Battle of the "nerds" vs. "dumb jocks"

[usmbguest5318]

This afternoon I found myself having a dinner conversation with a assortment of friends and associates. We were sharing our speculations about "what on Earth" motivates Trump's behavior and remarks. One of the diners, a psychiatrist, embarked on a line of mental disorders that got rather technical. As it did, another diner said, "Whoa. The 'shrink-nerd' is coming out. Can we get the layman's version of that?" We all laughed.

As the doctor was "translating," I tuned out for I agreed with him and didn't need to hear the layman's version. What I thought about was that the whole of the public persona and raison d'etre we see as President Trump can be summarized as a man motivated by "revenge on the nerds."

• Trump was, by all accounts, a "dumb jock" in high school. We're told he was good at baseball, but there's not a word about his scholastic performance. Having gone to an Eastern boarding school somewhat similar to the NYMA (the one I attended wasn't the "rich kid" version of reform school), I can tell you some sort of mention about his academic achievement would have been made were he to have been anything more than a "C" student. At the very least, folks would say something akin to "he was an okay student," which, coming from folks raised in that culture, is but half a step above "damning with faint praise."
• He has a bachelor's degree economics and yet his economic policy proposals suggest he has no mastery of even the most fundamental macroeconomic principles. We know he didn't graduate with honors because had he, there'd be a publicly available record indicating as much; thus we know that he wasn't a particularly good student in college.
• The man has no regard for the experts (nerds) who refute his ideas and claims, and he doesn't craft strong and well developed rebuttals to their dissenting arguments.
• In terms of politics and governance, there's no indication the man considers things in any way beyond the superficial.
• The man expresses himself as might an adolescent. Hell, only half of what he says is even uttered in compete sentences, and that's before considering the vagueness and ambiguity suffusing everything he says.
• He relies entirely on formal authority and bullying rather than cogent and compelling arguments to achieve his objectives. The man even once said he liked getting into fights. When I first heard he'd said that, I thought "WTF, who likes getting into fisticuffs?" Now, I realize why; physical combat was one way in which he could compete and win, and fighting is a very public way of winning something.
• He panders to the electorate's basest emotions rather than to higher morals, ethics and intellect.

One can add to that list, but what occurred to me is that Trump was never an cognitive powerhouse and he's only ever thrived by using force. I would not be surprised to learn that Trump suffered a lot of ribbing over not being demonstrably bright in his early years, and growing up in the "world" he did where most of one's peers are either very smart, very knowledgeable, or both, and make their place in the world as a result of those traits, it'd be seen as a harbinger of worse things to come for Trump, or anyone, who does fit that model. Such individuals would be teased and ridiculed for it (kids are mean is the reason).

I think as a consequence of that formative set of experiences in his youth, the man has been on a lifelong journey to prove that he can keep up with the nerds or best them. In short, he's been trying to overcome a great inferiority complex.

Has he succeeded? Well, not really. He's got a lot of money, but clearly not enough "buy some brains" that he can bring to bear in the pursuit in which he now finds himself -- running the U.S. He's gotten himself elected -- he's good at marketing himself and things, no doubt about that -- but now that he's POTUS, his presidency has moved from one fiasco to the next. That's exactly what one would expect from someone who's really not that smart.

 

[Wyatt earp]

This afternoon I found myself having a dinner conversation with a assortment of friends and associates. We were sharing our speculations about "what on Earth" motivates Trump's behavior and remarks. One of the diners, a psychiatrist, embarked on a line of mental disorders that got rather technical. As it did, another diner said, "Whoa. The 'shrink-nerd' is coming out. Can we get the layman's version of that?" We all laughed.

As the doctor was "translating," I tuned out for I agreed with him and didn't need to hear the layman's version. What I thought about was that the whole of the public persona and raison d'etre we see as President Trump can be summarized as a man motivated by "revenge on the nerds."

