You might not be serious but I tried to think of a clever reply but all I can come up is basically facile and generic.

There's always been a streak of anti-intellectualism in the GOP. But Reagan was something better than an intellectual. He was a winner. Also he was still a talented performer so he didn't seem to be a total dolt. The Buckley types could keep their snottiness and lie about how witty and clever Reagan was.

It's hard for me to define the racist Willie Horton ad of 1988. I was tempted to call it a "turning point" but the GOP didn't just discover the power of racism in the voting bloc in the 1980s. They used that sort of stuff for decades. The best I can do is that - the ad was a mask off moment. They decided to use any trick to win elections. Buckley and his ilk could go more mask off and be more openly racist and hateful. They realized they liked it. And they liked it even more as the years went on.

Then came Dubya. He was clearly dumb as a doorpost even with his excellently constructed teleprompter lines. But he also was a winner - two terms in fact. He was also "wartime president" and the bloodlust filled GOP loves that shit. The GOP started to realize that brazen stupidity could be a benefit. Dubya was marketed as the sort of guy you could have a beer with. Dubya's wife Laura Bush would tell him "Whatever you do, don't try to be charming, witty, or debonair. Be yourself."

I feel stupid for saying this - but I never thought Trump would win in 2016 and I vastly overestimated the intelligence and wisdom of Americans. Of course - Trump is openly stupid so now intelligent GOP play this game where they pretend to be just as stupid as Trump even if they graduated summa cum laude from Harvard. And they use the word "elite" as a slur if that's literally them too.