First, I’m a member of the “liberal elite” – I hold an advanced degree in a fairly complex discipline – domestic and international tax law. I’ve also got 5 years of doctoral research and writing to my credit. My official academic designation is “ABD” – all but dissertation. Intellectually, I’m in the top percentage of achievers in the U.S.
In my interactions with numerous Trump supporters, I’ve noticed a clear trend: they denigrate academic achievement and are unable to think in nuance or complexity. They see the world in black and white and simple sound bites – which probably explains why Trump’s use of Twitter is important.
Central to Trump's appeal was his opposition to the "liberal elite" -- the Republican code word for "college educated.” But Trump is simply the latest Republican who tacitly argues that a college education is somehow bad or counter-productive. It’s unfortunately become a standard Republican position.
There are two interesting aspects of Republican hostility to complex thought. First, the last 15-20 years of economic history – but more so the last 8 – show that those without a high school diploma or those with minimal higher education have been locked out of economic advancement. That being the case, you’d think the Republicans would be doing all they could to promote higher education. But they haven’t, due to the second aspect of Republican political culture: they’ve created an alternate reality, best described by Stephen Colbert as “truthiness.” Their denial of global warming is a perfect example: despite the clear scientific consensus otherwise, Republicans believe that non-scientists are somehow more informed than those who actively study the problem. No better example of this situation exists than the statement this week by a Trump supporter, who stated, “There are no facts.”
Another great example is the Kansas economic experiment. Over the last 4 years, Governor Brownback has implemented supply side policies (massive tax cuts) to simply horrible results: the state is near bankrupt while economic growth is middling at best. But instead of acknowledging failure, he as ordered the state statistical agency to stop issuing regular reports of the state’s economic health. Translation: facts are irrelevant, ideology is all even if ideology sends a state into an economic collapse.
So, in the advancement of their agenda, the Republicans have advocated and promoted stupidity, which has now become a vicious policy cycle.
How do you deal with this? Education. Best of luck promoting that.