This was not simply an artifact of the Right’s Alt Reality bubble; it was also a reflection of a broader populist anti-intellectualism that rejected expertise and authority alike. Within the Alt Reality silos there was a nagging insistence that everyone’s opinions and facts were as good as anyone else’s and that claims to the contrary were signs of “elitism.” This rejection of reason and evidence was essentially a rejection of Enlightenment values as well as the conservative tradition.
