"A bunch of smart and educated people are taking him seriously."

Or perhaps using him as a foil against which to hone their arguments. I don't think anyone really takes him seriously, perhaps not even him. And why should we? This is a discussion with no real consequences. OTOH, when this moves out into the *real world* and wants to become public policy, THEN it becomes REAL and important.

And the unfortunate part of this is that there ARE people out there who want to make this kind of silliness into public policy. So we, as thinking people living in a fact-based reality, must figure out a way of dealing with this mindset so that they don't cause damage.

Saul