There’s definite anti-intellectualism, but what you’re describing is the loss of qualified/high innovation industry in the US.

The previous generation of higher education graduates cannot find gainful employment offsetting their student loans, not to mention qualified work at all. There isn’t enough employment or market to make use of that knowledge (there’s also a discussion to be had about the quality of that knowledge, but with the rest of the world managing – let’s set that aside for now), whereas there’s high demand for the trades.

The last few centuries have shown that economic growth is greatly accelerated with higher education, and that access to an educated workforce has been key to post-world-war growth. Meaning it might get rough for the next US generation…