My heart told me to sign, but it would be an act of hubris to think that I am a scholar of the same stature as John Lott, Newt Gingrich, and Peter Thiel.
I was reading an old Amazon book review by Gingrich the other day. He was thundering about the decline of Athens as a warning to America of the dangers of demagogues.
Not surprised to see fatuous blowhards like Bill Bennett on that list, but what’s up with Mark Bauerlein? Clinton run over his dog, or have I misjudged him?
” This is your enemy: a perfectly empty sheet of paper. Nothing will ever happen here except what you make happen. If you are stupid, what happens will be like a signed confession of that fact.”
Last week Marginal Revolution posted this, except they called it a list of “Intellectuals and Professors” or some other trumped up name in order to hide its vacuousness.
I thought more of Mark Bauerlein as abstract Trump supporter than I did of him after reading the text at that link. If the only answer to why you’re supporting Trump is resentment that people are not being respectful enough to your values, maybe a professor should be complicating that just a little.
Even though he thinks that if Trump would either govern like a normal Republican (which would be, apparently, OK) or is the racist misogynistic scourge our society needs, his personal failings mean that he is unable to deliver on either of those, and hence is not worth supporting.
But if only he were reliably either of the two, or reliably a coin flip with heads being one and tails the other, supporting him would be “plausible”…
Hillsdale seems underrepresented. Only a handful. Who there doesn’t support Trump? Makes me think this letter didn’t really make the rounds, and left out all kinds of intellectuals.
Bauerlein’s piece linked above purported to explain why people in general were supporting Trump, so they aren’t necessarily his reasons. But he’s quoted in Inside Higher Ed as saying “We’ve reached a point where we need a jolt. We need someone who can take on the taboos and do so in a canny and effective way” which I think comes out to pretty much the same thing.
So yes, that Bauerlein post was pretty lame – but it’s just a blog post, not too surprising if those get mailed in every now and then (not at CT though of course!).
Well bauerlein did apparently write a book entitled: The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30)
He sounds like a perfect example of the Cultural Literacy mindset – we have to defend the Dead White Males… presumably because they’re dead and can’t defend themselves.?
Mind you, what is it with old white poetry professors being a pretty retrograde bunch?
Peter Navarro is the one who fed Trump the line about the Mexican VAT as a trade barrier. Krugman criticized the claim. But it seems that Navarro is Trump’s leading economist. Don’t think he was on this list.
We all know, or at least we all should know, that despots across the centuries had their intelligentsia. Heidegger, a springboard into all kinds of modern branches of scholarship and teacher to Arendt, is rarely read because of his being associated with one of the kings of 20th century despotism. So, Trump has his “intelligentsia” and his ideologues. After all is said and done, what will History tell our little Lord of the Flies progeny?
{ 29 comments }
oldster 10.04.16 at 1:18 pm
My heart told me to sign, but it would be an act of hubris to think that I am a scholar of the same stature as John Lott, Newt Gingrich, and Peter Thiel.
Melmoth 10.04.16 at 1:46 pm
I was reading an old Amazon book review by Gingrich the other day. He was thundering about the decline of Athens as a warning to America of the dangers of demagogues.
casmilus 10.04.16 at 2:45 pm
It’s a pity Rod Dreher doesn’t like Trump. They could do with a pseudo-intellectual heavyweight on their team.
Ben Alpers 10.04.16 at 3:05 pm
The list includes both East Coast and West Coast Straussians, which shows how big a tent the Trump movement is. ;)
Ogden Wernstrom 10.04.16 at 3:12 pm
Those who use their positions at institutions of higher learning to add weight to their opinions should not be disciplined by those institutions.
The Invisible Hand can slap them down, as needed.
Dave Maier 10.04.16 at 3:27 pm
Not surprised to see fatuous blowhards like Bill Bennett on that list, but what’s up with Mark Bauerlein? Clinton run over his dog, or have I misjudged him?
Anderson 10.04.16 at 3:39 pm
” This is your enemy: a perfectly empty sheet of paper. Nothing will ever happen here except what you make happen. If you are stupid, what happens will be like a signed confession of that fact.”
David 10.04.16 at 3:50 pm
@ Dave Maier
You have misjudged him.
tomsk 10.04.16 at 3:58 pm
Conrad Black!
Dave Maier 10.04.16 at 4:01 pm
David @8: thanks for the correction; I’ll check out the link.
