Former Republican lawmaker stuns CNN panel when he says Trump isn't smart enough to be president

[DonViejo]

BRAD REED
20 MAR 2017 AT 09:04 ET

David Jolly, a former Republican congressman from Florida, stunned a CNN panel on Monday morning when he said President Donald Trump isn’t “intellectually qualified” to be president.

When asked by CNN’s Poppy Harlow whether Trump should publicly apologize if it’s revealed that he was wrong in accusing former President Barack Obama of wiretapping Trump Tower during the 2016 election, Jolly said that he should — but he also said that an apology wouldn’t mask Trump’s other major shortcomings as president.

“There’s a bigger issue, whether this president is intellectually qualified to be President of the United States,” Jolly said.

Harlow seemed taken aback by Jolly’s statement. “You’re saying he’s not smart enough?” she asked him. “That’s quite a charge.”

Jolly went on to explain that Trump has very little knowledge about policy, and that he’s relying on cable news shows to inform him about the details of legislation he’s already endorsed.

more
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/former-republican-lawmaker-stuns-cnn-panel-when-he-says-trump-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-president/

[Solly Mack]

1. Trump doesn't understand how government works not because he is stupid

but because he has never cared how government works. He never bothered to learn basic civics. He has only cared what government could do for him.

[Drahthaardogs]

6. There is that, yes BUT..

He really is stupid.

[Solly Mack]

9. lol I can't argue with that.

[Butterflylady]

11. Totally agree.

[Plucketeer]

12. I don't think he's stupid - he just doesn't care about laws and proceedure and such

His daddy set an example and Donny's expanded on it. Sure, he KNOWS Stupid really well - he taunted them along to where they put him in office. Now if you wanna talk really "stupid" - what about those 17 or so challengers he whupped for the nomination? If Donny's a dunce, what does that make them???

[Drahthaardogs]

13. Have you heard him speak?

He's stupid.

[Plucketeer]

39. Stupid (to me) is ignorant

Donnie's got mental (psychological) issues. Hell, folks WAY above my pay grade have diagnosed him as mentally unstable. But these experts have yet to use the word "stupid".

[Drahthaardogs]

43. I did it for them...

The don't call him a lair either, but he is one of those too.

[radical noodle]

35. It doesn't necessarily make them more stupid than trump

It makes the republican primary voter more stupid than trump.

[Plucketeer]

40. Thank you for affirming my point. nt

[bettyellen]

14. Did you see his quote about how he "lives to read" and claims he tries to but after a half page....

He gets a phone call or some other disruption and poor baby can't finish the page.

[Brainstormy]

18. He IS stupid, and

I get tired of hearing folks making excuses for that! It isn't just a lack of experience in government. He's dumb as dirt!

[iluvtennis]

22. That's the truth and thanks for keeping it real - i agree.

[smirkymonkey]

36. +1000

[elleng]

34. RIGHT, Solly Mack.

[Beartracks]

46. "What govt could do for him" -- Like...

Paying millions of dollars per month so Melania can live in New York instead of D.C.; and

Increasing profits at his Mar-a-Lago resort by holding meetings there... AND jacking up membership fees because people might get a chance to see Trump discuss sensitive issues in the middle of the dining room.

=================

[forgotmylogin]

47. We basically let some self-absorbed businessman with no experience holding office

waddle up the ladder and sit at the controls.

And now everyone's like "He doesn't fly the plane like most pilots. He'll learn as he goes. And he's got people to ask which lever to pull when confusion arises. And he'll just pull the lever or push the button they say, whether it does what he wants or not. As long as he apologizes for pushing the green button without permission and does it more Presidentially next time it's all cool. He knows what it does. Now. And he'll learn to ask before pulling the yellow lever. Well, he did it anyway and the plane responded with a loud bang because you can't just pull that lever without doing ten other things first... but the flaps have got to be retracted so he was actually right. There, see? He's doing the first thing - flip the red switch - then pull the yellow lever again. Yes, it's still no good without the other nine things, but he's making progress. He'll have some of his staff go out and retract the flaps manually, that way he doesn't need to push the other nine buttons. He's taking a golfing weekend now as he's a 5-day 9-5 kind of pilot, so hopefully this thing will fiy itself in the interim - oh good, the foreigners he likes will be co-piloting. Surely nothing can go wrong."

[gordianot]

2. When has ANYTHING Trump has said given confidence in his knowledge base.

Self promotion of your brain should be an exclusion. Poppy is more qualified if she would think about it.

[LonePirate]

3. How could anyone be stunned by this? 45 constantly proves he is a moron (or moran, if you prefer).

[Tarc]

10. I don't think she was stunned at that

but rather that a Republican would come out and say it.

[mobeau69]

19. What is "moran"?

TIA.

[Tanuki]

20. A perennial DU favorite

[NewRedDawn]

4. Vocabulary of a 3 yr old

Take away the words big, amazing, great, stuff, fantastic & the fucker is lost.

[3catwoman3]

28. Also on that list...

...are bad, sad, and "dis-ASS-tah."

And, also, too - "Believe me."

