Krauthammer's Law: Stupid vs. Evil

The passing of Charles Krauthammer was a great loss to the country, and I believe he was respected on all sides even though he gave no quarter to liberals in his commentary.

One of his outstanding observations was in a 2002 column in which he pointed out this "fundamental law": "Conservatives think liberals are stupid. Liberals think conservatives are evil."

Proof of this is everywhere. Hillary's "Basket of Deporables" speech proves both sides at once: Was it not stupid for a candidate for president to insult a large segment of the public? And her words describing them certainly fit "evil."

Restaurants are not refusing service to members of Trump's cabinet because they aren't dressed appropriately. John Brennan accused President Trump of treason for his press conference in Helsinki. Former CIA director Michael Hayden tweeted a comment about the separation of children at the border with a picture of Auschwitz attached. All of these show animus for the other side verging on evil.

They're also stupid. Michael Hayden doesn't really believe the border actions compare to what happened at Auschwitz, and for him to say as much was stupid.

In a column in yesterday's Wall Street Journal, Jason Willick relates this little story:

When I was a freshman at the University of California, Berkeley in 2011, the College Republicans announced plans to hold an “Increase Diversity Bake Sale.” The idea was to offer minorities and women discounts on cupcakes while white males would pay full price. This led to an emergency meeting of the student government and widespread calls to defund the group or shut down the event. For its organizers, that alone made it a wild success.

The Republicans' game wasn't just mockery; it was malicious.

Krauthammer's column ends with this: The most troubling paradox of all, of course, is George W. Bush. Compassionate, yet conservative? Reporters were fooled during the campaign. "Because Bush seemed personally pleasant," explained Slate, "[they] assumed his politics lay near the political center."

What else could one assume? Pleasant and conservative? Ah, yes, Grampa told of seeing one such in the Everglades. But that was 1926.