There is a difference between a ruling elite in the country as suffered in communist China with the communist party and elitists as we suffer in America.
Elitists are bigots who fancy themselves superior over others they target as their inferiors. They are bullies like all bigots. They can, however, end up being mobbed by their targets and bloodied and intimidated quite well. They have no office nor real authority to protect them in the end. They are self anointed.
For the next generation of insufferable leftists, think today’s hipters.