People keep calling the right stupid, but at least everybody can understand what they're talking about.

It's not an enlightened take, it's a pretty basic observation.

I've had the fortune of working with many people a lot smarter than me, and one thing all the smartest ones can do is explain complex topics to people outside their field in a way they can understand.

Using intellectual language to address a non-intellectual audience like voters, or a forum with many non-native speakers, that they won't understand seems a dumb thing for an "intellectual" to do. It's not about intellect, enlightenment or education, it's about using language to communicate instead of using it for... something else, not sure what.

> Lack of education led us here.

There are a lot of intelligent people that just happen to be "uneducated".

Meanwhile I've met plenty of "educated" people that hold a wide variety of contradictory beliefs and lack the ability to critically think.

"Not educated" is just another convenient (and lazy) strawman outgroup. Liberty for me but not for thee, etc.

> Lack of education led us here.

No. Belittling people for their lack of education led us here. People don't follow those who consistently treat them as barely-human tally marks that we (their betters) tolerate as long as they vote the right way. Eventually they get sick of being treated as less-than, and eventually someone comes along that makes those people feel important.

There are only really two reasonable ways out of Trump's populism at this point: learn from him and recognize the importance of the less-educated, or reduce the franchise and prevent people from voting unless they pass a certain educational bar (which not is not actually an option for so many reasons).

Any other approach will either take generations or is doomed to failure.