They call Trump a narcissist, but his enemies are worse

Moral narcissism infects almost every issue of our time, from race relations to media bias to higher education, where the recent outbreak of “microagressions” and “safe spaces” reflects an ever-growing need for moral superiority to differentiate oneself from ordinary Americans.

Moral narcissism thus divides us into a society of haves and have-nots in regard to “right thinking.” This is the true income inequality, and creates our own version of the old Soviet nomenklatura (literally, name list) made up not of the rich and powerful but, in our case, of “right thinkers” who therefore become rich and powerful, if they weren’t already.

Seemingly voluntary, this American nomenklatura of ideas is proving to be more enduring than those forced upon citizens of the Soviet Union by Lenin and Stalin.

It is these self-perpetuating and self-interested nomenklaturas of the left and right against which Trump’s supporters are rebelling. The so-called “flyover people” have been ignored or dismissed for years by coastal elites that considered themselves superior. The poor rednecks — frequently just normal middle-class Americans — don’t understand. They need to be led, so they can see what is supposedly the truth.