Donald Trumps big problem is he doesnt know what hes talking about

[babylonsister]

Donald Trump’s big problem is he doesn’t know what he’s talking about
At least it’s one of his problems.
Updated by Matthew Yglesias@[e-mail] Apr 17, 2017, 8:30am EDT


Donald Trump doesn’t know what he’s talking about. This became clear when he said he realized dealing with North Korea was “not so easy” after 10 minutes with the Chinese president.

Dealing with complicated problems is an occupational hazard faced by outsiders in all fields — and there’s never been a president who is more of an outsider to the realm of public policy. Consequently, a lot of his assertions about critical matters of public concern are based on ... nothing at all. As president, he is fitfully coming into contact with concrete policy choices, actual information, and well-informed people. And it’s making a difference.

That’s the dynamic behind many of this spring’s jarring policy reversals on backing out of NATO, Chinese currency manipulation, and relations with Russia.

And to the extent that Trump is replacing ignorance with information and bad policy with good policy, it deserves to be celebrated rather than mocked. But the wild swings themselves are disturbing and have consequences. And Trump’s actual habits around issuing ignorant pronouncements and failing to obtain sound information don’t appear to have changed. Most fundamentally of all, Trump’s laziness and ignorance leave him easily manipulated.

Some of the things he’s “learned” since taking office aren’t true, like when Paul Ryan convinced him Republicans had to do health care reform before tax reform. And as his equal-opportunity openness to both new information and new “information” become clearer to all interested parties, the race will be on to manipulate the president and incite further chaos in American public policy.

more...

http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/4/17/15304212/trump-ignorant

[Heartstrings]

1. Not so easy

just making those bigly deals now is it? Diplomacy, what's that? Negotiations, what are those for? It's my way or the highway....

I foresee terrible trouble....

[uppityperson]

2. And he doesn't know that he doesn't know

[Jim Lane]

6. Yes, that's a much better statement of Trump's big problem

The responsibilities of the modern Presidency are so vast and complex that no one can know very much, at least not in comparison to what needs to be known. (Sorry, President Obama; you were much more knowledgeable than your predecessor and your successor, but even you didn't know more than a fraction of the relevant information.)

Trump lacks any sense of his own limitations. He doesn't have capable advisors and doesn't always even consult the ones he has.

[rock]

3. "... is he doesn't know... "

You could've stopped right there.

[malaise]

4. He knows nothing

about anything

[Baitball Blogger]

5. Biggest problem for us is that there are untold numbers of men just like him,

no-nothings who talk big and expect to be revered. Sadly, they seem to have huge success at it. We see them as con-artists, while others see them as role models.

[gratuitous]

7. And this would become patently manifest if interviewers asked him questions

Instead, they're all struck mute in the presence of President Trump, such that none of can remember even the most basic questions when he makes his grandiose pronouncements. They let him get away with cutesy hints of a big reveal at some unspecified time in the future (by the way, Trump said he'd have proof of Obama's "wire tapps" by March 29; it's now April 17, and that's still a big nothing). He runs so much nonsense in such a little amount of time it's difficult to know where to start when he finally stops for breath. Even then, interviewers seem at a loss of where to begin (despite seeing this same tactic over and over and over), by which time Trump is galloping off again.