"A Smart Terrible Person" vs. "A Dumb Terrible Person!"

Maybe a terrible man and his candidacy for President can be a national horror-show, and a necessary purgative. Think of the Short Fingered Vulgarian as a "moral enema." Gross. Right?!

Maybe we need a candidate for President to show us the dark underside of America? Maybe we need to see upfront and center all the ugliness, the ignorance, the bold racism, the sexism, the xenophobia?

Maybe we need this guy to help us expel the bad, gross stuff.

No matter how bad you think things could be, this person is much worse, this person embodies all the worst qualities you could imagine, and multiplies them and pumps them up to "11."

And he is shameless, and clueless. And he is so shameless & clueless he actually believes these are admirable qualities, necessary to being a "winner!"

So then, in response, we get lots of soul-searching, and redefining, and scrambling to come up with reasons, and diagnostic explanations for how this man, and his followers, could be so totally clueless and morally suspect. Lots of good writing coming from all corners.

You get think pieces like this one from Josh Marshall.  Drawing the subtle, nuanced, distinction between a "smart terrible person," vs. a "dumb terrible person."