The Telegram (St. John's)

A genius walks among us

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It’s a great relief to hear that U.S. President Donald Trump’s oddness is not due to any lack of intelligen­ce, nor to an instabilit­y in his character.

I’m surprised that nobody, myself included, saw beyond his outward appearance, and recognized the remarkable genius, or even the amazing stability hidden behind the façade. It may be that the extreme rarity of this kind of vast intelligen­ce, and this superhuman level of self-control, prevented us from seeing what we had the privilege of witnessing.

On the other hand, it would probably be a mistake to overlook another possibilit­y — that Trump was carefully disguising from us mere mortals the true extent of his mental superiorit­y and his mastery of Zen-like equanimity.

And we, poor fools, didn’t have the astuteness to perceive it! But isn’t that what true genius is all about? To go among the general populace who are thinking their mediocre thoughts, and amusing themselves with childish entertainm­ents, and to protect them from their own dangerousl­y simple misunderst­anding of the Real World?

My own opinion, now that the magnificen­ce of the U.S. president’s true intelligen­ce has been revealed to us, has undergone a radical shift. I now recognize that we have been denigratin­g

Trump unfairly, while he in

his great wisdom has been tolerating our unthinking criticisms and smiling benevolent­ly at our infantile jibes. What an example of forbearanc­e! What a display of selfless dignity! Trump’s glorious presidency will be spoken of with awe by generation­s yet to come, of this I have no doubt.

One shining example of his superior understand­ing, not just of human nature, but also of the power of the advanced imaginatio­n will suffice to justify the president’s prominent place among the pantheon of human geniuses. The building of an imaginary wall to

keep out hordes of imaginary Mexican rapists goes far beyond ordinary human ingenuity. The elegance of this solution to an imaginary problem is the hallmark of an advanced intelligen­ce. Albert Einstein may have discovered the secrets of the atom, but did he ever built a skyscraper?

Leonardo da Vinci may have designed engineerin­g marvels 500 years before we had the technical ability to build them, but did he host a television show?

No, he didn’t. I rest my case.

Ed Healy Marystown

 ?? EVAN VUCCI/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? United States President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with lawmakers on immigratio­n policy in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Jan. 9, in Washington.
EVAN VUCCI/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS United States President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with lawmakers on immigratio­n policy in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Jan. 9, in Washington.

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