• Trump was, by all accounts, a "dumb jock" in high school. We're told he was good at baseball, but there's not a word about his scholastic performance. Having gone to an Eastern boarding school somewhat similar to the NYMA (the one I attended wasn't the "rich kid" version of reform school), I can tell you some sort of mention about his academic achievement would have been made were he to have been anything more than a "C" student. At the very least, folks would say something akin to "he was an okay student," which, coming from folks raised in that culture, is but half a step above "damning with faint praise."
• He has a bachelor's degree economics and yet his economic policy proposals suggest he has no mastery of even the most fundamental macroeconomic principles. We know he didn't graduate with honors because had he, there'd be a publicly available record indicating as much; thus we know that he wasn't a particularly good student in college.
• The man has no regard for the experts (nerds) who refute his ideas and claims, and he doesn't craft strong and well developed rebuttals to their dissenting arguments.
• In terms of politics and governance, there's no indication the man considers things in any way beyond the superficial.
• The man expresses himself as might an adolescent. Hell, only half of what he says is even uttered in compete sentences, and that's before considering the vagueness and ambiguity suffusing everything he says.
• He relies entirely on formal authority and bullying rather than cogent and compelling arguments to achieve his objectives. The man even once said he liked getting into fights. When I first heard he'd said that, I thought "WTF, who likes getting into fisticuffs?" Now, I realize why; physical combat was one way in which he could compete and win, and fighting is a very public way of winning something.
• He panders to the electorate's basest emotions rather than to higher morals, ethics and intellect.

One can add to that list, but what occurred to me is that Trump was never an cognitive powerhouse and he's only ever thrived by using force. I would not be surprised to learn that Trump suffered a lot of ribbing over not being demonstrably bright in his early years, and growing up in the "world" he did where most of one's peers are either very smart, very knowledgeable, or both, and make their place in the world as a result of those traits, it'd be seen as a harbinger of worse things to come for Trump, or anyone, who does fit that model. Such individuals would be teased and ridiculed for it (kids are mean is the reason).

I think as a consequence of that formative set of experiences in his youth, the man has been on a lifelong journey to prove that he can keep up with the nerds or best them. In short, he's been trying to overcome a great inferiority complex.

Has he succeeded? Well, not really. He's got a lot of money, but clearly not enough "buy some brains" that he can bring to bear in the pursuit in which he now finds himself -- running the U.S. He's gotten himself elected -- he's good at marketing himself and things, no doubt about that -- but now that he's POTUS, his presidency has moved from one fiasco to the next. That's exactly what one would expect from someone who's really not that smart.

We have been telling you guys on the left all during the election he was just a blue collar liberal with a lot of money.


But some on the left wanted to make him some type of white collar elite.

.

 

[westwall]

This afternoon I found myself having a dinner conversation with a assortment of friends and associates. We were sharing our speculations about "what on Earth" motivates Trump's behavior and remarks. One of the diners, a psychiatrist, embarked on a line of mental disorders that got rather technical. As it did, another diner said, "Whoa. The 'shrink-nerd' is coming out. Can we get the layman's version of that?" We all laughed.

As the doctor was "translating," I tuned out for I agreed with him and didn't need to hear the layman's version. What I thought about was that the whole of the public persona and raison d'etre we see as President Trump can be summarized as a man motivated by "revenge on the nerds."

• Trump was, by all accounts, a "dumb jock" in high school. We're told he was good at baseball, but there's not a word about his scholastic performance. Having gone to an Eastern boarding school somewhat similar to the NYMA (the one I attended wasn't the "rich kid" version of reform school), I can tell you some sort of mention about his academic achievement would have been made were he to have been anything more than a "C" student. At the very least, folks would say something akin to "he was an okay student," which, coming from folks raised in that culture, is but half a step above "damning with faint praise."
• He has a bachelor's degree economics and yet his economic policy proposals suggest he has no mastery of even the most fundamental macroeconomic principles. We know he didn't graduate with honors because had he, there'd be a publicly available record indicating as much; thus we know that he wasn't a particularly good student in college.
• The man has no regard for the experts (nerds) who refute his ideas and claims, and he doesn't craft strong and well developed rebuttals to their dissenting arguments.
• In terms of politics and governance, there's no indication the man considers things in any way beyond the superficial.
• The man expresses himself as might an adolescent. Hell, only half of what he says is even uttered in compete sentences, and that's before considering the vagueness and ambiguity suffusing everything he says.
• He relies entirely on formal authority and bullying rather than cogent and compelling arguments to achieve his objectives. The man even once said he liked getting into fights. When I first heard he'd said that, I thought "WTF, who likes getting into fisticuffs?" Now, I realize why; physical combat was one way in which he could compete and win, and fighting is a very public way of winning something.
• He panders to the electorate's basest emotions rather than to higher morals, ethics and intellect.

