03\/27\/17<\/p>\n
Victor,<\/em><\/p>\n
As a fine historian (but poor political scientist) you know quite well that Andrew Jackson was a national hero with a distinguished military career. The Donald is a former casino owner and reality TV show star. It is a long stretch to compare them. Further, a column replete with disjointed and frankly random comments about California infrastructure and Obama, while cryptically arguing against a mysterious and undefinable elite, would surely earn you poor marks. Stunned they published that dribble. You wrote \u201cA War Like No Other\u201d\u2014I expect much better. In any event, and more importantly, the real issues facing America are the undermining of Pax Americana\u2014our world, our institutions, and created for our benefit. These are being threatened by a reckless President who fails to understand that he destroying the West from within (unless, and even more disturbingly, he does). That is the geopolitical column that needs to be written. I hope you do. Thanks in advance. Steve<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Victor Davis Hanson’s Reply:<\/h3>\n
Angry Reader Steve Fardy<\/strong><\/p>\n
Steve,<\/p>\n
Do you understand how proper adjectives like\u00a0\u201cJacksonian\u201d work?<\/p>\n
To say Trump is Freudian would not mean his life mirror imaged Sigmund Freud, any more than to describe one as Churchillian or Reaganesque demands perfect\u00a0correlations. Trump is an outsider like Jackson; and also like him, Trump appeals to working-classes aggrieved at a political class, largely on issues of economic and cultural nationalism. All that is Jacksonian, whatever the disconnect\u00a0between the actual lives of Trump and Jackson. Trump did not kill someone in a duel, commit bigamy, implement the Trail of Tears, or dare the Chief Justice to enforce his ruling\u2014does that disconnect with Jackson bother you as well?<\/p>\n
What earns you poor marks is an inability to cite specifics in your criticism rather than the boilerplate\u00a0\u201crandom comments\u201d or \u201ccryptically arguing,\u201d as well of course your reliance on the progressive ad hominem boilerplate (e.g., \u201cStunned they published that dribble\u201d).<\/p>\n
The status of California infrastructure is a matter of record; check Forbes<\/em> or other business periodicals\u2019 rating of California freeways and roads, and you will find them at the bottom of state rankings\u2014despite the state\u2019s astronomical taxes. The same is true of school test scores: among the highest taxes of the states, and among the bottom tier in terms of public schools. Please refute that assertion. Do you dispute the idea that\u00a0\u201cexperts\u201d (aka \u201celites\u201d) in education, politics, and social policy gave us that disconnect of near record tax rates and lousy infrastructure, schools, and quality of life.<\/p>\n
Again, is it ignorance or intellectual laziness that stops you from providing one concrete example to illustrate what you mean by \u201cundermine Pax Americana\u201d?<\/p>\n
Has the U.S. under Trump in 70 days become estranged from\u00a0the Gulf States and Israel? Has Trump cut a deal with Iran by bypassing the Senate through creating a media\u00a0\u201cecho chamber\u201d? Did he bomb Libya without congressional approval? Did he reset\u00a0with Russia that ended up with annexations of\u00a0Crimea and Eastern Ukraine? Did he sit back and watch 500,000 die in Syria? Did Trump leave our southern border wide-open? Did he craft a new \u201clead from behind\u201d foreign policy? Ask traditional allies like Egypt, Israel, Japan, South Korea, or Canada what their\u00a0views of Pax America were like the last eight years. Has Trump set faux deadlines, step-over, and redlines?<\/p>\n
All that is a letter that needs to be written. I hope you do. Thanks in advance. Victor<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
03\/27\/17 From an Angry Reader: Victor, As a fine historian (but poor political scientist) you know quite well that Andrew Jackson was a national hero with a distinguished military career. The Donald is a former casino owner and reality TV show star. It is a long stretch to compare them. Further, a column replete with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-2BE","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11440,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/angry-reader-10-04-2018\/","url_meta":{"origin":10022,"position":0},"title":"Angry Reader 10-04-2018","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 4, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"From An Angry Reader: it is painful to see or read your columns. I usually ignore them;today\u2019s on Nunes was pathetic. Mr. Hanson,you are a fraud and in a just world you\u2019d be condemned to occupy a spot in that special place down below where it\u2019s always hot... Delusional is\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9661,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/9661-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":10022,"position":1},"title":"From an Angry Reader: I\u2026","author":"Megan Ring","date":"December 9, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"From an Angry Reader: I love the Angry Reader section of your website, particularly your responses. I want to be an Angry Reader and see what you have to say about my valid, thoughtful points so here goes. How can anyone support Donald Trump (I call him DT because he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Angry Reader"","block_context":{"text":"Angry Reader","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/angry-reader\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11757,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/angry-reader-04-03-2019\/","url_meta":{"origin":10022,"position":2},"title":"Angry Reader 04-03-2019","author":"victorhanson","date":"April 3, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"From An Angry Reader: Well, a quick scan of your website revealed you actually have a whole section dedicated to \u201cAngry Reader\u201d mail. One would think, a man of your so-called intellect, would perhaps have a small moment of introspection and realize the true damage Donald Trump and the current\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Angry Reader"","block_context":{"text":"Angry Reader","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/angry-reader\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":188,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/angry-reader-4\/","url_meta":{"origin":10022,"position":3},"title":"Angry Reader #4","author":"victorhanson","date":"December 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Private Papers Angry Reader #4 wrote: You know, I remember, before Pajamas media, when I respected some of the writers that are now here (such as VDH) \u2014 but they\u2019ve all turned into crazy cranks. This little virtual world they\u2019ve built themselves is bad for their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Angry Reader"","block_context":{"text":"Angry Reader","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/angry-reader\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10197,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/angry-reader-13\/","url_meta":{"origin":10022,"position":4},"title":"Angry Reader","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 24, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"From an Angry Reader: Mr. Hanson, Normally, I would find a credentialed resume such as yours quite impressive and interesting, however, the deluded and incredulous nonsense I witnessed you spouting on FOX News with Tucker Carlson, that Russian involvement with the Trump campaign exists only as a 'trumped up' Dem\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Angry Reader"","block_context":{"text":"Angry Reader","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/angry-reader\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10358,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/10358-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":10022,"position":5},"title":"From An Angry Reader: In\u2026","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 6, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"From An Angry Reader: In your recent article you are off base, friend. Every day that passes proves Trump to be unfit in so many ways. I figure a Trump believer to be either embarrassingly uninformed or purely hypocritical, willing to push a conservative agenda regardless of flag bearer. No\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Angry Reader"","block_context":{"text":"Angry Reader","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/angry-reader\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10022"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10022"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10022\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10030,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10022\/revisions\/10030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}