"Smarten up" is an idiom and I was using it as such.
"smarten up"
to get smarter; to become more alert and knowing. You had better smarten up if you want to survive around here. I knew he would smarten up sooner or later.
What I meant (and don't believe I have to explain) is that Trump got where he is by NOT being a politician. How he's more deeply involved in the political process and there are many people around him who do not have the best interests of Trump or the country in mind. These people are tools of the establishment and their aim is to bring Trump down.
Trump up until now has refused to play on their field. On their home turf. He's refused to abide by their rules. IF he decides that he needs to take the advice of these experts then he needs to smarten up...wise up...to their aims and goals.
Now maybe this is a moot point because maybe he has wised up or was wised up long ago and knows exactly what he's doing. I hope this is the case. But there have been plenty of people who have succumbed to these so called "experts".
IF you had bothered to read my posting history you would have seen that I am very pro-Trump and was so long before many others on the board. Not that this means anything but it would have given you a starting point for analyzing my comment before you responded to it.
I read your explanation. It still seems pejorative to advise Trump to smarten up quick. If he were losing the primaries and you issued such advice, no one would question it. But at his age, having made billions and roundly vanquished 16 political pros, it seems a bit condescending.
Last I checked Trump was gaining, not losing, on Hillary in the polls. This, with Cruz, Ryan, Lee and many more Establishment types, plus the entire MSM, gunning for him without pause. Yet still he gains.
If Trump has taken a hiatus from certain networks, it wouldn’t be the first time. It also wouldn’t be the first time that strategy paid off in spades. Jmo.