In my college days, virtually everyone who had any political view at all was either a liberal or an occasional self-declared Trotskyite or Communist.
They viewed any other thoughts (conservative, libertarian, anarchist, whatever) as an insult to the body politic.
Since they were on a mission to make the world perfect anyone who got in the way was quickly dismissed as either irrelevant or stupid.
Their self-esteem was totally tied up in their belief system.
They literally could not function in a world where their beliefs were not validated and supported.
Welcome to the press room!
And, needless to say, there was no tactic too devious for them. They were fighting for justice and to save the world!
Their other defining characteristic—every one of them—is that they were arrogant and often down-right nasty.
I should add how I try to persuade them—had a chance at that today.
I was talking to a liberal and I knew he was convinced Hillary was heading towards a landslide victory (since he reads and believes the New York slime).
I just asked him if he saw the ABC poll today on the Presidential race. He said he hadn’t and asked me what it said. I said “ABC says the race is even”. He was stunned, and said, “Well, of course, Hillary will still win, right.” And I said, the truth is “nobody knows”.
And—he didn’t argue the point.
See—dragged him an inch closer to reality.