Poor Donald Trump. Just a week ago he declared only “a stupid person” would turn down a $400 million luxury plane presented to him as a personal gift by Qatari royals. But it seems like he is the stupid one twice over.
Forbes has reported that Qatar’s rulers had put the plane on the market in 2020 but failed to find a buyer, suggesting they decided to offload the 747 on the US president to save them “a big chunk of change on maintenance and storage costs”, given “the fading demand for these huge, fuel-guzzling, highly personalised aeroplanes”.
It turns out you should, in fact, look a gift horse in the mouth. Charlie Haughey could vouch for that.
Flattered by the attentions of a wealthy international art dealer in 1989, the then taoiseach accepted his donation to the State of seven pedigree Arabian horses which, when they arrived on Irish soil, were found to be “of a very poor standard”. Declassified State papers revealed the taxpayer was left with a hefty bill for transport and stables for the millionaire’s nags.
The lesson for puffed-up leaders is to, literally or figuratively, kick the tyres of any jets that the superrich try to offload on you before you say yes.
But Trump has revealed his stupidity in a deeper and more profound sense by trousering an expensive bounty in a blatantly unethical manner. To understand why, we need to go back to Socrates and his principle that no one does wrong voluntarily. Immorality is the result of ignorance.
Too often in public debate an assumption is made that wrongdoers are acting with malice. Dig a bit deeper, however, and one usually finds a perverse logic – a stupidity, in other words – that motivates the offender’s actions.
There is a strong flavour of Socratic thinking in Christianity. “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do,” said Jesus as he was being crucified. Before condemning anyone for moral transgressions they should be pitied, or at least understood. Pope Francis reiterated the point, describing selfishness as “a form of self-harm . . . Selfishness is stupid”.
The Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer developed this idea into a general theory of stupidity. Writing from a German prison, after being arrested by the Nazis for plotting against Adolf Hitler, he declared: “Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. One may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of force. Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion in that it leaves behind in human beings at least a sense of unease. Against stupidity we are defenceless”.
Trump is no Hitler. But he is tearing up international law. Using political office to personally enrich himself is part of that. So too is his style of using war for commercial opportunities – whether it’s accessing rare minerals in Ukraine or licensing private firms to provide food in Gaza. (Sure, you’d be “stupid” not to take your cut.)
Before we get too judgmental, however, Trump is acting in ways familiar to any citizen in late-stage capitalism. He is what Keynesians would call the “rational economic actor” writ large.
According to “rational choice theory” in economics, individuals will try maximise their advantage – and to minimise their losses – in any situation.
Trump can break rules against accepting personal gifts as US president because there is only an upside. He doesn’t have to worry about losses since he has already dismantled official systems of accountability. The rest of us don’t have that power. If you don’t pay your taxes, there’s a good chance Revenue will come after you and penalties await.
Looked at this way, it’s not moral superiority that makes us play by the rules while the oligarchs cheat. Rather it is economic rationality. So before condemning Trump, it is worth considering whether you have your own price? Would you break a moral code if it was “rational” on a cost-benefit basis?
Under today’s crony capitalism, Trump represents a pure form of economic rationality. He also epitomises stupidity in Socrates’ understanding of the word. No one would intentionally harm themselves, the Greek philosopher said. But, through ignorance, the greedy and vain man destroys his own character.
Writing as fascism marched across Europe, Bonhoeffer realised that rationality – or what passed for it in civilised society – was itself the problem since millions of Germans saw Hitler as the logical answer to their problems. Against tyranny, he asked: “Who stands firm?” His answer: “Only the one whose ultimate standard is not his reason”. It is the person who is “prepared to sacrifice all” for higher principles – specifically, for Bonhoeffer, Christian faith.
Bonhoeffer turned down opportunities to escape Nazi Germany. Was that stupid of him? He didn’t think so:
“The ultimate question for a responsible man to ask is not how he is to extricate himself heroically from the affair, but how the coming generation is to live. It is only from this question, with its responsibility towards history, that fruitful solutions can come, even if for the time being they are very humiliating.”
A few months after writing those words, Bonhoeffer was arrested. On April 9th 1945, he was stripped naked and executed with five other prisoners at Flossenbürg concentration camp. He was aged 39.
