In a serious reply to darth_ender, I think my gripe with the Republican Party prior to the rise of Trump was not that Republicans were badly-educated, it was that there was an anti-intellectual bent even among some undeniably well-educated Republicans (there’s always been that element in American politics, it’s moved back and forth between parties, and it’s not exclusively Republican even today). Lack of expertise/knowledge/experience was seen as a net positive. That is simply a problem. It leads to… well, it leads to now.

I miss Bush I, really I do. Not that I really agreed with the man on very much, but he didn’t see ignorance as a virtue, and that’s the basis of a decent political system. I feel similarly about Romney (and it gives me something resembling hope that he outpolled Trump, even if he lost).

EDIT: To be clear, I also have problems with Republicans post-Trump, but I didn’t elaborate on that because I think we’re clearly in agreement.