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For decades now, it has been a staple of the left’s critique of patriots that both they and their leaders are stupid. First, it was Ronald Reagan, the failed actor, a man who was given lines to read. Then there was George W. Bush, aka “Chimpy McHalliburton.” And now there is Donald Trump, the dull-witted billionaire. 

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It has become a reflex for leftists to characterize every Republican president, as well as every Republican presidential candidate, as an intellectual lightweight or worse who owed his electoral success to crafty and cynical handlers who didn’t believe in the message they were putting in the mouth of their front man. 

Now, however, possibly for the first time ever, a leading leftist spokesman has admitted that the patriotic candidate who beat them may actually be smarter than leftists have given him credit for being. 

This unlikeliest of events happened on Friday when the hard-left former CNN propagandist Chris Cillizza was lamenting the improbable victory of the man whom he and his colleagues had been ridiculing for years for being stupid, demented, inept, and evil. Cillizza was baffled that Bad Orange Man, the Emmanuel Goldstein of his nightmares, actually turned out to have had a thought and even worse, that his thought had turned out to be correct. 

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“How the hell,” Cillizza fumed in a conversation with Van Jones, “did Donald Trump figure out the mainstream media is the fringe and the fringe is now the mainstream? How the hell did Donald Trump figure out — I mean, Joe Rogan is obvious, right? Like, we knew the guy had a big audience. It’s not like we were, like, stunned. But, like, how the hell was he, the 78-year-old guy who doesn’t even have a computer, and still, like, writes handwritten notes, how did he become the guy who cracked the code on — to your point — running a cultural, I don’t even wanna say campaign? Running a —”  

Jones broke in with, “It’s a — it’s a movement. Look —” as Cillizza continued with “A movement, heading a cultural movement versus a campaign.” 

As he battled with Cillizza for the floor, Jones said: “Look. Ev— Everybody — Every one of your people knows, Elon Elon Elon Elon.” But it wasn’t just Elon Musk. Jones continued, “Listen. So, so, everybody keeps, I mean, the problem is, you have a framework in your mind that,” and he mimicked Cillizza’s high-pitched whine, “‘How could Donald Trump? How could Donald Trump? How could Donald Trump?’ Guys, can we cut it out? Donald Trump is not an idiot. Donald Trump — let me just be very clear. — Donald Trump is smarter than me, you, and all his critics. You know how we know? Because he has the White House, the Senate, the House —”

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And that point, Cillizza broke in to say sadly, “Totally agree.” 

Jones went on: “— the Supreme Court, the popular vote, he has a massive media ecosystem bigger than the mainstream built around him and for him, and a religiously — a religious fervor in a political movement around him. And his best buddy is the richest person in the history of the world, and the most relevant Kennedy is with him. This dude is a, is a phenomenon. He is the most powerful human on earth and in our lifetime. And we’re still saying, ‘Well, how is this guy —?’ We look like idiots to ordinary people.” 

Cillizza folded completely, saying, “You’re totally right.” Although, it wasn’t clear if he really had been convinced that Trump was more intelligent than the left has ever given him credit for being, or if he simply didn’t want to have a public disagreement with Van Jones.  

Related: Dem State Rep Finally Shows What Leftists Really Want to Do to Their Opponents

Either way, however, Jones was right: Trump has had remarkable success, particularly in light of how much the left has thrown at him. Neither nearly total negative coverage in the establishment media, nor bogus criminal charges, nor claims of foreign interference and other malfeasance have stopped him. There has never been a candidate who survived both a media onslaught and challenges in the courts, and now Trump has proven that the left is not invincible. 

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Van Jones has broken with the leftist lockstep before, and so this newfound respect for Trump is unlikely to herald any change in the left’s approach of treating Republican presidential candidates as if they’re more fit to have an ice cream outing with Old Joe Biden than to perform the duties of the presidency. Still, it’s refreshing to see reality break through to any leftist, no matter how fleetingly.