Analyst links Trump's rise to 'danger of stupidity' theory - MSN
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Theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer's chilling theory that stupidity — not evil — is democracy's greatest enemy is being used to explain why Trump's political grip refuses to loosen.
Bonhoeffer's Theory of StupidityAuthoritarian Personality TheorySocial ConformityEpistemic Closure
Theory Briefing
- Analyst Brynn Tannehill applies Bonhoeffer's Theory of Stupidity to argue Trump's power is sustained not by malice but mass intellectual surrender.
- Bonhoeffer warned that stupidity is more dangerous than evil because it is immune to reason — a lens Tannehill says fits Trump's base perfectly.
- The theory implies that rational counter-arguments and fact-checking are futile tools against a movement rooted in willful, socially reinforced stupidity.