[Ed. – The same argument can be made for conservative media.]
Donald Trump’s election exposed the irrelevance of conservative intellectuals — and thereby, the incoherence of many a liberal publication’s mission statement.
During the 2016 primaries, the right-wing intelligentsia mobilized in opposition to Trump. In op-eds, public letters, and a special issue of the National Review, Republican thought leaders warned the GOP base that the mogul disdained the core tenets of their shared faith — a demagogue who praised political violence was no defender of the Constitution; a libertine who shouted his sexcapades from the rooftops was no guardian of family values; an isolationist who decried NATO and the war in Iraq couldn’t be trusted to exert American leadership on the world stage; and a cretin who endorsed universal health care would never cut “big government” down to size. Through 12 nationally televised debates, Trump’s Republican rivals echoed these arguments; the front-runner rarely bothered to rebut them.
And none of it prevented him from becoming the Republican nominee — and then, a Republican president with a far higher approval rating than his (conventionally conservative) congressional allies.
