Let's have a beer

I've been thinking about when being stupid became a point of pride and how it got melded with being folksy. Dubbya wasn't the sharpest tool but people wanted to have a beer with him because they found him approachable. 

Reagan was the first president whose unfitness and past as a mediocre actor made him a target and it only got worse from there. Imagine JFK or Nixon being mocked in that way until one remembers that despite their flaws these men were rather intelligent. With Clinton it was his sexual indiscretion and not his mental acuity. 

Trump is easily the stupidest of them all and yet the vote count would have you think otherwise until you remember the power of echo chambers and social media where people are emboldened to say the idiotic with absolute confidence. It's not objective truth that matters but instead our conviction towards "alternative facts" (to quote Kellyanne Conway). 

Pete Hesgeth is going to be secretary of defense and, in this golden age of idiocy, it only makes perfect sense.

Cue Elon Musk for the victory leap.