Nobody

Written by

Ophelia Benson

in

Golly. I know it seems silly to be surprised by anything about Trump at this point, but still, this caused me to manage it.

I can’t imagine saying this ONCE, let alone so many times it goes on for two minutes and ten seconds. His fans would say it’s just theatrics, just being The Donald, yadda yadda – but there’s no space between just being himself and this grotesque string of claims to be omniscient. Any possible space has been obliterated as we’ve watched him performing Man Who Thinks He’s Best At Everything And Knows More About Everything Than Anyone.

Also, it occurs to me, it’s sort of explanatory. This is why nothing gets through to him, ever. He really does think he knows more than anyone else, and not just about his chosen subjects but about everything. He knows more about designing a stealth battleship than anyone – what you do is, you make the hull bigger, you make it beautiful. He and he alone knows that. He’s like a god, only better, because he knows more than any god.

Remember when one of the popular mantras was how crucial it is to have high self-esteem? Yeah.

Comments

17 responses to “Nobody”

  1. Harald Hanche-Olsen Avatar
    Harald Hanche-Olsen

    Did anyone say Dunning–Kruger? Donald Trump is the undisputed King of the Dunning–Kruger effect! Nobody knows more about Dunning–Kruger than everybody who is not Donald Trump. (Uh, did that make logical sense? Never mind. It sounds good.)

  2. Piglet Avatar
    Piglet

    The battleship thing is especially notable because it’s a literal case of “all of this has happened before, all of this will happen again”

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasa_(ship)

  3. axxyaan Avatar
    axxyaan

    Remember when one of the popular mantras was how crucial it is to have high self-esteem? Yeah.

    Yes but needing high self-esteem doesn’t contradict the need to also be humble.

    As far as I understand it high self-esteem is about having the confidence that you will be able to deal with the problems you are facing. It doesn’t mean you think you already know how to deal with these problems.

    You can be humble in the sense that you acknowledge that at this moment you don’t know a lot of things you need to know in order to properly deal with the problems and at the same time have enough self confidence that you think that eventually you will figure it out.

  4. guest Avatar
    guest

    There are a few things that I know more about than literally anyone else (at least anyone who hasn’t read my PhD work, that’s the nature of having a PhD), and it can irk me when men attempt to mansplain to me on these topics (one of them is something a certain type of man thinks he knows a lot about), but…it’s not something I go around saying in public.

  5. Mike B Avatar
    Mike B

    I know the back of my hand better than anybody.

  6. Bjarte Foshaug Avatar
    Bjarte Foshaug

    As I have previously said in reference to one or two other glaring cases, I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that he was created in his entirety by a freak fluctuation in the Dunning-Kruger-field.

  7. iknklast Avatar
    iknklast

    When you think about it, he is the perfect president for a narcissistic age. The natural outcome of all the MAGAites who know more than the experts; the natural outcome of the narcissistic trans who know more about gender than anyone. Trump is their monster. They are his Frankenstein.

  8. Ophelia Benson Avatar
    Ophelia Benson

    axxyaan – yes but as you say, that’s how you understand it. Other people may understand it as “think highly of yourself no matter what.” They may even understand it as “you know more about everything than anyone else does.”

  9. Omar Avatar
    Omar

    Dr Frankenstein to my knowledge never proclaimed himself to be a god, even though he was a bit of an amateur practitioner in that role. But the Roman emperor Caligula did just that, so he gets my vote as THE Trumpian analogue.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caligula

  10. iknklast Avatar
    iknklast

    True, Omar, but it is his followers I designated Frankenstein, not him. They gave him encouragement, treasured his every word, even as he presented himself as a god, something most people would get in hot water for. “What, you think you’re God? Blasphemy!”

  11. iknklast Avatar
    iknklast

    Of course, the analogy is still weak. The monster never called himself god, either.

  12. Your Name's not Bruce? Avatar
    Your Name’s not Bruce?

    So he knows MORE about EVERYTHING than ANYONE? I guess that means he applies his own make-up then, right?

    His fans would say it’s just theatrics, just being The Donald, yadda yadda – but there’s no space between just being himself and this grotesque string of claims to be omniscient.

    Can you imagine their reaction to any Democrat making even a quarter of these claims? His base says he’s “honest”, “plain-talking”, and that he “tells it like it is.” ALL of these claims are bullshit. Honesty? These claims are all lies. Plain-talking? Trump is selling pure, weapons-grade snake-oil. Telling it like it is? Empty, delusional boastfullness that wouldn’t stand up to the most basic questions on any of these subjects. It’s funny he claims to “know” all of this stuff, but he never gives any evidence of acting on any of this knowledge, or behaving in an informed, knowledgible manner. Ever. He only ever acts just like the pig-headed, ignorant, know-nothing blowhard that he is. Sure he makes liberals’ heads explode, but putting someone like him in charge of the country is a fucking death wish.

