History Main / SurroundedByIdiots

* While the RealLife [[AdolfHitler Hitler]] is considered to be an inversion of this trope, the ''Film/{{Downfall}}'' [[WebVideo/HitlerRants parodies]] Hitler is played straight. Hitler's staff is mostly made up of idiots who have such [[SarcasmMode incredibly useful]] skills as pointing at maps, providing Hitler with useless information, getting drunk, objecting to all of his plans, and ranting. Naturally it's often because of them that Hitler's schemes always backfire. It also doesn't help that most of the people who are slightly more competent are constantly targeting him for their own gain.

->''"Why is everyone so fucking stupid? Why aren't more people interrigent, rike me?"''

->''"Why is everyone so fucking stupid? Why aren't more people interrigent, like me?"''

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

* In Disney's ''Disney/TheLionKing'', Scar says this exact quote (which could count as the TropeNamer) about the hyenas:
--> '''Scar:''' ''*{{facepalm}}*'' I'm ''surrounded'' by idiots...
** Interestingly, he said this about said hyenas [[TheHyena playing their species's trope straight]], and not the mission they had recently failed.
* In ''Disney/SleepingBeauty'', Maleficent sends her henchbeings out to search for the baby Princess Aurora. Sixteen years later, she's disgusted to learn that not only have they not found her...they're still looking for a baby. [[FridgeLogic (Of course, given this, you have to wonder why she didn't check up on them sooner...)]]
** In the live action retelling ''{{Film/Maleficent}}'', this is actually the point where it clearly deviates from the original story: This time she sends her only competent underling, the raven Diablo (renamed Diaval), out ''first'', and the changes cascade from there.
* In MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsRainbowRocks, [[BigBad Adagio Dazzle]] feels this way about her CoDragons, [[TheDitz Sonata Dusk]] and [[BetaBitch Aria Blaze]]. She has this to say to Sunset Shimmer during her initial tour of the school:
--> '''Adagio Dazzle:''' ''*insincere smile*'' You'll have to excuse them. ''*contemptuous frown*'' They're idiots.

* ''StormHawks'': With the exception of the [[TheDragon Dark Ace]], this is Master Cyclonis's situation. No wonder the Storm Hawks always win.

* ''Manga/{{Evangelion 303}}: Asuka often thinks that all in the base but her -and some few people such like [[BattleCouple Shinji]], [[LovelyAngels Hikari or Jessika]]- are idiots or weirdoes. In the chapter 15, as she is putting up with the Mari and Kelly's antics, she thinks: "Idiots. Idiots both of them..."

* In ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'', during the Kyln prison break, an exasperated Gamora declares "I am going to die surrounded by the biggest idiots in the galaxy".

* Dr. Phibes' henchman on ''ShaggyAndScoobyDooGetAClue''. With villains like these, who needs heroes?

* Mr. Burns sings about his lazy employees to Smithers in '[[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=t96Tz_blZwc Look at all those idiots]]'. The words surrounded by idiots is even in the lyrics.

* A ''{{Dilbert}}'' strip had the PointyHairedBoss complaining that he was "surrounded by incompetents", and Dilbert's reply was "If a bunch of incompetents were able to surround you, what does that say about you?"

* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert'', in the twelveth Soviet mission, [[JosefStalin Stalin]] says the exact same line in response to Nadia and Georgi Kukov questioning his desire to obtain the Allies' [[TeleportersAndTransporters Chronosphere]].

Sometimes, it seems like the lead antagonist has deliberately chosen the most incompetent, craven, cowardly, or just plain unreliable underlings around... the trope often culminates in a [[TheDragon Dragon]] that, instead of being the best of what the lower ranks has to offer, [[NumberTwoForBrains seems to be a living distillation of everything that makes the incompetent underlings what they are]]. This version is often punctuated by having the right-hand man actually trying to [[ReverseMole secretly oppose]] and/or [[TheStarscream betray]] the EvilOverlord, but just too incompetent to be a real threat.

Of course, the simplest answer for why the evil master is surrounded by idiots is because you'd ''have'' to be stupid to work for him. The underlings' being TooDumbToLive may well explain why they continue to work for an [[VillainousDemotivator abusive employer]], but we still have to wonder why the EvilOverlord hired them in the first place. We can't pretend he's not aware of his hirelings' shortcomings, because of course, he never hesitates to exclaim about them: "[[YouFool FOOLS]]! CRETINS! BUNGLERS!" (there always seems to be [[RuleOfThree a basic formula of Mild Insult! Not-So-Mild Insult! EXTREME INSULT!]]), sometimes, "It's so hard to find good help these days..." and of course, the oft-repeated Trope Naming line, "I'm surrounded by idiots!" - sometimes accompanied by a {{Facepalm}}. Sometimes after one too many failures tend to say "If you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself", and then proceeds to do far more damage than his underlings have ever done, making you wonder why he didn't just do this in the first place.

