1/ We underestimate the danger from Trump when we call him "dumb", "stupid", "incompetent" or "a loser". Trump is *cunning*.

2/ Smart, educated people said that Trump couldn't win the Republican primary in 2016. Smart, educated people said his campaign was disorganized and amateurish. They laughed as he made errors only a rube could make.

3/ Then Trump won the primary. Smart, educated people continued to laugh. He was violating everything that smart, educated people knew about politics. He couldn't possibly win the general election. The polls proved it. They said the whole Republican Party would suffer a drubbing.

4/ Then Trump won the 2016 general election and the Republican Party won both houses of Congress. He outwitted the smart, educated people who thought they knew it all—again and again, as he has done all his life.

5/ Trump is the most successful criminal in U.S. history. Most criminals spend their lives in and out of jail. Trump swindled 10,000s of people for millions of dollars, laundered money as the FBI watched, and much more, and yet he's never been arrested. And now he is President.

6/ You might say, "Ah, but he didn't do that all on his own. He had help." Yes, he enlisted the cooperation of other crooks, and he lured many people into his web of corruption. That is how organized crime works.

7/ You might say, "Ah, but he lost a billion dollars in business. That proves he's incompetent." A common method of laundering money is to make phony business losses cover transfers of illegally gained money back to criminals. We don't know the details yet.

8/ You might say, "But he lost money running a casino! Doesn't he know the house always wins? HA HA." "Losing" money through a casino is a classic money-laundering technique. The large cash transfers are untraceable. (High-priced real estate: similar.)

9/ By the way, notice how cheap that wisecrack is. If casinos are so profitable, why doesn't everyone just invest in casinos? A moment of thought suggests that it's not so easy. What might be shutting off our critical thinking when we call Trump stupid?
https://vegasclick.com/casinos/profits 

10/ You might say, "Ah, but he lost the popular vote. That proves he's a loser." Yes. Yet he's President and Hillary is not. Exit polls suggest cheated vote tallies in key states, along with many forms of voter suppression. Trump wins by cheating—a lot.
http://tdmsresearch.com/2016/11/10/2016-presidential-election-table/

11/ You might say, "Oh, come on, he's not some mastermind who could have planned all this out." Indeed no one is that smart. Trump, like all criminals, is an opportunist. He trusts that whatever trouble lying gets him into, he can escape with more lying. So far, it's worked.

12/ You might say, "Trump is so dumb, he thinks they rake forests in Finland." Trump doesn't know, care, or think anything about forests in Finland or any of his other nonsense. Trump doesn't say what he thinks, he says what he thinks will manipulate whoever is listening.

13/ You might say, "Ah, but he misspelled 'smoking'. That proves he's stupid." Yes, Trump is a poor speller and makes typographical errors on his phone.

14/ Let that sink in. Trump is a poor speller and makes typographical errors on his phone. Trump is a poor speller and makes typographical errors on his phone. A nation rises up to taunt a criminal, treasonous President over a spelling error. #1 trend on Twitter every time.

15/ When liberal "elites" pounce en masse to humiliate Trump over some triviality, his base sees that as proof that Trump is "winning". They don't know or care about Finnish forests any more than you do. They just see that you're outraged. The outraged party is the loser.

16/ Nearly every day, Trump says something plainly absurd or outrageous, and the press gives it enormous attention. It's bait, and we're taking it. Public attention is diverted from the gigantic destruction and corruption such as that listed here: https://twitter.com/TSubtext/status/917063343365431297

17/ Demagogues throughout history have played the buffoon in public. It's a
tactic: the rabble identify with the demagogue and enjoy the defiance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demagogue#Vulgarity_and_outrageous_behavior
(Click, and see also the section on Hitler—another buffoon underestimated by
elites.)

18/ You might say, "Ah, but his policies on trade etc. are simplistic and bad for his own voters. That proves he's a simpleton." Like most demagogues, Trump *doesn't care* about policy. He only cares what whips his base into a fury right now. His policies do that.

19/ If Trump's policies cause pain, poverty, and illness to his voters, that's an added bonus, because authoritarians are normally placid and only get riled up by pain, threat, and crisis. Trump riles them up every day—and liberals help. https://twitter.com/Teri_Kanefield/status/1117808328405479424

20/ That's right: by taunting back, by insulting Trump's voters, by putting your energy and attention on trivialities and nonsense, by yelling "Fuck tRump!", you're helping Trump rile up his base. You're helping solidify their support for him. Trump is outsmarting *you*.

21/ Ask any salesman: the person who thinks he's smarter than everyone else in the room is often the most easily played.

22/ If you're getting off on calling Trump and his voters stupid, consider your own ego in this. Why, of all things, are you insulting people over spelling errors? Is calling Trump dumb helping you *feel superior*? That's a weakness that a cunning con man can exploit.

23/ You don't buy his lies but he manipulates you into helping him sell them to his marks. You don't notice, because you think you're too smart for Trump to con you. Every time you feed your ego by calling him dumb, you feed the blind spot he's exploiting. https://www.heartland.org/news-opinion/news/trump-was-right-about--raking-finnish-forests

24/ You might say, "Ah, but he didn't keep his promises: no wall, Mexico didn't pay, no trillion-dollar infrastructure, no new health care, etc. So he's not a talented politician." Yes, he didn't keep his main promises. Everyone knows this. There's no hiding it.

25/ And his voters are chanting "Promises made, promises kept." Who but a first-rate manipulator could pull that off?
https://twitter.com/search?l=&q=%22promises%20made%2C%20promises%20kept%22%20until%3A2019-05-12&src=typd

26/ And finally, you might say, "Ah, but he's sure to lose in 2020!"

Really?

27/ Smart, educated people said that Trump couldn't unravel our Constitutional system of checks and balances. And then, like all dictators, he started eroding the power of the judicial and legislative branches to oppose him. He's now "joking" about suspending elections.

28/ Given Trump's skill at manipulating the press and his base, his extensive web of support and funding from corrupt plutocrats and politicians, his aid from Russian intelligence and organized crime, Republican control over easily cheated computerized voting machines,

29/ and his 24/7 propaganda outlet at Fox News, not to mention Trump's position of power as President, where he's installed countless judges (two on the Supreme Court, one apparently corrupt), he oversees law enforcement (!), and he can order military action for political gain,

I suggest that it's time we look for more effective means of removing Trump than taunts and insults. /