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Trump's Razor 

When seeking an explanation for the behavior of Presidential "candidate" Donald J. Trump, always choose the stupidest possible explanation.
Adam: With the first Presidential debate looming, Hair Furor prepped by swapping rape stories with Roger Ailes over Cardiac Special bacon cheeseburgers.

Betsy: How do you know that?

Adam: Trump's Razor, girl. Anything else, even doing nothing, would be better prep for facing Clinton!
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Trump's Razor 

"The Stupidest explanation is always the right one"
Guy1: "Did you hear that Trump said Chinese Bee's cause Global Warming?"

Guy2: "Chalk another one up to Trump's Razor"
Trump's Razor by thatrockydoh January 19, 2017
Word of the Day on January 21, 2017

Trump's Razor 

Coined by John Scalzi on July 16, 2016 after reading journalist Josh Marshall's process for understanding the basis of many of Donald Trump's decisions, "Trump's razor" is a riff on "Occam's razor".

Josh Marshall: "According to Trump’s Razor: 'ascertain the stupidest possible scenario that can be reconciled with the available facts' and that answer is likely correct." Or, "to phrase the principle in Occam’s terms, it tells us ‘the stupidest scenario is always to be preferred’."
When the National Weather Service contradicted President Trump's tweet that Alabama--among other states--would “most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated," Trump would days later hold up an official NOAA weather map that was absurdly altered with a Sharpie to include Alabama in the hurricane's prior predicted zone of landfall.

Did Donald Trump himself--irritated and embarassed that a government agency had corrected his misstatement--grab a Sharpie and alter the NOAA map, which weather experts noted would be an illegal act? Trump's razor says yes, that's the most likely scenario since it's the most plausible yet ridiculous one.
Trump's Razor by ryoso October 30, 2019

Trump's razor 

A modification of Hanlon's razor; to attribute both malice and stupidity when explaining one's behavior.

Hanlon's razor advises not to attribute malice to a behavior when it could be reasonably explained by stupidity - Trump's razor advises attributing both.
"Supporters of 47th President Trump cheered on as he promised tariffs, thinking it would harm the target nations and boost the US's economy. Both assumptions are incorrect and based in a lack of understanding of tariffs and harmful intent - hence another example of Trump's razor." - MSNBC, probably.
Trump's razor by ma02rc February 27, 2025

Trump’s razor 

Trump's razor refers to the philosophical idea or scientific principle that of any given set of explanations for Donald Trump’s behavior, it is most likely that the stupidest explanation is the correct one.
Internet sleuth: “That anonymous op-ed in the NYTimes had to have been John Kelly.
He used the word “lodestar” to throw Mike Pence under the bus. It’s three dimensional chess, man!”

Bob Woodward: “There isn’t any 3D chess in that place. There’s not even a game of checkers. Trump’s razor says it was Mike Pence himself.”
Trump’s razor by ZakkFlash September 5, 2018

Trump’s Razor 

When the dumbest answer is usually the correct answer.
That was a total Trump’s Razor
The striver is an interesting phenomenon that is seen across college campuses. In essence, the striver is an over-achiever who comes from a working or middle class family. He may be an immigrant. He may have been a slacker in HS who was "born again" into an academic wunderkind. Or he may just be an over-achiever who is keeping at it.

The striver is willing to sacrifice his social life at the expense of Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude. The striver is the guy who stays at the library long after you are gone. The striver is the guy who takes 30 credits/semester and considers anything below an A/4.0 failure. The striver doesn't work on campus, he is too busy finding ways to pad his resume instead of working retail or workstudy. The striver lets his grades pay his education by applying to ten scholarships a year.

The striver is a future Soros/Fullbright/Rhodes/Gates/Marshall/etc. fellow. The striver lives to study. For the striver, their fun comes from the rewards they expect to receive in return for their diligence. Be it Law School, B-School, academia, or politics. The striver seeks to find the American Dream through academic success.
Anthony was a striver. He transfered from a TTT to an IVY and graduated in 2 years. He studied his ass off and went to Penn Law. He got a Biglaw offer. But lost it all because of an unmoderated mesasgeboard.

Successful strivers:
- Barack Obama
- Harold Koh
Striver by URM Striver January 3, 2009
Word of the Day on August 15, 2026