He's not an idiot entirely; he has skills - they're just not intellectual. They are decaying with age though. Worse than his relative intelligence (I put it at no better than average) though, he's a narcissist. Peak narcissist, in fact, and he's bought into his own cult. He's also desperately trying to stay ahead of the speeding train of consequences, and if he has to destroy what's left of the country to do it, he absolutely will.