These pundits who are analyzing Trump's picks and thinking he is playing chess, are full of shit
Trump is not a smart man and he's not a disciplined man who is going to take the time to think about how to out maneuver the Senate or Putin or anyone. Some of the picks that seem "normal" are probably just people who were recommended to him. Others like Gaetz and Tulsi Gabbard are just dumb-ass Trump picking people who have been loyal to him. Not to mention, Trump is a malignant narcissist who literally thinks his instincts are always correct and that he is smarter than everyone else on the planet. So he just wants people who will say "Yes Mr. President, you are 100% correct and so brilliant!". But lets remember, this is a guy who thinks windmills cause cancer, that injection of disinfectants could kill Covid, that tariffs are good economic policy that immigrants are eating dogs and cats, that deporting 10 million people won't hurt the economy.
In college I learned about the different levels of reasoning. When I think about those different levels it's clear that Trump never developed beyond conventional reasoning because he never had to with everything handed to him. This type of reasoning values things like bigger is better, my dad is stronger than your dad, lots of money makes one person better than another etc. Unfortunately, it appears that half the country never developed past this level or reasoning as well, so when Trump talks on the campaign trail, he is speaking the language of a lot of just stupid, shallow people. Democrats and more advanced Republicans developed abstract reasoning. We understand that bigger and stronger doesn't necessarily mean better and that morality is complex and often means self-sacrifice. Essentially, conventional (child like) thinking like Trump and MAGA have, is focused on self-interest, perceived strength and immediate outcomes, while abstract reasoning like anyone who has a moderate amount of intelligence, is concerned with higher-level ethical concepts including self-sacrifice for the greater good. It just seems like pundits and even many here on DU are giving Trump and his flying MAGA monkeys, way too much credit. They should be analyzing Trump and his decision making the way we would analyze a child with conventional reasoning, who still thinks things like bigger is better and stronger is better. I really don't think it goes much deeper than that. It also goes to show that if Dems could learn a bit better how to talk on this dumbed-down level, we might break through a little better to all the low IQ people out there.
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Especially NOW> 
