Trump says he trusts his 'gut' over 'brains' of experts and we honestly just don't know where to start

Everyone knows that Trump thinks he is a pretty great guy.

In fact, he makes sure to regularly remind us; remember when he said that he is "Like, Really Smart" and "A Very Stable Genius"? He even reminded us of this on Thanksgiving, when he tweeted that he was grateful for himself – “President T”- and his administration for all of their amazing accomplishments.

But when a man who single-handedly has the power to make a serious impact – from separating children and their families at the border to starting a nuclear war with North Korea – says he trusts his "gut" over the advice of experts, things start to become a little worrying.

In an interview with TheWashington Post on Tuesday, Trump said he trusted his “gut” over the “brains” of experts, while addressing his discontent with his Federal Reserve chairman.

Speaking about the General Motor’s announcement of laying off more than 14,000 employees, the declines in the stock market and fears of an economic downturn, Trump said this:

I’m doing deals, and I’m not being accommodated by the Fed. They’re making a mistake because I have a gut, and my gut tells me more sometimes than anybody else’s brain can ever tell me.

Then, he turned to criticising Jerome “Jay” Powell, the chairman of the Federal Reserve. Of him, the US president said:

So far I’m not even a little bit happy with my selection of Jay,” he said. “Not even a little bit. And I’m not blaming anybody, but I’m telling you I think that the Fed is way off-based with what they’re doing

This is not the first time the Trump has claimed that he knows more than experts, even repeatedly stating that he does not need to read up on issues because he has such a strong sense of his own instincts.

So, in spirit of the year ending, lets have a look at some of the times Trump said he's trusted himself, or his allies, over experts with much more knowledge in a field.

1. Russian interference in the election.

Despite intelligence agencies claiming that the Russians meddled in the 2016 US election and there being a significant amount of evidence to back this up, Trump said he preferred to believe the ex-KGB chief and current Russian president Vladimir Putin. After leaving the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit earlier this year, the US president said:

Every time he [Putin] sees me he says :'I didn't do that,' and I really believe that, when he tells me that, he means it.

2. North Korea.

When asked if he had prepared for his historical meeting with dictator Kim Jong Un earlier this year, he said:

I don’t think I have to prepare very much.

He continued by saying: "It’s about attitude, its about willingness to get things done. So this isn’t a question of preparation, it’s a question of whether or not people want it to happen, and we’ll know that very quickly."

3. Climate change.

One topic Trump especially knows a lot about, according to himself, is climate change. In fact, in the very same Washington Post interview, the president again disputed the consensus of the 97 per cent of scientists who claim that climate-warming trends are down to human activities. He said:

One of the problems that a lot of people like myself, we have very high levels of intelligence but we're not necessarily such believers.

He continued:

You look at our air and our water, and it’s right now at a record clean. As to whether or no it’s man-made and whether or not the effects that you’re talking about are there, I don’t see it.

Only statements like these can result in embarrassing incidents, like when a teenager shut down the US president on Twitter with the best response after he tweeted:

Brutal and Extended Cold Blast could shatter ALL RECORDS- Whatever happened to Global Warming?

4. Relationship with Saudi Arabia after the Jamal Khashoggi murder.

Even after an extensive CIA report was released that concluded that the Saudi prince Mohammed bin Salman was in charge of ordering the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Trump said this :

“But he denies it. And people around him deny it. And the CIA did not say affirmative he did it, either, by the way. I’m not saying he didn't’ do it, but they didn’t say it affirmatively."

Also, as leaders around the world listened to an alleged audio recording of the killing presented by Turkish president Recep Tayyip Edogan, Trump refused to do so himself, telling Fox News Sunday this:

We have the tape. I don’t want to hear the tape. No reason for me to hear the tape. I was briefed.

HT Newsweek

More: 5 most worrying things Trump said during his 60 minutes interview