Smart Conservatives Are Stupid About Trump

'Intelligentsia' seems biased against actual democracy
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted May 3, 2016 9:48 AM CDT
Smart Conservatives Are Stupid About Trump
Donald Trump speaks during a campaign stop Monday, May 2, 2016, in South Bend, Ind.   (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

The "conservative intelligentsia" is anything but intelligent when it comes to Donald Trump, writes John Feehery at the Hill. Among those he calls out is David Brooks of the New York Times, who last week called Trump's candidacy a "Joe McCarthy moment" for the party. But Feehery also cites comments of a similar nature from the likes of George Will (see here), Michael Gerson (here), and Ross Douthat (here), all of whom seem to think that Trump is the personification of evil who will do long-term damage to the GOP unless stopped. "To these so-called smart people, I say: Stop being so stupid," writes Feehery.

This opposition to Trump reveals "their biases against democracy and the will of the people," he argues. Instead of knocking him down, they should pay more attention to why Trump is so popular, writes Feehery, who provides some theories of his own: Trump is a "real outsider who represents real change," he has explicitly denounced the Iraq War as a mistake, and his economic message ("the middle class is getting screwed by the political class") is resonating. Most Trump supporters "are by no means stupid, irrational, racist or anti-democratic," writes Feehery. They're just tired of the status quo and see Trump as the only candidate who can destroy it. Click for his full column. (Or for Andrew Sullivan's opposing view.)

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