My IQ Is One of the Highest

Trump is unlike any president in US history. He is a walking casebook of mental issues. Psychologists have diagnosed him as a classic example of narcissistic personality disorder. Some have called him a sociopath. Others have suggested that, based on his erratic behavior and gibberish statements, Trump could have Alzheimer's. 

Today, I would like to explore one aspect of our President's disturbing, multi-troubled psyche. He has a dangerously inflated self-image The man believes that he is highly intelligent, but is not. There is a name for that form of self-delusion. It is called the Dunning–Kruger effect.

The Dunning-Kruger effect is a common human bias in which people who are unskilled in a field vastly over-rate their abilities in that field. They don't know how little they don't know. In Trump's case, he believes that he is much smarter than he actually is. He believes that his mental abilities make him superior to the rest of us. He is ignorant and is ignorant of his ignorance.

Manifestations of Trump's strong Dunning-Kruger bias abound. Here are just a few times that Trump publicly boasted about his imaginary superhuman mental abilities:

In defending his lie that thousands of New Jersey Muslims celebrated the 9/11 tragedy, Trump said, "I have the world’s greatest memory. It’s one thing everyone agrees on." Trump later did not remember saying this.

In defending the fact that he attends very few of his daily intelligence briefings, Trump said,"I get it when I need it. I'm, like, a smart person."

In May 2013, Trump tweeted, "Sorry losers and haters, but my I.Q. is one of the highest -and you all know it! Please don't feel so stupid or insecure, it's not your fault."

At a campaign rally, Trump famously uttered, "I went to an Ivy League school. I’m very highly educated. I know words, I have the best words."

When asked what experts he was conferring with on foreign policy, Trump replied, “I’m speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain and I’ve said a lot of things."

For years, Trump has told anyone who will listen that he graduated from Wharton School of Business with honors. He led people to believe that he graduated with an MBA at the top of his class from one of the nation's top business schools. In reality, he went there two years and, with credits transferred from another school, got an undergrad degree. He was nowhere close to graduating with honors.

Trump somehow never seems to exhibit the "great brain" that he constantly professes to have. He will not read long memos. Aides claim that briefing papers on every subject, no matter how complex, must be condensed to a single page and have no more than nine bullet points. At the recent NATO summit, our allies were requested to keep speeches to four minutes, due to Trump's short attention span.

Presidents Clinton and Obama are voracious readers. Jimmy Carter has written more that 30 books. Even W frequently enjoys a good book. But not Trump. In an interview, Megyn Kelly recently asked what book he last read. Trump's reply was “I read passages, I read areas, chapters, I don’t have the time."

In a Fox interview, Tucker Carlson asked him the same soft-ball question about what he reads. Trump's rambling answer was, "Well, you know, I love to read. Actually, I’m looking at a book, I’m reading a book, I’m trying to get started. Every time I do about a half a page, I get a phone call that there’s some emergency, this or that. But we’re going to see the home of Andrew Jackson today in Tennessee and I’m reading a book on Andrew Jackson. I love to read. I don’t get to read very much, Tucker, because I’m working very hard on lots of different things..."

The actual author of The Art of the Deal, Tony Schwartz, said last year, “I seriously doubt that Trump has ever read a book straight through in his adult life.” During the eighteen months that he spent with Trump, Schwartz said that he never saw a book on Trump’s desk, in his office, or in his apartment.

So the leader of our country is an ignoramus who doesn't read. He doesn't take time to learn any subject at more than a superficial level. He has already demonstrated that he knows nothing about NATO, or our allies, or global warming, or healthcare. He knows nothing about hundreds of other subjects on which he makes critical decisions. More than once, Trump's ignorance has made us an international embarrassment.

Trump lacks the intellectual curiosity and smarts to study the important policy issues. But that is not all. Thanks to his severe Dunning-Kruger bias, he is not even interested in getting the input of our country's top experts. He doesn't need the views of the State Department. He knows more than top government scientists. He thinks the vast intelligence apparatus is wrong. He knows more about defeating ISIS than the generals. After all, he is, like, a smart person.