My own hypothesis is different. People do view politics as affecting their lives, but many of them view intellectuals as out of touch, uninterested, or even hostile and they want someone in charge who isn’t one of those people. It’s the “good guy to have a beer with” sentiment which helped elect GWB but taken to an extreme. In this extreme, “owning the libs” is inherently good, not just a means to an end.
I’m not sure “intellectuals” is the right word here. The people I have in mind are college-educated but that’s not all there is to it. They are the the sort of people who Trump calls the “deep state” but they’re not just government employees - they’re judges who say that something is unconstitutional, but they’re also HR heads that say something is racist or scientists who say something is harmful to the environment. Large parts of the public now don’t just lack respect for them but actively hate them.
My own hypothesis is different. People do view politics as affecting their lives, but many of them view intellectuals as out of touch, uninterested, or even hostile and they want someone in charge who isn’t one of those people. It’s the “good guy to have a beer with” sentiment which helped elect GWB but taken to an extreme. In this extreme, “owning the libs” is inherently good, not just a means to an end.
I’m not sure “intellectuals” is the right word here. The people I have in mind are college-educated but that’s not all there is to it. They are the the sort of people who Trump calls the “deep state” but they’re not just government employees - they’re judges who say that something is unconstitutional, but they’re also HR heads that say something is racist or scientists who say something is harmful to the environment. Large parts of the public now don’t just lack respect for them but actively hate them.