archive https://archive.is/6rPL5
Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, repeatedly warned Trump that Iran would likely disrupt the Strait of Hormuz in response to a U.S. attack, according to a new report in the Wall Street Journal.
Trump, 79, told his administration that he thought Iran would capitulate to the U.S. before it closed the Strait, adding that even if the Strait was threatened, the U.S. military could handle it.
How does anyone still listen to him? Every decision he’s ever made has not come from a place of intelligence, reason or foresight, but just what he feels at that moment.
There are a whole lot of dumbasses out there would rather have a complete idiot in power rather than someone that makes them feel stupid, or, in other words, is clearly smarter, more educated, and more capable than they are.
It’s an infuriating trait and I don’t understand it at all.
I could do a better job than this idiot, and I am self-aware and smart enough to realize I have no business being anywhere near that kind of job. I happen to want people far smarter, more experienced, more education, and more wisdom than myself in there. I don’t feel smaller by having someone better than me in there.
This is about the only job I can think of where there are certain types of idiots that cast about for non-experts for that role. You don’t people agitating to have “outsiders” in their sportsball team. You don’t see them calling for things like “term limits” on sports, either. Same for a whole host of occupations. People don’t put out ads for positions at companies seeking someone with zero experience, but who makes them feel good about their own capabilities in comparison.
But, for a role that We, The People hire for, we have this incredibly bizarre and stupid selection criteria - dumb things that include “wanting to have a beer with them”, or “running the country like a business”. Things like intelligence, capability, education, wisdom, and experience don’t seem to really matter for this hiring process.
The funny thing is that that actually makes you very good for the job, or at least it’s major part of it. A leader of anything from a company to a small work team needs to be the kind of person who can assemble teams of experts and give them the resources they need to succeed.
A combination of: the people in positions of power stand to benefit personally for decisions that are bad for everyone else, and a failure of the people to hold him to account (which is itself caused by a mix of apathy, ignorance, and hatred).
It’s only surprising if you have taken the competence and stability demonstrated over the last 70 years for granted.