China achieves 'incredible gains' in A.I. as U.S. excels in 'human stupidity': columnist

New York Times columnist David Brooks sharply criticized President Donald Trump and his new administration’s actions over the last few days in a blistering takedown that he said only one word can accurately describe: “stupid.”

Brooks, a longtime conservative commentator turned well-known MAGA critic, slammed Trump’s deluge of orders in his latest opinion column Thursday – emphasizing one particular new order.

“This was the week in which the Chinese made incredible gains in artificial intelligence and the Americans made incredible gains in human stupidity,” Brooks wrote. While he clarified that he’s not saying Trump administration officials “are not intelligent,” Brooks added that they still “produced volleys of stupidity this week.”

He listed as examples the administration’s continued threats to impose “ruinous tariffs” on Canadian and Mexican imports that Brooks said would only "drive up inflation in America.” He also noted Trump attempted a “general purge” of the federal workforce.

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But Trump's decision to freeze hundreds of billions of dollars in federal loans and grants – and his subsequent move to rescind it – fired up Brooks. The move rocked Capitol Hill and sent scores of agencies and individuals into chaos as they scrabbled to grasp the directive.

“This Trump policy was like trying to cure acne with decapitation,” Brooks told readers a day after Trump reversed the order. “Nobody seems to have asked the question: If we freeze all grant spending, what will happen next? Once the ramifications of that stupidity became obvious, Trump reversed course.”

Brooks then made a “big prediction” for the administration moving forward.

“It will churn out a steady stream of stupid policies, and when the consequences of those policies begin to hit Trump’s approval rating, he will flip-flop, diminish or abandon those policies,” Brooks concluded. “He loves popularity more than any idea.”