Every Republican president since Gerald Ford has been portrayed as bumbling and stupid, while Democrats’ intellectual and character deficiencies are always downplayed or ignored. This year even ostensible Trump supporters preface their supportive words with the obligatory adjectives: crude, boorish, egotistical, bombastic, etc. Few among those who disparage him have made billion-dollar fortunes, and none have captured a major party presidential nomination and ran a competitive race in the face of daunting establishment and media hostility. Even as he may be on the verge of the most audacious feat in the history of American politics, few disparagers acknowledge what came through loud and clear at his rally: he is smart and successful, competent and confident, outspoken and independent.

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