Why They Hate Trump?

I was sent an online article, "The Real Reason They Hate Trump."  The author, David Gelernter is a computer science professor at Yale.  That he's quite the conservative makes me wonder how he's still at Yale?  (Remember the law school there canceled classes so students could protest Brett Kavanaugh.  Whatever happened to students protesting on their own time?)   I've heard him on the radio and read some other things by him.  He's one intelligent man, very smart.

I agreed with much of his article, but not all of it.  In fact, maybe my dissents aren't really disagreements at all.  He points to the arrogance of those to "hate Trump," citing many "leftists," "Democrats," the lamestream media, most academics, etc.  It's not hard to guess those he singles out.

And he points to their arrogant elitism, that they, more than any others in the US, know what's best for everyone.  Surely they know what's best for the "unwashed masses," the "deplorables," far better than they know themselves.  Gelernter then makes a case that Trump is detested by all of these arrogant elitists because he's one of them, one of the "unwashed masses."  Trump is one of them, a "deplorable," only an exaggerated one due to his wealth.  He has "no constraints to cramp his style" because "he is filthy rich."  But Trump is not, as Gelernter asserts, "a typical American," not by a long shot.  If he is, I think we are doomed, rather sooner than later.

In large part, I think Gelernter is right.  But I think the elitists of the left (and for that matter many Establishment Republicans who exhibit their own brand of arrogance) "hate Trump" not because he's Trump per se, but because the "deplorables," the "great unwashed" elected him instead of their hand-picked candidate.  Had, say, Mitt Romney been nominated again to run against H. Clinton and won, does anyone think there would be such opprobrium against Romney--or any other Establishment Republican?  Oh, they wouldn't have liked the outcome, but the vituperation would have been absent.

Taking a theme I was writing two years ago, right after Trump was elected, I don't think the hatred is really about him.  Oh, he's an easy person to dislike, even hate.  He's crude and coarse.  He treats many people, especially women, shamefully.  He's never learned that humility is a good quality to possess.  I've said in the past that I don't like Trump, would never vote for him, although I guess I can tolerate him.  Let's put it this way:  I won't give back my tax cut.  (As I wrote two years ago, I don't know if I would have been equally or more distressed and dispirited had Hillary Clinton won.)  But I understand why so many people did and it's not, as the self-anointed American intelligentsia claim.  The elitists still, apparently, don't recognize the reason(s).  The "average Americans" that Gelernter cites (and Trump is not one of them) finally were sick and tired of being dumped on or, at the very least, their perceptions that they were being dumped on.  The government, in their views, helped the poor and, if needed, the rich (or at least gave them breaks in the game).  But those in the middle, the "average Americans," perceived that their government was there for everyone but them.  They were sick and tired of it and of the Establishment candidates who were always presented to them--candidates who didn't speak for them, didn't represent them, and didn't do anything for them.  We might argue whether this perception was, in fact, true, but perception is reality and that's what the Average Joe believed.

Regardless if Trump is one the "deplorables," the elitists resent Trump because of who elected him.  And as I noted above, maybe this is a difference without a distinction.

Gelernter also raises other insightful points.  I'd certainly agree that, if the Democrats are "intellectually bankrupt," (which is different, I think than "intellectually dishonest"), so are the Establishment Republicans.  That I think so is hardly a ringing endorsement of Republicans.  He writes , "Americans, left and right, are ashamed of [Trump]" for his treatment of women, adding "as they are of JFK and Bill Clinton."  Are Americans really ashamed of "St. John?"  I hardly think so.  Most "average Americans" still think Kennedy was a great President, despite a preponderance of  evidence to the contrary.  (In discussing this, "great Presidents," with my classes, I address this.  Kennedy has his admirers.  In the end, when I ask for evidence to support "great," I get little, if any.  "So," I ask them without trying to be morbid, "Kennedy is 'great' because he was assassinated?"  Sometimes I ask further, "Does that also make Garfield and McKinley 'great?'"  OK, that's not a fair question as many/most students, college students, never heard of either.)  Ashamed of JFK?  I don't think so.  And are they ashamed of Clinton?  That's laughable.  Although he might not be "St. Bill," even in the midst of the Lewinski affair, Americans were overwhelmingly in his corner.  "Leave him alone," one Average American told me, "the economy is good."  Do Americans give people they are ashamed of hundreds of thousands of dollars to speak?  Do they invite him to endorse candidates?  (Shouldn't the endorsement of such a shameful person be reason enough not to vote for a candidate?)

One other point Gelernter makes that I think is well worth considering.  Many people who hate Trump are proud of it.  Yes, it's a point of pride to hate!  It seems that, in many circles, to be accepted, to be cool, one must hate Trump.  Think about that for a while.  I'm not sure that. as Gelernter claims, the typical "Trump-hater truly does hate the Average American...[and] America, too."  But those elitists do believe they are smarter and believe that in an arrogant manner.  They certainly would take exception with Gerlernter's last important insight, that "this country was intended to be run by amateurs after all--by plain citizens."  Tell that one to an elitist!  "...amateurs" and "plain citizens," indeed!  Don't you mean "the great unwashed" and "the deplorables?"

Forgive any typos and other errors.  I'm too tired (lazy?) tonight to proofread.