As PJM’s D.C. Editor Bridget Johnson reports, Donald Trump once again hurled a personal insult at a rival for the nomination that questions the candidate’s intelligence.
He said that Jeb Bush was “not a smart person” and Marco Rubio was “foolish and stupid.” He called John McCain a “dummy.” He said that Rick Perry should “take an IQ test.”
Now he comes out and says Rand Paul is “a spoiled brat without a properly functioning brain.”
What is it with these sandbox epithets? Five year olds shout “stupid” and “dummy” at one another, not grown men seeking the most powerful office in the world.
The obvious explanation is that Donald Trump has a massive insecurity when it comes to his own intelligence. He uses the insults to try to prove to himself that he is the equal of the mostly accomplished men and women who are running for the presidency. He also constantly refers to himself a “smart”or “a really smart person,” trying to convince himself of his own intellectual gifts.
He could prove it to us all — if he would only release his college transcripts.
As the Daily Caller pointed out in an article last month, Trump is oblivious to the hypocrisy of his refusal to release his college grades:
Calling President Barack Obama “the least transparent president in the history of this country” back in 2012, Trump offered to give $5 million to the charity of the president’s choosing if he released his college application and transcript.
“The check will be given within one hour after he releases all of the records,” Trump declared in a video.
But now that Trump himself is a candidate for president, he is not exactly volunteering the same transparency he once demanded of Obama. Asked by The Daily Caller if Trump was willing to release his college records before he officially entered the race for the White House, a spokesman for Trump said Team Trump would “pass” on the opportunity in April. Emails Tuesday and Wednesday to the Trump campaign to see if the candidate had reconsidered now that he is officially a candidate went unreturned.
Trump’s refusal to release his transcript is especially peculiar since he regularly touts his brilliance and phenomenal college success on the campaign trail.
“I went to the Wharton School of Business,” Trump routinely notes during campaign speeches. “I’m, like, a really smart person.”
He often adds, as he did in a recent speech in Las Vegas attended by TheDC, that Wharton is the best business school in the country and that he did great there.
And yet, for some reason, Trump doesn’t want to show the American people just how great he did.
Not all candidates release their college grades. But what happens when a candidate’s intelligence — or lack of it — becomes an issue? In the case of President Obama, his campaign was touting his “brilliance,” so requesting that he release his college grades was entirely reasonable, and indeed, expected.
The same could be fairly said of Donald Trump. By questioning the intelligence of his rivals, he is implying that he is smarter than they are. Very well, put your grades where you mouth is, Trump. Let us have a peek at how “great” you did at Wharton, and the other college you attended for two years, Fordham.
Trump’s infantile insults aside, he should also release his grades to show he isn’t a liar. I suspect it will hardly matter to the Trumpbots who mindlessly cheer this idiotic clown on.
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