I think Trump's real weakness - and one that we're all reeling from now - is that he thrives in one-to-one conflict but has no idea how to manage multiple conflicts, and he also doesn't know how to approach a problem unless he can reframe it for himself as a conflict. Bear in mind, this is a guy who asked why we couldn't just blow up a nuke to stop a hurricane. This shows his other weaknesses as being ignorant as fuck about anything outside of his immediate predator worldview, and of course immune to learning.

Trump did/is none of those things.  His enablers want something (among others to ram their literally pre-medieval beliefs down everyone's throats) and he is just a convenient conveyor of their plague. His appeal, if you can call it that, is that he taps the inner-fear fetish of his followers.  If, by the grace of Cthulhu, he gets called home sooner rather than later (not lookin' too healthy!), it's gonna take years to dig the ticks out even after they fall upon each other scrambling for their cut of the wreckage like the Diadochi. Very possible the country balkanizes in the process. 

This is pretty much the only thing I agree with, except I will acknowledge Trump has just enough smarts to be a snake oil salesman to an unfortunately large segment of the American population. In that instance, he need only be smarter than the majority of those stupid enough to follow him. He gains those followers through his lying., manipulation, and, yes, charisma. I don't get that charisma, but it's undeniable.

And those followers, Trump's literal cult, are in large enough numbers that it puts fear into those in the normally non-MAGA Republican party members who would normally oppose such a fool. But sadly, they are scared, and power hungry enough to disregard any decency and good conscious, So, those Trump can't actually swindle and con, he intimidates and bullies using the force of his followers to back him.

In a nutshell, it's what James wrote above: "...He’s not smart, he’s a wrecking ball bully, with a bunch of people that

enable him."

The man is clearly a moron. Manipulating fools and intimidating weak-willed and spineless cretins does not make him a stable genius, or any other kind of genius.