“Anyway, at this point we should assume that the same combination of incompetence and bad intentions that afflicts national security and budget policy applies to everything the Trump administration touches. Incredibly, quite a few investors and journalists still believe that there’s deep thinking underlying the administration’s trade and currency policy. I guarantee you, there isn’t” Paul Krugman Substack
I would expand Nobel Laureate Krugman’s surmise of why the Trump administration keeps showing their incompetence and bad intentions not only in national security and budget policy. but outright governance—details of the secret Houthi battle plan leaked to the media beforehand, their latest faux pas.
Such incompetence comes from a history of dumbing down the Republican Party itself, a history that spans decades and includes denying the theory of evolution, climate change, scientific knowledge and common sense thinking in general.
Matt Lewis, Daily Beast columnist, in his book, Too Dumb to Fail, said this in 2016:
“This is the dirty little secret of the conservative movement in America today: everyone knows that it has lost its intellectual bearings. Empty-headed talking point reciters, rookie politicians who’ve never managed anything in their lives, media clowns such as Donald Trump, dim bulbs in tight pants or short skirts, professionally outraged shout-fest talking heads, and total political neophytes dominate conservative airwaves and the Right’s political discourse.”
Republicans’ incompetence has allowed an autocrat and con artist like Donald Trump to come to power to their own detriment. He is not at all concerned about their agenda, just his own—whether it is invading Greenland or the Panama Canal, attempting to impoverish Canadians so they will give in to his tariff blackmail, or backing out of NATO to please Vladimir Putin,
Republicans’ ‘empty headedness’ shows when they allow Trump/Musk to dumb down their own constituents by shutting down the Department of Education that supports 80 percent of American students in public education. This will harm Republicans’ red states citizens the most. Nine of the lowest ten states ranked on national education scores are red states, according to Wallet Hub.
Such ignorance breeds conspiracy theories, rumors, and feeds an entire propaganda machine to keep certain voters in line that polls show are the least informed politically.
President Trump lied some 30,573, or 21 times a day during his first term, according to a recent NYTimes article. A con artist must lie to cover up and justify earlier lies, whereas a truth-teller doesn’t have to lie or change his or her story. This is basic common-sense thinking, of course, something anyone can understand, if they choose to.
Donald Trump dazzled Republicans so much so that they allowed him to choose the least-qualified candidates to run his government and carry out their agenda of deregulation, tax cuts and tariffs—so he would maintain the disinformation campaign that supports the red meat issues conservatives have always wanted in some form or another—cutting taxes in order to downsize parts of the government that protect the public sector rather than the pockets of the wealthiest.
Tax cuts always sound good to those who don’t believe in the public good of better healthcare, market rules that punish cheaters, and laws that protect the environment.
Dumbing down their electorate makes it easier for MAGA Republicans to lie about issues that require some degree of education and understanding, but it will ultimately come back to bite them. Trump and Republicans are not only harming their red states, but now the whole country with their cuts in social security and national security agencies that protect our military secrets.
So can Trump deliver what Republicans want? I believe as Paul Krugman does—"we can assume that the same combination of incompetence and bad intentions that afflicts national security and budget policy applies to everything the Trump administration touches.”
Harlan Green © 2025
Follow Harlan Green on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarlanGreen
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