Charlie Munger: A Voice Worth Hearing

Peter Robbins

31 Jan 2026 — 1 min read

A healthy society listens carefully to its most widely-respected voices.

When asked in 2011 whether Donald Trump would make a strong President, Charlie Munger of Berkshire Hathaway fame had the following exchange with a journalist:

Munger: Well he might be quite decisive, but uh, do I consider Donald Trump an ideal decision maker or manager of anything? And the answer is no, and the last person almost I’d want to be President of the United States is Donald Trump.

Interviewer: Really?

Munger: Yes.

Interviewer: Why?

Munger: Well I think he has qualities that make him unfit for the office.

Interviewer: Those qualities?

Munger: Vain glory. Puffery to a large extent. I could go on and on

Interviewer: Feel free.

Munger: No.

This is a man who was universally respected in the business community and in America at large. Charlie Munger was a great American. If Charlie Munger said something, he knew what he was talking about.

Charlie Munger was WARREN BUFFETT'S RIGHT HAND.

And here he was, expressing the conventional public view of Donald Trump in 2011.

Me, you, and everyone else thinking about Donald Trump in 2011: that guy is such a bag of hot air.

People did not take him seriously. He was a TV personality.

Famous for being famous. Zsa Zsa Gabor.

And Charlie Munger was as classy as he could be.

He paused during his response. He was very deliberate.

He was thinking: because he’s not a serious person. He’s a brand. He’s a clown.

He's a jackass.

He said (paraphrased): his defining characteristics are that he’s vain and that he’s full of hot air.

Enough to get the point across.

Still a class act. No profanity. No ranting. Just a very few pointed words.

Ask yourself:

Has Donald Trump changed since 2011?

Has Donald Trump proven Charlie Munger wrong?

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