I worked briefly with some guy who had a PhD in something or other. He was firmly convinced that FDR had steered the country masterfully through the depression, which he overcame before Pearl Harbor.
He was also one of the people that Bernie Madoff wiped out, so how smart could he have been?
Every meeting this guy attends is considered a doctor's appointment.
It does not matter a whit how smart someone is if they start with false premises about the way the Universe works.
And that is precisely what the vast majority of “Progressives” start with.
False assumptions rarely lead to correct decisions.
False assumptions are extremely difficult to overcome.