The real reason NeverTrumpers have a relatively high media profile is that the GOP has either lost or expelled its intelligentsia. They may be a small portion of the party, in absolute numbers, but they are disproportionately its former thinkers, writers, and policy experts.
It’s interesting how many take this as a personal insult. “Intelligentsia” is a fairly neutral term, which I didn’t equate with intelligence. Many on the right have explicitly welcomed the expulsion of the former GOP “intelligentsia” I mention, seeing it as good riddance.
However, the number of people who would normally hold appointment - and eagerly aspire to hold appointment - in a GOP Administration but are instead either voluntarily or involuntarily sitting this one out is remarkable.
The same goes for the number of writers who would normally be vigorously defending and influencing a GOP Administration, who instead are actively criticizing it.
What are their motives? I suspect they vary. I’m not here to argue that those motives are noble or ignoble, simply that it is a phenomenon, and one that many analyses of NeverTrump that focus on polls - i.e., sheer numbers of voters - tend to ignore.
The former GOP intelligentsia has become detached from it voting base. You may conclude the one or the other is to blame. You may think a new intelligentsia will replace it, for better or worse. But that is why NT tend to have a voice larger than their numbers.
But I see some Trump supporters are going to be upset by my use of “intelligentsia” because they imagine it implies they aren’t intelligent. Maybe they are more intelligent, maybe less. Who knows? 🤷🏻♂️
As for me, I think it makes sense to argue about the intelligence of specific positions and attitudes, not the inherent intelligence of the people making them. But that is unrelated to describing anyone as a member of an “intelligentsia” or not.
In any case, my original tweet is entirely consistent with what many Trump supporters say that they have done, and wanted to do. I’m just pointing out some of its implications.