Occasionally, one will respond to this exclamation by looking around and asking, "[[WhereWhere Where?]]"

Of course, one possible explanation may be that smart minions tend to try and [[TheStarscream take over....]] Or perhaps any minion might try to take and take over, but a smart one might succeed.

When the ''boss'' is an incompetent dolt, you have GeneralFailure or PointyHairedBoss.

->''"Why is everyone so fucking stupid? Why aren't more people [[JapaneseRanguage interrigent]], [[SmallNameBigEgo like me]]?"''
-->-- '''[[UsefulNotes/NorthKorea Kim Jo]][[BigBad ng Il]]''', ''Film/TeamAmericaWorldPolice''

* Most popular depictions of AdolfHitler during VillainousBreakdown mode during the last part of WorldWarII involve him raving about being surrounded by traitors and fools. Whether any of this was right is another trope entirely, but most historians conclude that Hitler was losing his mind and his cohorts were busily trying to salvage their own skins. He was never a military genius and the maneuvers he insisted on helped lose the war faster, as well as costing him the loyalty of his former cohorts.
* As cathartic as it sometimes is to indulge in, it's worth pointing out that the "everyone's an idiot but me" attitude is both a hallmark of the dreaded pseudo-intellectual and one of the root causes of AntiIntellectualism. It doesn't make one smart to assume that everyone else is stupid, even if the person who thinks this is actually right (and no matter how surely you think this is the case, keeping the sentiment to yourself is by far the best way to prove it).
** Most people who are even mildly competent at something are far better at it than the average person, just because there are so many different possible things to be mildly competent at and most people will have chosen a different one. When in a situation where those skills are useful, it's entirely logical that the mildly competent person might feel "surrounded by idiots".
** Keeping up this attitude can also lead to a nasty blow to one's self-esteem when you inevitably run into someone smarter than you. Humility is better for your long-term mental health.
* Apparently, [[ReadingTheEnemysMail Julian Assange]] feels this way about his organization which he more or less maintains total control over and runs from the top down. Telling quote:

* Admit it. You've felt this way at some point.

* In ''HarryPotter'' Severus Snape, the Potion teacher, repeatedly laments that very few, if any, of his students are up to his standards of intellect. To their faces. It becomes a vicious circle, because the environment of constant ridicule and deprecation without any kind of aid or approval from the teacher does not lend o productive education, thus causing children to make mistakes and earn even more insults.

--> '''Adagio Dazzle''' ''*insincere smile*'' You'll have to excuse them. ''*contemptuous frown*'' They're idiots.

--> '''Adagio Dazzle''' ''insincere smile'' You'll have to excuse them. ''contemptuous frown'' They're idiots.

Evil help is hard to find. How else can you explain the fact that the EvilOverlord's [[TheDragon Dragon]] [[NumberTwoForBrains is a complete nincompoop]], {{mooks}} are all [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy dimwits]] who graduated from the ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy, the elite special forces consist of a QuirkyMiniBossSquad, and all the ninjas are [[HighlyVisibleNinja standing around in plain sight]] or queuing up to attack the heroes [[MookChivalry one at a time]]?

Of course, the simplest answer for why the evil master is surrounded by idiots is because you'd ''have'' to be stupid to work for him. The fact that the underlings may be TooDumbToLive explains why they continue to work for an [[VillainousDemotivator abusive employer]], but we still have to wonder why the EvilOverlord hired them in the first place. We can't pretend he's not aware of his hirelings' shortcomings, because of course, he never hesitates to exclaim about them: "[[YouFool FOOLS]]! CRETINS! BUNGLERS!" (there always seems to be [[RuleOfThree a basic formula of Mild Insult! Not-So-Mild Insult! EXTREME INSULT!]]), sometimes, "It's so hard to find good help these days..." and of course, the oft-repeated Trope Naming line, "I'm surrounded by idiots!" - sometimes accompanied by a {{Facepalm}}. Sometimes after one too many failures tend to say "If you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself", and then proceeds to do far more damage than his underlings have ever done, making you wonder why he didn't just do this in the first place.

* In ''WesternAnimation/DonkeyKongCountry'', K.Rool would bemoan the fact that his henchmen were, in his words, 'Home-spun idiots'.
-->'''K.Rool:''' It's at times like this I find that I must ask myself again and again: 'Do I really want the Crystal Coconut this badly?'"

* Aku complained about this more than once in ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' (and the fact that the majority of his minions were mindless robots didn't tend to help). The fact that Jack was able to turn his robots to junk with such ease was the biggest reason for him trying to face him mano-a-mano in "Jack Versus Aku".

* This tends to be the case with whoever the main character is, in ''AceAttorney''. The most notable example is Miles Edgeworth, who is paired with the ever-bumbling, incompetent Detective Gumshoe.

Of course, one possible explanation may be that smart minions tend to try and [[TheStarscream take over....]]