One can add to that list, but what occurred to me is that Trump was never an cognitive powerhouse and he's only ever thrived by using force. I would not be surprised to learn that Trump suffered a lot of ribbing over not being demonstrably bright in his early years, and growing up in the "world" he did where most of one's peers are either very smart, very knowledgeable, or both, and make their place in the world as a result of those traits, it'd be seen as a harbinger of worse things to come for Trump, or anyone, who does fit that model. Such individuals would be teased and ridiculed for it (kids are mean is the reason).

I think as a consequence of that formative set of experiences in his youth, the man has been on a lifelong journey to prove that he can keep up with the nerds or best them. In short, he's been trying to overcome a great inferiority complex.

Has he succeeded? Well, not really. He's got a lot of money, but clearly not enough "buy some brains" that he can bring to bear in the pursuit in which he now finds himself -- running the U.S. He's gotten himself elected -- he's good at marketing himself and things, no doubt about that -- but now that he's POTUS, his presidency has moved from one fiasco to the next. That's exactly what one would expect from someone who's really not that smart.

We have been telling you guys on the left all during the election he was just a blue collar liberal with a lot of money.


But some on the left wanted to make him some type of white collar elite.

.

It is amazing how blind the progressives are. The trumpster has NEVER been a repub. He's always been very liberal.

 

[usmbguest5318]

This afternoon I found myself having a dinner conversation with a assortment of friends and associates. We were sharing our speculations about "what on Earth" motivates Trump's behavior and remarks. One of the diners, a psychiatrist, embarked on a line of mental disorders that got rather technical. As it did, another diner said, "Whoa. The 'shrink-nerd' is coming out. Can we get the layman's version of that?" We all laughed.

As the doctor was "translating," I tuned out for I agreed with him and didn't need to hear the layman's version. What I thought about was that the whole of the public persona and raison d'etre we see as President Trump can be summarized as a man motivated by "revenge on the nerds."

• Trump was, by all accounts, a "dumb jock" in high school. We're told he was good at baseball, but there's not a word about his scholastic performance. Having gone to an Eastern boarding school somewhat similar to the NYMA (the one I attended wasn't the "rich kid" version of reform school), I can tell you some sort of mention about his academic achievement would have been made were he to have been anything more than a "C" student. At the very least, folks would say something akin to "he was an okay student," which, coming from folks raised in that culture, is but half a step above "damning with faint praise."
• He has a bachelor's degree economics and yet his economic policy proposals suggest he has no mastery of even the most fundamental macroeconomic principles. We know he didn't graduate with honors because had he, there'd be a publicly available record indicating as much; thus we know that he wasn't a particularly good student in college.
• The man has no regard for the experts (nerds) who refute his ideas and claims, and he doesn't craft strong and well developed rebuttals to their dissenting arguments.
• In terms of politics and governance, there's no indication the man considers things in any way beyond the superficial.
• The man expresses himself as might an adolescent. Hell, only half of what he says is even uttered in compete sentences, and that's before considering the vagueness and ambiguity suffusing everything he says.
• He relies entirely on formal authority and bullying rather than cogent and compelling arguments to achieve his objectives. The man even once said he liked getting into fights. When I first heard he'd said that, I thought "WTF, who likes getting into fisticuffs?" Now, I realize why; physical combat was one way in which he could compete and win, and fighting is a very public way of winning something.
• He panders to the electorate's basest emotions rather than to higher morals, ethics and intellect.

One can add to that list, but what occurred to me is that Trump was never an cognitive powerhouse and he's only ever thrived by using force. I would not be surprised to learn that Trump suffered a lot of ribbing over not being demonstrably bright in his early years, and growing up in the "world" he did where most of one's peers are either very smart, very knowledgeable, or both, and make their place in the world as a result of those traits, it'd be seen as a harbinger of worse things to come for Trump, or anyone, who does fit that model. Such individuals would be teased and ridiculed for it (kids are mean is the reason).

I think as a consequence of that formative set of experiences in his youth, the man has been on a lifelong journey to prove that he can keep up with the nerds or best them. In short, he's been trying to overcome a great inferiority complex.

Has he succeeded? Well, not really. He's got a lot of money, but clearly not enough "buy some brains" that he can bring to bear in the pursuit in which he now finds himself -- running the U.S. He's gotten himself elected -- he's good at marketing himself and things, no doubt about that -- but now that he's POTUS, his presidency has moved from one fiasco to the next. That's exactly what one would expect from someone who's really not that smart.

