Author: Trump voters will die sooner than elites they hate, because system is rigged

Many supporters of Donald Trump will die sooner than the elites they hate, author David Brooks writes in his essay for The Atlantic — “How the Ivy League Broke America” — and it’s by design.
“The diploma divide is driving American politics,” Brooks writes in a newsletter to promote his piece. “Donald Trump surged back into power with the support of millions of high-school-educated voters who are furious at the college-educated elite.”
He adds: “High-school-educated people die eight years younger than college-educated people, on average. They are much more likely to perish from opioid addiction, to have children out of wedlock, to be obese, to say they have no close friends.”
Here’s how the U.S. caste system was created, Brooks writes:
Students who performed well in academic settings and standardized testing have been admitted into the best universities — Ivy League colleges, for instance — “and then funneled into jobs at the commanding heights of society. … They married other people with these skills, invested massively in their children, who then went off to the same elite universities, and presto — you’ve got an inherited caste system.”
When elite universities began accepting students according to grades and SAT scores, rich parents raised kids to hit those goals, while middle-class and poor families focused on letting children be children. Art and shop classes were eliminated to make more time for standardized testing.
The rich got better educated — and richer. And the less-educated — many of whom are Trump supporters — became angry and disillusioned. They realized the game is rigged.
“Students from families in the top 1 percent of earners were 77 times more likely to attend an Ivy League–level school than students from families making $30,000 a year or less. Many elite schools draw more students from the top 1 percent than the bottom 60,” Brooks reports.
Is today’s leadership class governing well? No, Brooks writes. Is it trusted and respected by most Americans? No. Has it used the system to lock in its privileges? Yes.
The solution: Redefine intelligence, de-emphasize success in school, un-rig the system, and break up the meritocracy, which is tearing apart the country.
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