I see no evidence that he’s intelligent, let alone brilliant. Intelligent people are able to deal with reality.
Maybe it’s the difference between the use of facts and certain unchanging truths. Facts, in the sense of the details of circumstances around us, are temporal but certain truths never change. How facts and truth are used seem to depend on certain underlying values and beliefs of the user.
It seems like at some point most people develop and are guided by their values and beliefs more than by the apparent facts. They are aware of the facts but they are not guided by them, at least long-range. Both Reagan and Obama had preset values and beliefs that guided their Presidency. I don’t think either one ignored the facts, but both wanted to change circumstances (facts) by implementing their values and beliefs.
Popular culture, especially the Left, loves to evaluate people and public figures on their intelligence. But more important than intelligence IMO is the degree that person believes in the truth or believes in falsehood.
Ultimately truth works and lies don’t. The results of Reagan’s and Obama’s presidency isn’t so much a matter of intelligence as it is about belief. The reason Reagan’s Presidency was so successful is it was guided by beliefs in certain fundamental, unchanging truths. The reason Obama’s presidency fails or will ultimately fail is the same reason socialism always fails: they are both based on belief in falsity.
Neither do I