The trouble with Donald Trump is that he vastly overestimates his own intelligence and his own abilities. It gives him an entirely unjustified sense of self confidence. He thinks there are simple solutions that others have failed to see because they are less intelligent than he is. The truth is that typically, he thinks the solution is simple because he does not understand the problem.
The case of Trump University is a case in point. From a cynical point of view, it could be regarded as a cruel scam, promising students great wealth if they would just study his methods. When in fact his success is in an industry that is far from rocket science, namely real estate development, and his success was fueled from the start by $14 million in loans from his father, and having learned real estate at his father’s knee, and having a set of contacts in the industry.
But I do not think he went into Trump University believing he was pulling off a clever scam on financial innocents. I think he genuinely believed his promise that people could be taught his mindset and his methods, and that this would enable them to prosper greatly. But then he failed to deliver, because he failed to see that it was a Mission Impossible, and then he lost interest: let’s face it, places like Harvard Business School specialize in teaching business methods, and there was no way he could compete with a poorly supervised and poorly funded effort. And here is the problem. He genuinely believes his promises to solve complicated problems, when he is nothing more than a talented real estate developer whose head has swelled to giant proportions. So that with great conviction and self belief, he makes preposterously giant promises.
I think a major focus of the Clinton campaign should be to dwell at length on his long string of broken promises, underpayment of bills, and on his overestimation of his own abilities.
