but, can’t or won’t speak of the circumstances under which he learned it. Certainly, I can’t relate to The Donald. In my less mature years, perhaps maybe I could have. But since then, I’ve noticed hubris is not something I need to stockpile. Others have had enough flattering things to say about my capabilities and intellect…and with each passing year, I cherish this less and less. I’m at the point it makes me uncomfortable. “Morgan’s a smart guy, he can handle it” so consistently seems to precede some sort of disaster.

So Trump and I are on different pathways in life. If that means our net worths will never come any closer together from here on out, well, so be it.

Knows Everything Did I say this common ground I shared with the Republican establishment was most uncomfortable? We-ell, about that: I wince in proxy embarrassment when I hear The Modern Left take their turn tearing into The Donald; they who have been holding up The Barack non-stop for all these years, as the “all-knowing, all-wise, and yet not a shred of curiosity to be found” savant. The Republican Establishment is, at least, somewhat consistent. At least they are, if you take what they have to say at face value. The Left criticizing Trump, on the other hand, paint themselves into a rather curious corner. They seem to be saying: Yes, accumulated wisdom correlates with curiosity and an admission that you need to learn things, if and only if we’re talking about the mortal plane. Which is most certainly not occupied by He Who Argues With The Dictionaries. President Lightworker gets a pass.

Obama, lest we forget, just did it too: “I’ve Made My Decision.” That is, I understand from a variety of sources, the subject line of the e-mail He sent out…to no one in particular. Seven years I’ve been spending, wondering when, or if, that “fear not, I have figured out what to do” shtick will ever get tired and I guess by now I have my answer. Someone’s lapping it up, cleaning the plate and demanding seconds. Let me guess the next part: I’m some kind of racist for noticing.

Yes, the 42 white guys who came before also made decisions. But I struggle to figure out which one did so without displaying a hint of curiosity. Yes that includes the immediate predecessor, you know, that dimbulb from Crawford, TX. In my lifetime, they all offered some nod to the truth that their knowledge fell short of the universal entirety. As well as, on occasion, to the conviction held by some of the people they governed, that the decision could’ve & should’ve gone the other way.

Not so with the earthbound, golf-addicted Oracle. Like the “Republican front-runner,” He strikes a perfect confluence between knowing everything, and showing curiosity about nothing.

I also identify with the Trump fans. I keep hearing how stupid they are for falling for all this stuff Trump says. After talking with them, I don’t see any sign of this whatsoever. They’re not taking it completely seriously. Nor do I see any sign from the man they’re following, that this is part of his intent. Which sets him apart from the above-discussed person who occupies the White House at the present time.

I’m afraid this is part of the times in which we currently live. And, God help us, will be for quite some time. Maybe we’re seeing what this thing we call “politics” really is. Perhaps this is the rule, what we lived through before — residual traces of humility, at least, in Eisenhower, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush I, some might say JFK and Johnson — was the exception.

Maybe this is politics in its “natural habitat.” How it’s done. Admission that the decision was made with even a routine and expected tincture of uncertainty, could be perceived by enemies as a weakness. And admission that there was anything left to be learned by the person who decided, would necessarily imply uncertainty. We can’t have that, so we have that “perfect confluence” instead. Over and over again, until we can’t take it any more, and then we get some more of it and so we’re forced to adapt to it as an unwelcome part of our routine, like a traffic jam. “Fear not, I’ve decided; I learn nothing yet I know everything.” It slaps us in the face until we don’t notice it anymore.

It does not impress me as a formula for likely success. I’ve worked in my share of infuriating bureaucracies just like anyone nominally experienced in tech industries. “The decision has been made, resistance is futile” is not a prelude to any sort of grand accomplishment. Or, a feeling of satisfaction. Or even that you are doing your work where you should be working. It is a warning siren, that however low morale is now, it is never going to get any higher and you should get ready for a nosedive. Because the dimbulbs are in charge.

Incurious dimbulbs.

It would be puerile of me to stoop so low as to insult their level of intellect, to call them “dummies” or “stupid” or something. And yet, I note, the question “but what makes them smart?” continues to hang, unanswered, in the air. If they aren’t curious about anything now, and never were before, then when did they ever learn anything? And why are the rest of us to presume they ever did?

The difference with Trump, though, is that he has real accomplishments. Several billion of them, several times over.

As you know, I’m far from a Trump fan (though I do support him — he’s exactly what we deserve, and I want to help us get it). But Teh Donald epitomizes a facet of the American character, which Euros, Leftists, and assorted other dummkopfs call “anti-intellectualism.” Americans aren’t against thinking, or even high-level abstract airy-fairy cogitating — if we were, we’d never have led the world in pretty much everything ever. What we’re against is being educated past our hat size, and we’re utterly opposed to thinking that words like “critique” and “studies” are anything other than dangerous boondoggles. Euros and Leftists think that pretending to know what the hell Lacan was talking about means you’re a super-smart deep thinker; Americans take it as a sign that you got took, that you handed over your house deed along with your wallet to a snake oil salesman.

Hence, Obama. He’s everything the latte-slurping, soccer-loving, paper-chasing crowd wishes they could be. Trump openly thumbs his nose at all that, and when you call him on it, he just says “scoreboard, bitches.’ He must’ve learned something with all those bankruptcies, because he keeps getting back on the Richest People list every time he gets knocked off.

