William F Buckley. Jr, Walter Williams, Thomas Jefferson, Fr George Rutler, Milton Friedman, and I'd even throw Ayn Rand into that mix...they are intellectuals. Trump and Reagan, if they had to debate these Giants would have likely lost.
But there is a time and a place for debate, and a time and a place for a smart, street-fighting man. Let's be clear: Reagan and Trump are not lightweights like McCain, Dubya, and Yeb!. Reagan and Trump had business and life experiences that made them a formidable mix of smarts AND grit and determination.
A great many people, especially NeverTrumpers, think (or push...) that ALL you need is intellect - indeed, this concept was best explored in Jeffrey Snyder's A Nation of Cowards (Snyder was talking about the Second Amendment, but the underlying mindset of intellect über alles is relevant to NeverTrumpers):
Yet our conservative elite has abandoned this aspect of republican theory (that the possession of arms by the people is the ultimate warrant that government governs only with the consent of the governed). Although our conservative pundits recognize and embrace gun owners as allies in other arenas, their battle for gun rights is desultory. The problem here is not a statist utopianism, although goodness knows that liberals are not alone in the confidence they have in the state's ability to solve society's problems. Rather, the problem seems to lie in certain cultural traits shared by our conservative and liberal elites.
One such trait is an abounding faith in the power of the word. The failure of our conservative elite to defend the Second Amendment stems in great measure from an overestimation of the power of the rights set forth in the First Amendment, and a general undervaluation of action. Implicit in calls for the repeal of the Second Amendment is the assumption that our First Amendment rights are sufficient to preserve our liberty. The belief is that liberty can be preserved as long as men freely speak their minds; that there is no tyranny or abuse that can survive being exposed in the press; and that the truth need only be disclosed for the culprits to be shamed. The people will act, and the truth shall set us, and keep us, free.
History is not kind to this belief, tending rather to support the view of Hobbes, Machiavelli, and other republican theorists that only people willing and able to defend themselves can preserve their liberties....In addition to being enamored of the power of words, our conservative elite shares with liberals the notion that an armed society is just not civilized or progressive, that massive gun ownership is a blot on our civilization.
NeverTrumpers detest Trump because he has PROVEN that their "All You Need Is Smarts" (apologies to the Beatles) dogma is flat-out WRONG...and especially NOW. I, too, would love for us all to get along, and for morality to win all the time as we listen to debates in the Plaka. But that is a fantasy world. We live in a messy world where these Antifa thugs will pulverize you with that olive branch you are extending.
This fight for the soul - and flesh - of normal Americans transcends the riots, and race relations, and coronavirus. There are forces who don't like normal Americans of ALL colors, creeds, etc. We came 78k votes away in 2016 from, possibly, going over edge into the abyss. The NeverTrumpers would have loved that - they'll take peace in our time without immediate casualties, because they think they'll have passed away peacefully or be insulated when the barbarians take control.
I'm not a conspiracy guy, but increasingly the underpinning of this meme has sharpened into focus:
