Inquiring Minds Want to Know: How Stupid Is Donald Trump?

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Ha ha ha ha:


Here’s the New York Times piece that Trump is griping about:

A senator who supports the bill left the meeting at the White House with a sense that the president did not have a grasp of some basic elements of the Senate plan — and seemed especially confused when a moderate Republican complained that opponents of the bill would cast it as a massive tax break for the wealthy, according to an aide who received a detailed readout of the exchange.

Mr. Trump said he planned to tackle tax reform later, ignoring the repeal’s tax implications, the staff member added.

The eternal question is: evil or stupid? Does Trump really not know that the health care bill is a huge tax cut for the rich? Or does he just not want anyone to mention it in his presence? The problem here is that Trump would have to be really, really stupid not to understand that the central provision of both the House and Senate bills is a huge tax cut for the rich. I mean, nobody is that stupid. Right?

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

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