Are there any intelligent and/or highly educated people who support Donald Trump?
I know plenty of well educated “decent" people who support Donald Trump.Among them are several Ivy League grads, multiple MBAs, and Ph.Ds, college professors, multiple lawyers, including one who has argued (and won) a case before the Supreme Court, multiple M.D.s, several social workers, and many, many others. I can add small business owners, retired command grade military officers, corporate officers and a few rocket scientists- we are in Houston, the home of NASA.Most of these folks are generous supporters of various community projects to help the poor. Some, like myself are active in service organizations like Rotary (of which I am a member) that has nearly eradicated polio after raising and spending over $500,000,000 with the help of a matching grant from the Gates Foundation. Conservatives routinely give of their time to help others. In fact, it is a well established statistical fact conservatives give substantially more to charities than liberals. Liberals, on average give less than half of what conservatives give to charities. Liberals are only generous with government money.Margaret Thatcher wisely noted this when she observed “ The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money.”Most of the generous people of whom I speak are members of my parish church, in long term committed marriages, with successful, stable lives, who care about others and who live decent, productive lives.I would guess that 80-90% of my parishioners voted for Donald Trump.I spent 15 years in the corporate world as a banker, I went to seminary and was ordained a priest in the Anglican Church in North America, where I first served as a church planter, and now as rector of a parish .I have been married to the same wonderful woman for four decades,. Together, we have raised two daughters.I hold an undergraduate degree from the University of Houston, two earned masters degrees ( Master of Arts in Religion; Master of Divinity). Related to my previous career, I am a graduate of the National School of Commercial Lending at the University of Oklahoma, and the Southwestern Graduate School of Banking at S.M.U. ( MBA in Bank Management).In 2008 I was awarded a Doctor of Divinity Degree ( Honorary).Most of the people I know personally voted for Donald Trump. So maybe you need to expand your circle of friends.Of course, I live in Texas, in flyover country. We are “deplorables”. You know, “ bitter people who cling to guns and religion.”
Why is America upset about Russia meddling in their elections when the US has been meddling in other countries' affairs for decades?
For the same reason Russia arrested and convicted Sergei Skripal for spying for the British even though Russia has always had spies in the UK, and the same reason the FBI rolled up a ring of Russian sleeper agents in the United States in 2010, even though the US surely continues to spy on Russia:Because that's how the game works. You can't not play the game, because you know the other guys will, but the game also requires that everyone (a) deny they're doing it and (b) make every effort to thwart the others by pursuing, uncovering, and punishing to the extent possible.International politics are played by overt and covert means. This is hardly a shocker. That doesn't mean, when covert means get outed, that you throw up your hands.Incorrect.When you uncover meddling, you prosecute and convict. Impose sanctions when you can. You also get righteously pissed off, as Iranians and Chileans are about CIA meddling decades ago, and as Iraqis and Afghans are about, well, you know.Come to think of it, some of the fiercest critics of American meddling are Americans. Noam Chomsky, anyone? It's not as if this is unacknowledged.The objective of punishment is, of course, both public relations — you don't want to be seen publicly to be weak on foreign interference, unless you're beholden to the meddling party — and as a deterrent. You need to make covert meddling as risky and difficult as possible. You can't stop it, but you can make it costly.Surely in this case part of the indignation is also a bit of shame that it could be so easy, and, apparently, so without consequence. It is embarrassing that all it took to get millions of people to go to the polls in what looks like a collective temper tantrum and vote in this guy …… was hiring some kids to work gullible Americans into a froth on social media. That is sad, and when people get caught in an embarrassing situation they tend to lash out. It's human nature. Sad.In general, however, it's because that's how the game works.