It’s hard to believe the presidential “debate” was only a little over a week ago. There has been so much going on in the interim that the debate fiasco has been put on the back burner. Which is why many failed to notice how Vice President Biden hit a major nerve by bringing up an extremely sore subject. Trump’s reaction to the use of the word “smart” exposed a prime weakness. It revealed Trump’s Kryptonite.
The chaos of the event saw many barbs being hurled. At 26:35 into the debate, when responding to a question about the coronavirus, Biden commented, ““...a lot more are going to die if he (Trump) doesn’t get smarter.” This really set Trump off as he launched into a verbal tirade about Biden’s college and academic standing, finishing with the muttered, “Don’t ever use the word smart with me, don’t ever use that word.”
Ooh! Struck a nerve, did he?
Trump’s intelligence has long been an issue. It’s an obvious insecurity that he defends whenever he feels threatened. He has called himself “like really smart” and “a stable genius” when his intelligence is questioned. Numerous times he has asserted that he knows more than practically anyone on a variety of subjects including his generals, the IRS, trade, taxes, the government and a myriad of other topics.
And while he belittled Biden’s academic record, and even demanded President Obama’s college transcripts, his own academic records are a mystery. In fact, Trump has gone to great lengths to have his grades hidden. Even so, his niece clams that Trump paid someone to take his SATs to ensure his acceptance to college.
And he went on to leave a trail of failed businesses and multiple bankruptcies.
Does this sound like someone who is “like really smart”?
And yet during the 2016 campaign, when confronted by Hillary Clinton about not paying taxes, he responded “That makes me smart”.
During the same campaign, Trump stated that he “love(s) the poorly educated“. Apparently there’s an obvious reason for this.
As a way to get Biden off his game, Trump constantly interrupted him, which caused Biden to lose his composure more than once. He referred to Trump as a “clown” and in one memorable outburst that has become a meme, an exasperated Biden had enough, and uttered the words we’ve all been dying to hear from White House reporters when Trump is berating them.
“Will you shut up, man?” has been emblazoned on t-shirts, mugs and campaign posters. Instead of making Biden appear unstable, as Trump had hoped, the comment has made him a hero. Even moderator Chris Wallace repeatedly chastised Trump for not allowing Biden his allotted two minutes.
Yet it was the challenge to Trump’s intelligence that drew the most blood. It should be a primary target if any more debates are held. #DumbDonnie should flood his Twitter feed. Trump’s intellect needs to be a constant issue, brought again and again as he attempts to defend his record of failures.
I’ll start.