Dunning–Kruger effect and the Presidency
I know I am not the first one to go there. I suspect I will hardly be the last. The President of the United States is not a very intelligent man, however, he believes he is. What is more, he is not mature enough, because in his case it is also a matter of emotional intelligence, to realize this. He believes he knows more than anybody around him. He is an expert in literally everything.
You have heard him.
He knows more than the generals, believe him. He also knows more than his intelligence people. At one point we might have diagnosed that as hyperbole, that came from a campaign. There is a strong anti-authority and anti-intellectual undercurrent in American culture. We know this, and historians like Richard Hofstadter and Susan Jacoby have gone into this in two different decades.
So you could make an argument that as this has reached crisis point, this would be a good way for a politician to get elected. We know that there is resentment against those with education, especially when perceived as liberal education. We have seen a very successful campaign over the last forty years to distrust government and experts.
President Donald Trump is not above using these popular appeals. He is a right-wing populist who seeks to divide and sow chaos. But he is also an ignorant fool, an essential man. He…