We have been telling you guys on the left all during the election he was just a blue collar liberal with a lot of money. But some on the left wanted to make him some type of white collar elite..

Blue collar, white collar, liberal and conservative are all traits and states of mind that are mutually exclusive from being a "dumb jock" or "nerd."

• Blue collar "nerds": Watchmakers, cabinet makers, electricians, actors, and other tradespeople who routinely and aptly apply critical thinking skills in pursuit of their objectives.
• White collar "dumb jocks": Nurses, attorneys, accountants, and other professionals who do not routinely and aptly apply critical thinking skills in pursuit of their objectives.

In short, being a "dumb jock" or "nerd" is an individual thing, not something that can be inferred using and based upon "common" generalizations about one's career or political stances.

As should be clear now, if it wasn't before, as we observe the Trump presidency, the relationship between financially elite and cognitively elite is at best circumstantial. As for being elite, well, Trump's always been elite, just as he's always been not as smart as the average bear, because he's always been very wealthy, so yes, he's elite. He's just not intellectually elite.

How much less "smart than the average bear" is Trump? Well, I don't have a quantifiable measure of it, but qualitatively I can say he stupid enough not to know his own weakness well enough not to put himself into a situation that is beyond his depth. I believe there are several cliches one might use to describe it:

• He's not smart enough to not bite off more than he chew.
• He's not smart enough to know when to keep mum.
• He's not smart enough to know when to quit while he's ahead.

 

[yiostheoy]

The appointment of a special prosecutor for obstruction of justice will be next.

Then the games will really begin.

Shades of the Ghost of Nixon Past.

 

[gipper]

This afternoon I found myself having a dinner conversation with a assortment of friends and associates. We were sharing our speculations about "what on Earth" motivates Trump's behavior and remarks. One of the diners, a psychiatrist, embarked on a line of mental disorders that got rather technical. As it did, another diner said, "Whoa. The 'shrink-nerd' is coming out. Can we get the layman's version of that?" We all laughed.

As the doctor was "translating," I tuned out for I agreed with him and didn't need to hear the layman's version. What I thought about was that the whole of the public persona and raison d'etre we see as President Trump can be summarized as a man motivated by "revenge on the nerds."

• Trump was, by all accounts, a "dumb jock" in high school. We're told he was good at baseball, but there's not a word about his scholastic performance. Having gone to an Eastern boarding school somewhat similar to the NYMA (the one I attended wasn't the "rich kid" version of reform school), I can tell you some sort of mention about his academic achievement would have been made were he to have been anything more than a "C" student. At the very least, folks would say something akin to "he was an okay student," which, coming from folks raised in that culture, is but half a step above "damning with faint praise."
• He has a bachelor's degree economics and yet his economic policy proposals suggest he has no mastery of even the most fundamental macroeconomic principles. We know he didn't graduate with honors because had he, there'd be a publicly available record indicating as much; thus we know that he wasn't a particularly good student in college.
• The man has no regard for the experts (nerds) who refute his ideas and claims, and he doesn't craft strong and well developed rebuttals to their dissenting arguments.
• In terms of politics and governance, there's no indication the man considers things in any way beyond the superficial.
• The man expresses himself as might an adolescent. Hell, only half of what he says is even uttered in compete sentences, and that's before considering the vagueness and ambiguity suffusing everything he says.
• He relies entirely on formal authority and bullying rather than cogent and compelling arguments to achieve his objectives. The man even once said he liked getting into fights. When I first heard he'd said that, I thought "WTF, who likes getting into fisticuffs?" Now, I realize why; physical combat was one way in which he could compete and win, and fighting is a very public way of winning something.
• He panders to the electorate's basest emotions rather than to higher morals, ethics and intellect.

One can add to that list, but what occurred to me is that Trump was never an cognitive powerhouse and he's only ever thrived by using force. I would not be surprised to learn that Trump suffered a lot of ribbing over not being demonstrably bright in his early years, and growing up in the "world" he did where most of one's peers are either very smart, very knowledgeable, or both, and make their place in the world as a result of those traits, it'd be seen as a harbinger of worse things to come for Trump, or anyone, who does fit that model. Such individuals would be teased and ridiculed for it (kids are mean is the reason).

I think as a consequence of that formative set of experiences in his youth, the man has been on a lifelong journey to prove that he can keep up with the nerds or best them. In short, he's been trying to overcome a great inferiority complex.

