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A lot of truly terrible ideas are also initially rejected.

Rejection is not an indicator for the merit of an idea.

The point is the contrapositive: if your idea is not initially rejected, it's probably quite pedestrian.

Or maybe you're in a position of great power and people don't dare to question your terrible ideas.

But how do you know the ideas were/are great? Rejection isn't evidence of quality.

Well, that's a very valid question.

My point is that with time, you can look back at ideas that turned out to be great and recall how they were initially received.

Personal recollection is highly unreliable. Especially if you have a mental schema that correlates idea quality with social rejection.

What's the rejection rate of your poor ideas?