Trump is, or at least acts like, "new money." Terms like arriviste seem to fit. Trump talks and acts like most people would act if they made a whole pile of money and weren't accustomed to it. He has the "I made it, why can't you?" attitude common to the self-made, instead of the noblesse oblige attitude of old inherited wealth.Today at American Thinker, James Lewis asks why Washington insiders like George Will, Jonah Goldberg, and Bill Kristol can't stand Donald Trump. His answer:
The snobbish can't stand his perceived "lack of class," his involvement with tacky wrestling, beauty pageants, and entertainment. Such people, they believe, belong in People magazine, not in the White House.
After thinking about George and Jonah and Bill, who unanimously headed for the hills when Trump started to win, I've finally concluded that they despised Trump because he sounded low-class. It's a class thing.Social class is something we don't like to admit exists in the U.S., almost all claim to be "middle class." The truth, of course, is quite different.
Well, the D.C. establishment also despised Abe Lincoln as a low-class hick from the backwoods who spoke with a country accent. But they adored Woodrow Wilson, a dreadful president, because he spoke in whole sentences. He might have been horribly wrong about the League of Nations (now the über-corrupt U.N.), but hey, he had a Ph.D.
The commentariat, it seems, is catching on.