    Case in point: while running for the Republican nomination back in 2015, in response to a question put to him in one of the debates, it was clear that Trump didn’t know what the American “nuclear triad” was. The doctrinal foundation of the most crucial, strategic aspect of THE EXACT JOB HE WAS SEEKING. The pinnacle of Presidential responsibility and American national survival. HE. DID. NOT. KNOW. Unabashed, appalling, lethal ignorance, proudly displayed, in the wild, right there in the open for all to see. This should have put an end to his cadidacy right there. Sure, you can learn the finer details of your job as you go along, but THIS WASN’T A DETAIL. It was the most important thing, and he showed that he didn’t know it was the most important thing by the simple fact of his ignorance. This is like someone looking to become CEO of McDonalds not knowing what a hamberder hamburger is. Even a lefty, pacifist-ish, Canadian civilian like me, who was not running for the Presidency of the United States of America, knew this. (Nuclear weapons delivered by land based missiles, submarine based missiles, and by aircraft. Thank you. Do I get the job?)

    I bet he still doesn’t know what the triad is.

    He knows more about the environment than anyone else? JFC. It’s one thing to claim some level of knowledge, but to declare superior knowledge to anyone else, including those who’ve devoted their entire careers to it? Fuck all the way off.

    Okay Mr. Nobody Knows More About the Environment Than I Do Trump, here are some questions for you, in no particular order, from someone who’s only read a few books. I imagine many, if not most, of the non-Presidents in our reading audience can answer these too. These should be dead easy for you. Answer off the top of your head. No cheating. No asking others. No Googling. You claim to know this stuff. Okay:now prove it.

    What is the broad theoretical significance of the Younger Dryas event?

    What is thermohaline circulation and why is it important? (Bonus points for linking this answer to the answer of the “Younger Dryas” question above.)

    What are ecosystem services, and why are they important?

    What is a clathrate?

    What is the Anthropocene?

    What is the “greenhouse effect” and why is it important?

    What is biogeography?

    “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution” Why is this so?

    For those playing along at home, feel free to a) answer these questions, and/or b) propose your own questions from any of Mr. Trump’s claimed areas of expertise. (Yes, I know, this is like quiz night on the Titanic, but why not have a bit of fun?)

  13. twiliter Avatar
    twiliter

    My dad hated when I said “I know” even if I did know. I think he cured me of it when I was 7 or 8. He’d get very angry so it’s not a happy memory for me. I think a lot of people learned not to as kids, or maybe not, but I cringe when I hear anyone say it. Of course I cringe when I hear Trump say anything at all, he’s always been an intolerable bore.

  14. Ophelia Benson Avatar
    Ophelia Benson

    Why did he? There’s nothing wrong with saying you know when you do know. It can be said rudely but it doesn’t have to be. The problem with Trump’s saying it is that he doesn’t know.

  15. twiliter Avatar
    twiliter

    I wish I knew, maybe it sounded arrogant to him or something. It did make me a better listener, so there’s that.

  16. iknklast Avatar
    iknklast

    twiliter, that sounds like my granddad, who cured me of ever playing bridge by getting angry at me when I was on the winning team (I was HIS partner) because a child isn’t supposed to beat adults. It was a long time before I felt comfortable winning any game, and I have never played bridge (willingly) again.

    YNnB, I would ask him to describe the basic food chain for his dinner. In reality, Ecology really IS food chains, with a lot of other things on top of it. Who eats whom? Who gets eaten? Where does the waste end up? What are the basic products of photosynthesis and respiration? Many of my students could not answer these questions even after sitting through my classes (though the ones that studied could); it should be no surprise whatsoever that that area of Nebraska went heavily Trump.

  17. twiliter Avatar
    twiliter

    Yes Ikn, I wasn’t supposed to be clever either, but I had 2 great motivators as a kid, reading, and reverse engineering machines and devices. My mechanical aptitude is formidable (not bragging). It was annoying for a lot of people to be sure, my dad especially. So I stopped saying “I know” but I never stopped reading and taking things apart to see how they worked. Maybe my dad’s generation didn’t appreciate kids who were more clever than they were supposed to be — you know, seen and not heard, eat at the kids table, don’t irritate the adults with difficult questions, etc.

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