Has he succeeded? Well, not really. He's got a lot of money, but clearly not enough "buy some brains" that he can bring to bear in the pursuit in which he now finds himself -- running the U.S. He's gotten himself elected -- he's good at marketing himself and things, no doubt about that -- but now that he's POTUS, his presidency has moved from one fiasco to the next. That's exactly what one would expect from someone who's really not that smart.

I suspect you won't make it as a psychologist.

 

[usmbguest5318]

This afternoon I found myself having a dinner conversation with a assortment of friends and associates. We were sharing our speculations about "what on Earth" motivates Trump's behavior and remarks. One of the diners, a psychiatrist, embarked on a line of mental disorders that got rather technical. As it did, another diner said, "Whoa. The 'shrink-nerd' is coming out. Can we get the layman's version of that?" We all laughed.

As the doctor was "translating," I tuned out for I agreed with him and didn't need to hear the layman's version. What I thought about was that the whole of the public persona and raison d'etre we see as President Trump can be summarized as a man motivated by "revenge on the nerds."

• Trump was, by all accounts, a "dumb jock" in high school. We're told he was good at baseball, but there's not a word about his scholastic performance. Having gone to an Eastern boarding school somewhat similar to the NYMA (the one I attended wasn't the "rich kid" version of reform school), I can tell you some sort of mention about his academic achievement would have been made were he to have been anything more than a "C" student. At the very least, folks would say something akin to "he was an okay student," which, coming from folks raised in that culture, is but half a step above "damning with faint praise."
• He has a bachelor's degree economics and yet his economic policy proposals suggest he has no mastery of even the most fundamental macroeconomic principles. We know he didn't graduate with honors because had he, there'd be a publicly available record indicating as much; thus we know that he wasn't a particularly good student in college.
• The man has no regard for the experts (nerds) who refute his ideas and claims, and he doesn't craft strong and well developed rebuttals to their dissenting arguments.
• In terms of politics and governance, there's no indication the man considers things in any way beyond the superficial.
• The man expresses himself as might an adolescent. Hell, only half of what he says is even uttered in compete sentences, and that's before considering the vagueness and ambiguity suffusing everything he says.
• He relies entirely on formal authority and bullying rather than cogent and compelling arguments to achieve his objectives. The man even once said he liked getting into fights. When I first heard he'd said that, I thought "WTF, who likes getting into fisticuffs?" Now, I realize why; physical combat was one way in which he could compete and win, and fighting is a very public way of winning something.
• He panders to the electorate's basest emotions rather than to higher morals, ethics and intellect.

One can add to that list, but what occurred to me is that Trump was never an cognitive powerhouse and he's only ever thrived by using force. I would not be surprised to learn that Trump suffered a lot of ribbing over not being demonstrably bright in his early years, and growing up in the "world" he did where most of one's peers are either very smart, very knowledgeable, or both, and make their place in the world as a result of those traits, it'd be seen as a harbinger of worse things to come for Trump, or anyone, who does fit that model. Such individuals would be teased and ridiculed for it (kids are mean is the reason).

I think as a consequence of that formative set of experiences in his youth, the man has been on a lifelong journey to prove that he can keep up with the nerds or best them. In short, he's been trying to overcome a great inferiority complex.

Has he succeeded? Well, not really. He's got a lot of money, but clearly not enough "buy some brains" that he can bring to bear in the pursuit in which he now finds himself -- running the U.S. He's gotten himself elected -- he's good at marketing himself and things, no doubt about that -- but now that he's POTUS, his presidency has moved from one fiasco to the next. That's exactly what one would expect from someone who's really not that smart.

I suspect you won't make it as a psychologist.

That's okay as I'm near retiring and have no intention of starting a second career.

 

[waltky]

I would say Bill Gates...

... wins out over any athlete...

... as far as pay goes.

 

[usmbguest5318]

Off Topic:

I would say Bill Gates...... wins out over any athlete...... as far as pay goes.

You can say that, and it's certainly true that Gates is wealthier than is any athlete. Though that is so, the reality is that in terms of making money be a "non factor" in one's ability to enjoy life, raise a family, and avail oneself of many or most of life's discretionary indulgences, one need not be anywhere near as wealthy as Gates. Accumulating enough wealth to "win" is a lot like running in the Marine Corp Marathon -- if one finishes the race in the time allotted, one's a "winner" even though one didn't win the race itself.​

 

[konradv]

Trump reminds me of the high school jocks that thought they were alphas, but were really gammas.