It does seem like the Republican Party counts on a gullible chunk of the population which they can weaponize at the polls. Weaponize means a highly loyal, unquestioning base of support that will turn out and follow whatever agenda populist leaders set forth. Due factors such as the electoral college, senate seat distribution, and gerrymandering this base doesn’t even have to be that big to have a big impact on elections.
In demonizing higher education—the same education that Trump ensured all his children received—Trump can maintain popularity among white voters who feel left behind by calls for increasingly skilled labor and who feel threatened by the seemingly rising socioeconomic status of women and people of color. Further, by undermining higher education, he can ensure future voters for himself and the Republican party. At the root of all this we have a consolidation of power and knowledge by the elite, with the intention of keeping the working classes divided and disenfranchised. In Trump’s (and many other conservative politicians’) ideal world, the average American seeks only enough knowledge to fulfill his or her part of a capitalist system, while those born to privilege will learn the ways of world leadership at elite institutions. — Mediocre, pg 105