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From the attack on @MaxBoot in @NRO to the latest faux-Gibbon raving from Michael Anton pumped out by @ClaremontInst, the Trump-compliant right is having a nervous breakdown - as it should. Many conservatives once saw themselves as part of an intellectual movement. Now? No. /1
For years, intellectual conservatives thought: "Look, we're smart, we're conservative, the liberals are just wrong." (Hell, I still feel that way most days.) But the intellectual cons who have surrendered to Trumpist populism are screwed and know it. /2
These intellectuals tried to adopt the camouflage of bib-overalls and Hee Haw straw hats; this was a very, very bad gamble. They now know, without a doubt, that they're in a shrinking minority, dead-ended, and stranded with no way back. /3
Sure, they figured they could tough it out, get their judges, and then disavow Trump when he self-destructed. They partied with the rubes in hopes no one would notice the college degrees and the cufflinks. But Trump ate the movement before they could bail out. /4
When today's conservative writers signed up in the 1980s and 1990s, they could imagine their core audience being well-off and educated people politely having dinner at the Union Club while hearing a lecture on an important subject from a intelligent person. /5
By the time this is over, all that'll be left is Gorka, Anton, and the last few editors of NR at CPAC trying to clap along gamely while someone explains how Q is going to swoop in and arrest the abortion-loving gays during their attempts to make stem cells into omelettes. /6x