Chris Wilhelm 10.04.16 at 4:06 pm
Last week Marginal Revolution posted this, except they called it a list of “Intellectuals and Professors” or some other trumped up name in order to hide its vacuousness.
Rich Puchalsky 10.04.16 at 4:15 pm
I thought more of Mark Bauerlein as abstract Trump supporter than I did of him after reading the text at that link. If the only answer to why you’re supporting Trump is resentment that people are not being respectful enough to your values, maybe a professor should be complicating that just a little.
Brad DeLong 10.04.16 at 5:04 pm
May I award a special prize to Ross Douthat?
Even though he thinks that if Trump would either govern like a normal Republican (which would be, apparently, OK) or is the racist misogynistic scourge our society needs, his personal failings mean that he is unable to deliver on either of those, and hence is not worth supporting.
But if only he were reliably either of the two, or reliably a coin flip with heads being one and tails the other, supporting him would be “plausible”…
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/02/opinion/sunday/trump-and-the-intellectuals.html
Dave Maier 10.04.16 at 6:18 pm
I have always believed that Ross Douthat deserves a special prize, and now seems as good an occasion as any.
rea 10.04.16 at 6:41 pm
T. E. Brennan–founder/owner of Cooley Law School!
Dr. Hilarius 10.04.16 at 6:54 pm
George Gilder. Trump really could benefit from some techno-gibberish about information theory and creationism to spiff up his speeches.
Colin Danby 10.04.16 at 8:32 pm
I hope they enjoy each others’ company.
LFC 10.04.16 at 10:34 pm
Ben Alpers @4
But what about certain Straussians who (gasp) aren’t on the list? There’s a split in the ranks of the Serious Straussians [*]!
[*] Not that there are any Unserious Straussians; just needed the alliteration.
BruceJ 10.04.16 at 10:48 pm
David @8 Wowsers what a litany of petty grievances. It should be surrounded by a forest of Festivus poles.
VeeLow 10.04.16 at 10:59 pm
12–Absolutely; I recall Bauerlein as a literary / cultural critic who could make decent arguments; that piece is simply hackwork. Depressing.
david 10.04.16 at 11:15 pm
Hillsdale seems underrepresented. Only a handful. Who there doesn’t support Trump? Makes me think this letter didn’t really make the rounds, and left out all kinds of intellectuals.
david 10.04.16 at 11:17 pm
And thank Bauerlein piece is something super special.
“White men are tired of being told how awful they are;”
That was #1! boy howdy.
Rich Puchalsky 10.05.16 at 12:36 am
Bauerlein’s piece linked above purported to explain why people in general were supporting Trump, so they aren’t necessarily his reasons. But he’s quoted in Inside Higher Ed as saying “We’ve reached a point where we need a jolt. We need someone who can take on the taboos and do so in a canny and effective way” which I think comes out to pretty much the same thing.
Dave Maier 10.05.16 at 12:40 am
So yes, that Bauerlein post was pretty lame – but it’s just a blog post, not too surprising if those get mailed in every now and then (not at CT though of course!).
floopmeister 10.05.16 at 6:02 am
Well bauerlein did apparently write a book entitled: The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30)
He sounds like a perfect example of the Cultural Literacy mindset – we have to defend the Dead White Males… presumably because they’re dead and can’t defend themselves.?
Mind you, what is it with old white poetry professors being a pretty retrograde bunch?
We have a perfect example here in Oz: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/11169918/Australias-first-professor-of-poetry-suspended-over-racist-and-sexist-emails.html
But then again he is an expert on TS Eliot, so what do you expect… :)
RNB 10.05.16 at 6:38 am
Peter Navarro is the one who fed Trump the line about the Mexican VAT as a trade barrier. Krugman criticized the claim. But it seems that Navarro is Trump’s leading economist. Don’t think he was on this list.
John Ennis 10.05.16 at 1:41 pm
We all know, or at least we all should know, that despots across the centuries had their intelligentsia. Heidegger, a springboard into all kinds of modern branches of scholarship and teacher to Arendt, is rarely read because of his being associated with one of the kings of 20th century despotism. So, Trump has his “intelligentsia” and his ideologues. After all is said and done, what will History tell our little Lord of the Flies progeny?
Austin Loomis 10.07.16 at 3:28 pm
P.J. O’Rourke is needed so they can have somebody who, once upon a time, was funny on purpose.
Dave Maier 10.09.16 at 4:13 pm
Wait, P.J. O’Rourke was funny once?
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