Are ‘Elites’ to Blame for the Rise of Donald Trump?

14 September 2016
Emily Stewart

Who is at fault for the Donald Trump phenomenon? An audience of New York elites attended a debate on Tuesday night in Manhattan and ultimately delivered a surprising verdict.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and Wall Street Journal foreign affairs columnist Bret Stephens began his opening argument at the Open to Debate formerly known as Intelligence Squared U.S. event by noting that those sitting in the crowd at the Kaufman Center on Manhattan’s Upper West Side are themselves the so-called elites. How many had traveled to Europe in the last five years? How many had graduate degrees? How many knew whether Sancerre was red or white wine?

As the majority of the audience raised their hands, he said, “I hate to break it to you, but you are the elite.”