I’m happy to explain the disconnect. The full sentence you quoted from reads: It’s easy enough to [find] however many examples of idiotic brutes doing idiotically brutal things in the service of these ideologies, but in my opinion, I think that approach risks ignoring the truly evil (another thorny concept, I’ll admit) intelligence that can and often does shape and direct these cretins, at least in part.
I don’t think there is any tension between that belief and my opinion on Trump. I believe it is dangerous to discount the intelligence of Trump’s enablers, as I said above. I believe intelligent people are capable of monstrous evil, including manipulating the wrecking balls of the world. I’m not sure there’s disagreement here, but if my caution on the broad question is interpreted as disagreement on the narrow, the fault is mine.
