Retired General Calls Trump's ISIS Strategy 'Sophomoric'

Donald Trump’s recent comments on national security included his plan to defeat terrorism:

I am going to convene my top generals and give them a simple instruction: They will have 30 days to submit to the Oval Office a plan for defeating ISIS.

Speaking to Anderson Cooper on CNN, retired army general Mark Hertling reacted to Trump’s idea by pointing out that the military have been trying to defeat ISIS for years, and that many would take offense at the notion that they haven’t. He added:

It's a sophomoric approach to elements of national security policy.

Sophomoric means “conceited and overconfident of knowledge but poorly informed and immature.” It’s the adjective form of sophomore, which probably comes from the combination of the Greek words sophos ("wise") and mōros ("foolish")—clearly, it was felt that students in their second year had learned a bit of wisdom, but not enough to keep them from being foolish.

Other words that come from sophos are philosopher and sophisticated; others that descend from mōros include moron.

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