I don't often feel sympathy for Donald Trump — he's responisble for much of what's happening to him. Still, consider how difficult his position must be. People expect the "smartest person in the room" to have answers and to appear competent constantly. If you're perceived as the opposite, it must be even harder to mask and carry on while everyone doubts you.

The thought occured to me while listening to Supreme Court oral arguments on birthright citizenship, with Donald Trump in the public section. He stayed only about an hour. It must be difficult to sit through discussions full of precedent, case law, and historical references you don't follow. The old advice, "If you don't know, ask," doesn't fit someone who risks exposing ignorance by speaking up. When you believe you must always dominate the room, the impulse is to change the subject or put others down to preserve status.

There might be no shame in being the dumbest person in a room full of Supreme Court Justices, constitutional scholars, lawyers, and media analysts, as Trump was while at the Supreme Court. Trump’s problem is that he’s the dumbest person in every room he goes in. Here are some examples.

The Cabinet Room

The Cabinet Room is located in the West Wing, adjacent to the Oval Office, and has served as the primary meeting space for Cabinet‑level discussions since the early 20th century. The room overlooks the Rose Garden and contains the long mahogany table with engraved chairs for each Cabinet position, with the President seated at the center. While every cabinet member is arguably a subservient lackey, willing to do Trump’s bidding on every matter, they all got there because they are smarter than Trump, though they are willing to trade their dignity for power and money. Each Cabinet meeting begins with each member groveling and praising Donald Trump. Trump has trained them never to contradict him in public while he rambles incoherently about subjects.

Situation Room

The White House Situation Room is located in the West Wing, on the ground floor, directly beneath the Oval Office. It is not a single room but a secure complex of rooms, including conference spaces and briefing rooms. It was created in 1961 after the Bay of Pigs invasion, when President Kennedy realized the White House lacked a centralized, real‑time intelligence hub.

The Situation Room serves as the president’s command and information center for national security matters. Its core functions include: real‑time intelligence monitoring from military, diplomatic, and intelligence agencies, crisis management, including wars, terrorist attacks, and natural disasters, and secure communications with the Pentagon, CIA, foreign leaders, and military commanders. The room hosts high‑level decision‑making meetings involving the president, vice president, National Security Council, and senior advisors. Everyone invited to the Situation Room is there because of a specific expertise in the matter at hand, except for the person hosting the meeting, the dumbest person in the room. That might not be so bad if he had the capacity to listen and absorb information from others. These are not his spiritual gifts; he prefers to talk. If you ask how the war in Iran has become so mismanaged, it’s because the dumbest person in the room is making the decisions.

The Oval Office

The Oval Office is the president’s private working office, not a public meeting hall, so who visits it is tightly controlled. Access signals status, trust, or official purpose. Routine visitors include the Vice President, the Chief of Staff, the National Security Advisor, Senior White House aides, and Cabinet members, usually on a one-on-one basis rather than as a group. The Oval also hosts photo-ops for bill signings, which might include people from all walks of life, including children. All of them are smarter than the President. Everyone else knows enough not to tell a lie when people know you’re lying. Trump is the Emperor with no clothes, except no one around him is willing to tell him.

Mar-a-Lago

Trump often finds himself in the Mar-a-Lago dining room or clubhouse. It’s the place where he can come closest to being relaxed. His only obligation isn’t to appear smart, but to be funny. All criticism aside, Trump can actually be funny, and he is good at holding court, if you don’t mind that everyone around him will sooner or later become the butt of the joke. When he runs out of jokes, he might show you some classified information or share top-secret plans, all to make himself seem intelligent. He isn't. Full stop.