Really smart people

TPP has had a long career in a business, higher education, loaded with very smart people.  And one of the initial reaction to the POTUS elect is that he really doesn't know any really smart people, and this does not mean TPP thinks generals and captains of industry are stupids, just people with rather different priorities.  So no yard stick exists for measuring himself other than having made more money than you, but smarts doesn't directly equal money.   And over at the Just Visiting Blog a similar conclusion was reached:

In response to criticism that he only attends the daily intelligence briefing weekly (or so), Donald Trump told Chris Wallace, “I’m, like, a smart person. I don’t have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day for the next eight years.”

President-elect Trump has a habit of telling people he’s smart, frequently boasting of having gone to the Wharton School, and using the exact same, “I’m like, a smart person” formulation in one of his earliest primary rallies.

This got me thinking about the smart people I’ve known.

The smartest people I’ve known never tell you how smart they are. In fact, it’s the opposite, as they’re more than willing to tell you about the things they’re ignorant of.

The smartest people I’ve known are insatiably curious. Everything is interesting to them and that interest often takes the form of enthusiasm.

The smartest people I’ve known read constantly and widely in order to feed their curiosity. Their intelligence is reflected in their knowledge.

When you remark to smart people that you think they’re smart they wince and deflect and say they know lots of smarter people.

If my criteria for identifying smart people is accurate, then it’s safe to say that Donald J. Trump will be, by far, the dumbest President of the United States in history.