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Donald Trump's 'Nuclear' Uncle (newyorker.com)
An anonymous reader writes:
In 1936 a reporter watched Donald Trump's uncle John, an MIT professor of engineering, as he was struck by two high-voltage sparks while demonstrating the grounding of an new X-ray machine which could generate a million volts of power. And immediately after Nikola Tesla's death in 1943, the FBI called John G. Trump to review the scientific papers Tesla left behind, according to a new article in The New Yorker. They joke that now John's nephew Donald "seldom sounds as ungrounded as when he invokes Professor Trump, the younger brother of his father, Fred," while campaigning for president. But while comparing the candidate's statements to the historical record, they conclude that "John Trump really does seem to have been a brilliant scientist," noting that he performed both radar and short-wave research for the allies during World War II and helped design medical X-ray machines.
Trump is surely a very intelligent person.
I don't know about this.
Scott Adams seems to think Trump is a "master persuader" and I do agree he seems to have some genuine talent to appeal to his base that other candidates lack but I don't think it's necessarily intelligence.
I really think the core of his appeal is just saying the first thing that comes to mind and not care about offending people. That's why he's able to come up with memorable insults (or uncommon yet popular policy positions), it's because he's saying the things everyone has noticed but hasn't said out of politeness or practicality. I think the reason we haven't seen other people use this strategy is the problem he's hitting now. Offending so many people creates a ceiling of support and it's really tough for him to get more votes (or have a future in politics if that were his career).
As for his intellect in general, I think he's at least average intelligence, he did get a university degree and probably became pretty competent in real estate and some aspects of business, but otherwise I don't see any evidence of high intelligence, especially not in what he says.
The fact he shares 25% of his genes with a smart physicist is an interesting tidbit, though it doesn't really mean he's smart himself.
I stole this Sig
Do not confuse the Trump you see on TV with who he really is. That is a fabrication. He says crazy off the wall things to draw attention to the fact he wants to negotiate. He has written whole books on the fact he likes to do that.
He is making you think past the sale with anchoring. It is a sales technique.
Take for example his 'i am going to build a wall'. It is ridiculous and stupid on all levels. It is plainly stupid, he knows it. However it makes you think what could we do to stop the wall what sorts of things can we do to make other barriers. It makes Mexico think 'he might cut off our aid we better do *something*'. That is what he is doing.
Another example is NATO. He is saying he wants to pull out. That will make Europe think 'oh wait we actually do like having a military'. We are basically subsidizing Europe's military. It is a key component of the Marshall plan. After two wars our leaders were tired of being brought into a fight and wanted to smash it out before it started. It is one of the reasons it is much harder to get a gun in Europe. Not because they are socially advanced. We defanged Europe. Trump is trying to flip that around and make them pay for it.
Basic sales. Do not open with what you want. Ask for the moon. If you are trying to get the moon ask for the solar system. Work your way back into what you want plus some. If you are not negotiating for the moon then you are the sucker. It is used to see what your minimum bid is. If your minimum is nothing then you do not want to negotiate and he has no need of you.