Money and Intelligence

 I have often heard people equate money with intelligence. The belief seems to be that, if someone has money that means they must be smart. The more money they have, the more intelligent they are. This erroneous assumption is often used in conjunction with our current president. They say that, because he was a good businessman, he must be smart. They will ignore the multiple bankruptcies (six by most accounts) using the president’s explanation that such failures are just a normal part of doing business.

While a few bankruptcies may be just the result of unforeseen market fluctuations, sometimes they are a way of cheating investors and financial institutions. In fact, Trump often walked away with a profit when banks and investors were left holding the bag. As many economists have pointed out, had Trump just taken his inheritance from his father and placed it in a stock index fund, he would be far wealthier. His biggest financial gain actually came from hosting a reality television show, The Apprentice. In that regard, Trump is not a successful businessman so much as he is a successful entertainer. How many successful entertainers can you name that are not very bright? I can think of at least one.

He has managed to capitalize on his presidency more than any previous office holder in history. Selling access to himself at a gala dinner through a crypto-lottery was as open a violation of the emoluments law as we have ever seen. The For Sale sign on the White House lawn was a cartoon joke until he brought in a fleet of Tesla’s and turned our government into a car and truck dealership. He is working on “deals” in the Middle East while travelling at the taxpayer’s expense. Hotels and golf courses are to be built in the region with expedited permitting and financing. This is just another way of selling access to his office with side deals and political tradeoffs. Trump's sense of what is legal and right has been corrupted over his many years of ignoring the law and using tactics that others would find morally repugnant.

Trump uses his new tariffs as leverage and has benefitted financially. The Trump Organization has partnered with Vietnam-listed Kinh Bac City Development Holding Corp. to build a $1.5 billion golf course, resort, and residential estate in Hung Yen province, near Hanoi. This is to be located on 2,446 acres along the Red River. Eric Trump (no relation??) was at the recent groundbreaking May 21, 2025. Eric often flies on Air Force One. We should ignore the fact that, while these deals are going through, Donald Trump has imposed a 46% “reciprocal” tariff on Vietnamese goods which forced them into negotiations. They have been granted 90 day pause until July. To that I say, quid pro quo.

The Trump Organization is also developing two golf courses in Jakarta, Indonesia with Hary Tanoesoedibjo, a billionaire media tycoon. Like Vietnam, Indonesia is in talks with president Trump where he promised to delay 32% tariffs until July 9, 2025. Before Trump took office the Indonesian tariffs ranged from 0 to 5%. It's amazing how he is able to get deals not offered to anyone else while in a position to grant huge financial favors at taxpayer's expense. Is he a "good businessman" or just another corrupt politician?

So, the question remains. Is Donald J Trump a very smart businessman or just an average guy born on third base attempting to steal home? To me, he was born rich, could have made something worthwhile of himself, but instead decided to use what he had been given to play hard, have a good time, exploit others, break the law, become infamous, and eventually use his image to grab the White House while Democrats were asleep at the wheel.

His “good fortune” was mostly a birthright that he used to make a great deal of money through treachery, intimidation, manipulating the legal system, taking advantage of others who trusted him, and finally using a position of trust to openly take advantage of the less fortunate. There are successful business people and there are successful crooks. I believe him to be the latter. If you equate intelligence with being a successful thief, the man’s a genius.

I am reminded of an old joke about intelligence. A man is driving his car when he has a flat tire next to an insane asylum. While changing his tire, he places the lug nuts into his hub cap (I told you this was an old joke). Before he can mount the new tire, another car comes down the road and hits the hub cap and all the lug nuts get thrown into a nearby canal. The man is now at a loss at what to do when a man on the other side of the sanitarium fence gets his attention. That man asks him why he doesn’t just take one lug nut from each of the other three wheels to make a temporary fix that will let him get to a garage. The man is impressed and asks, “Why didn’t I think of that? Why are you in an asylum? “ The other man answers, “I may be crazy, but I’m not stupid.”

Donald Trump was the host of The Apprentice for fourteen seasons, now he is The Apprentice President. I think it is about time he heard his own famous tag line, "You're fired!"