Every once in a while, no matter how much you prepare for an interview, it just takes off in directions you didn’t see coming. That’s what happened this week on Politinerds, when we welcomed back Matt Lewis of The Daily Caller to talk about his new book, Too Dumb to Fail. Frequently when we talk to authors it can be a rather rote affair, but Matt and I actually see some of the topics he covers in very different ways and I wound up getting into it with both him and Doug on a number of areas. Matt is pretty virulently anti-Trump to put it mildly, but he expands on the specific Trump phenomenon to encompass the entire future of the party.

We discuss the idea of just how “dumb” it is to adopt certain strategies or positions if they wind up carrying the day and whether or not (as Matt asserts in one of his later chapters) the GOP has become infected with some strain of a hotbed of anti-intellectual fervor. I also ask Matt to expand on the idea of whether the candidates are running to be the nominee of conservatives or of the Republican Party and how those two tags may be diverging a bit this cycle.

It’s not a fight, or really even an argument, but a debate which seems to touch on what’s currently splitting some of the forces inside the GOP. I’m not trashing Matt’s book or suggesting anyone not read it. Matt remains a solid warrior in the conservative cause and his writing style is always something to be admired. But we live in a time of significant divisions inside both major parties and Matt has clearly staked out his own turf in that discussion. Give it a listen and let me know what you think.

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