Now, it’s entirely possible that he hasn’t learned anything since then, or that he’s bought into his own schtick, or that he’s gone completely delusional. But telling the American people that they ain’t not no un-dummies for not having PhDs — that they can, in fact, be wildly successful while misspelling every third word on Twitter — will take you a long, long way.
- Severian | 03/18/2016 @ 09:48
Exactly. I keep hearing this “Trump is just a reality show host”. He got the tv show BECAUSE he was successful first. Then you get this “his dad gave him money to start out with”. How many rich kids are out there that accomplished nothing with their trust fund?

I really hadn’t paid any attention to Trump. I’d hear his name before, but never watched the shows and am nowhere near any of his buildings.I started reading about him and was impressed. And there is a video on You Tube of him before congress in 1991 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rksd80-FCAw) that is impressive. People that actually know him say he is smart. My suspicion is that a lot of this is an act. He has really been a masterful politician. He is flawed, and I suspect there would be things that President Trump would do that I would disagree with. We do not have the perfect candidate this time out and this is the only guy that can pull from the larger group of voters in a general election. And he will not back away from Hillary and he will not let the press walk all over him. Both of those are good.

And the other question for you is: are we to be “ruled” by professional politicians? Is it possible to become President without going to Harvard? If the economy truly tanks, do we want someone with a clue about how things really work? Or do we want another academic? What about that concept of making trade deals that benefits US citizens?

And how about the question of financing. Do we want to continue having super PACs pick the candidate? Does it matter if politicians can be easily bought? Does it matter that Heidi Cruz works for Goldman Sachs and has been involved in that United Americas concept, where they want to turn the US, Canada and Mexico into something like the EU? Do we want the same old consultants that lose election after election in charge of this one?

It’s funny but the Cruz supporters are actually nastier to the Trump folks than the Hillary supporters. I try and tell them that their guy will need everyone’s support to get elected, but they have some sort of cult of personality going. I used to like Ted, but have become convinced he really is not an outsider. And it is too easy for the media to shut him down. It’s going to be an ugly election, because Obama has done everything possible to divide people. I’m going with Jeff Sessions on this one.
- teripittman | 03/18/2016 @ 10:18
Agreed on the Cruz cult of personality. I don’t really follow a lot of their shenanigans, but Ace of Spades, to use a prominent example, seems to think Cruz is the second coming of Christ (with Trump as far worse than the Devil). This is the same guy, mind you, who has about 47 posts to the effect of “let it burn,” “the Republican Party needs to die,” “I’m done with the GOP,” etc.

Trump is a ridiculous clown show candidate. But so was everyone else back to at least Ike (with the possible exception of Reagan). It’s time to change the channel — at least we’ll get a different clown show.
- Severian | 03/18/2016 @ 13:03
Well, I’ve been a Cruz supporter since before the whole race started. I just never expected our system to leave us with the worst possible options rather than the best. At least some of the chaff that looked good at first glance got separated.
- P_Ang | 03/18/2016 @ 15:31
Yes, unfortunately Ace has become unreadable. But I heard about how great Walker was going to be, on his throne of skulls. Then it turned out he was a regional candidate that fizzled. Same thing with Rick Perry. Unfortunately, with politics, you sometimes have to separate your emotions from it and look at which candidate has a chance at the national level. It is amazing how well Trump plays the media. They simply can’t ignore him. At one point, after a debate, folks even forgot to mention Cruz. He’d completely slipped their minds. We can’t allow that any more.

Reagan did a movie with a chimp. I like to remind folks of that. I guarantee you that we were reminded of it a lot when he was governor and when he ran for President. I wish Trump sounded more polished. I’ve heard some videos where he sounds articulate. At this point, you use the weapon at hand. He sure does have all the right people freaked out.
- teripittman | 03/18/2016 @ 19:07
This one isn’t really all that mysterious. Mr Obama’s supporters do not see a paradox here because they are simply not thinking of it in the same terms. To them, the question is not, “Is Mr Obama willing and able to learn?”, or even, “Does Mr Obama carefully study the arguments pro and con before making a decision?” They just don’t see that as an issue. They never ask that. To some people, there are smart people and there are stupid people. Anyone who agrees with them is smart, and has no need to learn anything new. Anyone who disagrees with them is stupid and has everything to learn.

Liberals routinely think this way about politics. Their leaders are geniuses. Obama is a genius. He already knows the right answer. He doesn’t need to study anything. Bill Clinton was a genius who could not be questioned also. JFK. FDR. Al Gore. Anyone who calls himself a scientist and believes in global warming. Anyone who calls himself a scientist and believes in evolution.

If you question these people, you just prove your own ignorance. They are geniuses and you are a mere mortal. It is simply absurd to suppose that they could be capable of error. To ask them for facts or evidence to back up their statements is anti-intellecutal or anti-common sense or anti-science … if not blasphemy.

Maybe conservatives do this too, but I don’t see it. I don’t recall ever hearing a conservative say “this person I admire said it so it must be true”. At least not for any person other than God.
- saneperson | 03/21/2016 @ 12:59
[…] Severian explains Donald Trump about as well as Donald Trump can be explained: […]
- dustbury.com » A unified theory of Trump | 03/21/2016 @ 19:12

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Those Who Know It All But Are Not CuriousFriday, March 18th, 2016

Those Who Know It All But Are Not Curious
Friday, March 18th, 2016