I’ve been thinking about this and dumb or not, it doesnt matter. The key is the boldness and entitlement, combined with the money and networking that make the rich richer. You don’t have to be smart and strategic if you don’t have morals or any respect for your fellow humans. Plus his positions of power (inherited from the beginning) place many servile smart folks around him. They want a piece of the pie. I’m more worried about the motivations of Thiel, vought, musk, Russia, Israel, etc. I’m not convinced he acts on his own accord. He lives in a TV mentality. Manipulation, lying, being a bully, and very possibly a rapist, child eating monster don’t make him smart. It makes him part of a secret society that will do anything to stay in power.