National Review critic-at-large Kyle Smith is facing blowback online for a harsh review of incoming First Lady Dr. Jill Biden’s dissertation.
Piggybacking off discourse from last weekend about her use of the “Dr.” honorific, Smith called Biden’s dissertation “garbage” and argued it “is not an addition to the sum total of human knowledge.”
Smith’s Wednesday post immediately elicited angry responses.
“This is the type of sh– losers do,” fumed comedian Tim Dillon. “Writing an article about whether or not the incoming first lady’s doctoral dissertation holds up. The GOP is BEYOND FU–ED if this is the strategy.”
Former Ohio congressional candidate Shannon Freshour kept her critique a little more low-key, jokingly encouraging Smith, “Please provide the link to your doctoral dissertation.”
Journalist Kaya Oakes flipped Smith’s style back on his work: “The writer of this column criticizes the grammar of Dr. Biden’s students (she teaches comp, THE HORROR) and yet, he somehow thinks multiple sentence fragments are okay. I think. Men need. To stop writing clickbait trash. Defaming women. And their work.”
Others pointed out that Smith is a relative unknown attacking a woman who is prominent in culture and academia.
Last Friday, the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed on Biden that prompted similar backlash after author Joseph Epstein called her “kiddo” and urged her to stop going by “Dr.”
Epstein’s op-ed was roundly lambasted over the weekend. Even Biden herself appeared to weigh in, tweeting Sunday, “Together, we will build a world where the accomplishments of our daughters will be celebrated, rather than diminished.”