There is an ongoing hatred against intellectuals among the conservative constituents in America. There is a problem with that stance, and it is this: America was founded by intellectuals such as Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin. Which means that for Americans to be anti-intellectual militates against what made America possible in the first place.
Coming together with this stance is the anti-French stance. This is likewise wrong. The French offered critical assistance to America during the revolutionary war, and French thought was instrumental to creating American democracy; and without them damn French, America would not have existed as a sovereign country at all.
The people who take this stance frequently state that America has been saving the French people's "ass" for a century. This can be seen as repaying a historical favor. Not only was French thought critical in creating America, but the French gave Americans critical aid during American Revolution. And this means that it is the French that have given Americans the greatest favor, not the Americans to the French. Given that, during both the First and the Second World Wars, Americans came in at the end when most of the fighting had already been done by other countries, makes their pretentions ridiculous, and more people need to understand such things.
Far be it from me to militate against America. But Americans need to understand things of this nature. Both the intellectuals and the French have had a vast role in creating America. And militating against the French and the intellectuals stands in the way of America being the country that it was intended to be.