Donald Trump's poor decision making ability: he now uses smart approach he called "stupid"

Donald Trump has illustrated that he's great at getting free publicity and making money. However, when it comes to making political decisions, Trump has shown he's incompetent. He's been forced into a smart course of action that he initially called "stupid", but not before his bad decisions have not only hurt his campaign, but have not helped the U.S. as he could have done.

The defunct Trump University is being sued by former students in the court of Gonzalo Curiel, a Mexican-American judge who was born in Indiana and whose father might have been in the U.S. before Trump's Scottish mother [1]. Curiel is associated with the San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association (SDLRLA), which is part of the California La Raza Lawyers. That group was co-founded by the late anti-white extremist Mario Obledo.

The smart course of action was for Trump to let the case be tried in the courts and maybe have proxies who aren't directly linked to Trump question the judge's impartiality based on the SDLRLA connection. However, even doing something like that would be problematic because it would indicate that, if president, Trump might use his office to protect or to enrich his businesses. What if, for instance, Trump wants to build a casino in China and Chinese leaders resist? Would he publicly denounce them, even if doing so would harm U.S. interests? The state isn't Trump Org, but it's not clear whether a president Trump would care.

If Trump did decide discussing the case in public was a wise idea, then he'd have to be sure to do it correctly and always tell the truth and do it in a way that doesn't help his opponents. We could even have had a real debate about racial power groups like the National Council of La Raza (whose Cecilia Munoz is now with the White House). And, cognizant of the IMPORTANT NOTE that's been at the penultimate link for several years, Trump would have made sure his proxies didn't help the NCLR by confusing one group with "La Raza" in their name with another.

Needless to say, the decisions Trump made weren't like that. What he did didn't help him, it didn't help the U.S., and it gave his opponents yet another way they could criticize him as unfit to lead the U.S.

Trump called the judge "Mexican", even though that's false: he's an American of Mexican descent. That distinction means little to Trump's supporters, yet by lying about the judge and doing it in a racial way, Trump gave the media a huge opportunity to make Trump look bad. Trump's spokeswoman Katrina Pierson confused the SDLRLA with the NCLR and Trump's supporters were even worse. The media has taken advantage of that on dozens of occasions; one example at [2].

When a member of the Trump campaign realized how much damage was being done, she tried to stop it. Trump overruled her and suggested continuing the actions that were harming his campaign. From [3] about a meeting on Monday, June 6:

An embattled Donald Trump urgently rallied his most visible supporters to defend his attacks on a federal judge's Mexican ancestry during a conference call on Monday in which he ordered them to question the judge's credibility and impugn reporters as racists.

“We will overcome,” Trump said, according to two supporters who were on the call and requested anonymity to share their notes with Bloomberg Politics. “And I’ve always won and I’m going to continue to win. And that’s the way it is.”

...When former Arizona Governor Jan Brewer interrupted the discussion to inform Trump that his own campaign had asked surrogates to stop talking about the lawsuit in an e-mail on Sunday, Trump repeatedly demanded to know who sent the memo, and immediately overruled his staff.

“Take that order and throw it the hell out,” Trump said.

Told the memo was sent by Erica Freeman, a staffer who circulates information to surrogates, Trump said he didn't know her. He openly questioned how the campaign could defend itself if supporters weren't allowed to talk.

“Are there any other stupid letters that were sent to you folks?” Trump said. “That's one of the reasons I want to have this call, because you guys are getting sometimes stupid information from people that aren't so smart.”

...The e-mailed memo, sent by Freeman on Sunday, was cc'd to campaign manager Corey Lewandowski; Hope Hicks, Trump's top communications staffer; and Rick Gates, a top aide to campaign chairman Paul Manafort. It informed surrogates that “they're not authorized to discuss matters concerning the Trump Organization including corporate news such as the Trump University case.”

“The best possible response is ‘the case will be tried in the courtroom in front of a jury - not in the media,’” according to the e-mail, obtained by Bloomberg Politics.

The very next day, Trump released a statement on his website ("Donald J. Trump Statement Regarding Trump University", [4]) that did what he'd called "stupid" the day before. It ended with this (bolding added):

While this lawsuit should have been dismissed, it is now scheduled for trial in November. I do not intend to comment on this matter any further. With all of the thousands of people who have given the courses such high marks and accolades, we will win this case!

As president, Trump would make decisions that could impact millions or even billions of people. He'd have his finger on the button. Would he make the right decisions about those responsibilities when he can't make the right decisions about how to handle a relatively minor matter? Would his seeming inability to tell the truth and to choose the best option give America's enemies an opening they could use to undercut the U.S.?

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[1] cnn . com/2016/06/06/politics/
judge-gonzalo-curiel-donald-trump-university/

[2] businessinsider . com/
r-as-trump-fans-attack-la-raza-civil-rights-group-members-cringe-2016-6

[3] bloomberg . com/politics/articles/2016-06-06/
trump-orders-surrogates-to-intensify-criticism-of-judge-and-journalists

[4] donaldjtrump . com/press-releases/
donald-j.-trump-statement-regarding-trump-university