[katmondoo]

5. The real shock is Poppy not knowing that Trump is really dumb

[monmouth4]

8. I hope she was acting, seriously. How could she not know?..n/t

[lark]

37. Oh, she knows!

She's just 100% shocked that any Repug, even if it is a former office-holder, would tell the truth. The emperor truly has no clothes whatsoever. He's just used money and influence to ride rough-shod over the law and ethics, just as daddy taught him. He's not curious, is volatile and doesn't ever take the time to check his facts, just a fire,shoot,aim type of guy. Not the kind that would ever make even a passable president.

[lagomorph777]

50. she's a rw tool

makes me sick

[mzteaze]

7. I've always...

been a little shocked when I remember reading that Paul Ryan was having sessions with the Dump to teach him about the Constitution.

Let that sink in. That was stuff you learned basics about in ELEMENTARY school.

[LittleGirl]

15. Really? I didn't know that!

WTF? That is just so wrong on so many levels. ugh.

[mzteaze]

17. Yes, I agree

Here is just one article about it:

http://www.politico.com/blogs/donald-trump-administration/2016/12/paul-ryan-constitution-trump-232108

[dalton99a]

21. Yep, I remember that story.

[LittleGirl]

41. good grief

I missed that one.

welcome to DU!

[bdamomma]

16. he is not qualified period.

what more needs to be said, he doesn't have the experience, this isn't a effing board room.

[malaise]

23. That's the truth

He's a dumbass LIAR

[MontanaMama]

24. The "brains" of the administration

Bannon etc are using 45's idiocy as a distraction as to what is really going on behind the scenes.

[Liberalagogo]

25. Then why did YOUR party nominate him?

n/t

[mn9driver]

26. A "the emperor has no clothes" moment.

The next thing you know someone will say that cable news personalities aren't particularly bright either.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

27. I don't think he's so much stupid as ignorant.

Two very different things. Admittedly he has the vocabulary of a third grader, has probably not read a book on his own ever, is completely unfamiliar with the Constitution, how our government actually works, how the UN and NATO work (just to name two), and is a monster of selfishness.

But he does have a canniness that has for the most part served him well in business, especially because he has no conscience and no sense whatsoever of right and wrong. So he cheats every chance he gets, lies as casually as he breathes, and doesn't care who gets hurt along the way because he is a complete narcissist.

However, I rather doubt his IQ is much above 100, which makes him not exactly stupid but not particularly smart. Since he's been surrounded his entire life with people who flatter him every inch of the way and no one ever tells him no, he's completely out of his depth now that there are people out there who are telling him no.

In the end, his petulance and ignorance will be his downfall.

[bucolic_frolic]

29. He's wiley, cunning, and ruthless

but also ignorant, none too bright, and riddled with warring personality disorders

[3catwoman3]

30. I agree on the canniness, perhaps...

...street smarts, wiliness or savvy, but he is certainly no intellectual.

[Orrex]

31. In other words: CNN freaks out when exposed to a basic & obvious fact

[vkkv]

32. Okay, so not ALL Republicans are stupid idiots.. I'm wrong, I apologize for denigrating GOP voters.

Hey GOP voters, 'denigrate' means to put down or to belittle...

[yallerdawg]

33. There is a known, provable idiot in the White House!

Link to tweet

"Is it true that the DNC would not let the FBI in to look?"

If he was only the most powerful person in the world who could ask the FBI this question?

But he asks the "twitterverse"?

[barbtries]

38. stuns the panel?

did they seriously not already know that, or were they stunned to hear this particular person say it out loud?

[JI7]

42. are they also stunned water falls on them when it's raining ?

[red dog 1]

44. K&R...Thanks for posting

It'd be great if one or two CURRENT Republican Congresspersons would have the guts to say this

[spanone]

45. i agree with the former congressman

[southerncrone]

48. When you think about it, Drumph getting his info from news shows & conspiracy shows is akin to

a child trying to navigate life getting only information & knowledge from cartoons & refusing to listen to his parents.

[Samantha]

49. As I told my Republican brother, a devoted Trump fan, at the start of the election contest

Trump does not have the tools in his toolbag necessary to be President. I think that is obvious to just about everyone now, except my brother....

Sam

[mdbl]

53. I know quite a few of your brother

ignoramuses.

[anniebelle]

51. Robert A. Heinlein on Stupidity

Stupidity cannot be cured. Stupidity is the only universal capital crime; the sentence is death. There is no appeal, and execution is carried out automatically and without pity.

Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.

Robert A. Heinlein

[mdbl]

52. Has Poppy had her head buried in some sandbox

she was really surprised at the accusation or the fact he was making it?

[Sunlei]

54. Unfit to be president. For some reason experienced Republicans never cared about that.

That dossier on trump collected by the UK Russia expert was ordered more than a year ago by a Republican!

The Republican party knew what trump was, yet they backed him, let (republican controlled news)fox pander to his delusions daily.

Not one of todays Republicans has a spine to stand-up to this coup of Americas democracy? Is everyone of them blackmailed?

[tanyev]

55. Temperamentally unfit?

Hillary said it, plain as day. They didn't want to hear it then.