Professor Davis,<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In your recent article \u201cThe Method to Trump\u2019s Madness\u201d, you claim Trump\u2019s insults are retaliation to those who have said things against him. Even if that is (partially) true, that does not justify Trump\u2019s immaturity and cruelty.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In many instances, Trump\u2019s name-calling was unprovoked. During the early primaries, Ted Cruz was going out of his way to be nice to Trump. Despite this, Trump called Cruz a liar (without indicating what his lies were), cast Heidi Cruz as unattractive (by showing a photo where she had an angry expression) and claimed Cruz\u2019s father was complicit in the JFK assassination (!).<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Further, Trump insulted Carly Fiorina\u2019s looks, Marco Rubin\u2019s stature, Jeb Bush\u2019s perceived lack of energy, the list goes on. And I haven\u2019t yet mentioned Trumps mocking the disabled reporter.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Even if these people disagreed with Trump on an issue or criticized his (abysmal) behavior, poking fun at others physical features is never justified.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I was shocked at your attempt to justify this unacceptable juvenile behavior on the part of a now president.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I much preferred your writing during the primaries when you saw Trump for the swamp creature he was (and continues to be) and urged your readers not to vote for him in the primaries.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I realize that in the general election there was no choice. Despite major misgivings I voted for Trump over Hillary and am glad that he and not she is president. However to defend behavior that is indefensible is far beneath you.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sincerely,<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Arlene Ross<\/em><\/p>\n New York, NY<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n ___________________________________________<\/p>\n Dear Arlene Ross,<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The title of my essay was \u201cthe method to\u201d\u00a0not<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u201capproval of\u201d Trump\u2019s Madness. It sought to explain why Trump\u2019s madness so far has worked; it did not condone it as ethically admirable. In other words, I reviewed the logic of his outbursts and tweets and why so far that they have not eroded his base of support. Try to read more carefully so as not to confuse efficacy and utility with morality.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You write that you were \u201cshocked\u201d that I tried to \u201cjustify\u201d Trump\u2019s behavior?\u00a0But after listing all of his sins in the primary, you yourself voted for him in the general election?\u00a0Do you seek medieval exemption by confession and penance to justify your help in seeing someone so crude elected?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n More likely, I fear you again were confused in reading why Trump has not turned off 40% of the electorate by his tweets and jibes\u2014and unfortunately conflated my analysis of his effectiveness with a desire on your part for me to damn it as unethical or improper\u2014perhaps a topic for another column. Again, I wrote about utility, not morality.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In sum, Arlene, your own statements are illogical: you praise me for suggesting that we shouldn\u2019t have voted for Trump as long as we had viable alternatives to Hillary Clinton, but then fault me for urging conservatives to vote in the general election for Trump when we had no other alternative to the Obama-Clinton 16-year regnum\u2014and then confess that you\u00a0did exactly the same thing as did I<\/em><\/strong>! Furthermore, you, like I, so far are still glad that he is president and not Clinton.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So I suppose your position by default is: \u201cI finally voted for Trump but I didn\u2019t enjoy doing so given his comportment\u201d\u2014which was the very topic of my column: why did voters like Arlene support (and perhaps still do [you use the present tense \u201cI am glad\u201d]?) Trump despite his often outrageous behavior.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A more interesting philosophical question is why someone so outwardly outrageous is pushing through a far more conservative and needed agenda than prior Republican presidents, who were more sober and judicious. And why did Trump at least profess to care about workers, miners, vets, farmers, and the unemployed in a manner his better informed and experienced rivals did not? That is a tricky moral question that no one has yet answered (other than scream \u201cdemagogue!\u201d). Trump did not write off half the electorate as deplorables nor did he, as Romney, a far more ethical man, write off 47% of Americans as dependents. Nor did he as John McCain write off Trump voters as \u201ccrazies.\u201d There was a callousness and insensitivity to voters in other candidates that the otherwise insensitive Trump at least did not display about voters.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sincerely,<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Professor Davis (Hanson)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 11\/06\/2017 From An Angry Reader: Professor Davis, In your recent article \u201cThe Method to Trump\u2019s Madness\u201d, you claim Trump\u2019s insults are retaliation to those who have said things against him. Even if that is (partially) true, that does not justify Trump\u2019s immaturity and cruelty. In many instances, Trump\u2019s name-calling was unprovoked. During the […]<\/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":[6,1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-2MO","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9510,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/angry-reader-8\/","url_meta":{"origin":10714,"position":0},"title":"Angry Reader","author":"Megan Ring","date":"October 14, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Comment from a Reader: Maybe you can become his campaign manager now.\u00a0 That is, if you can get him to sit still long enough for you to explain to him who Bull Halsey is. Victor Davis Hanson's Reply: Your cynicism is noted. But,as you know, Trump refers to Gens. MacArthur\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12471,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/angry-reader-07-06-2020\/","url_meta":{"origin":10714,"position":1},"title":"Angry Reader 07-06-2020","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 6, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"From An Angry Reader: Professor Hanson: In your recent article Class, Not Race, Divides America, you said: Whatever Trump was, he talked to blacks just as he talked to everyone else\u2014same accent, same mannerism, same vocabulary. He was not going to feign a black patois and pander in the Joe\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11650,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/angry-reader-02-05-2019\/","url_meta":{"origin":10714,"position":2},"title":"Angry Reader 02-05-2019","author":"victorhanson","date":"February 5, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"From An Angry Reader: You, sir, are a traitor, To call the FBI and the representatives of the United States \"Bolsheviks\" when the POTUS you seek to defend consistently lies about contacts with GRU officials; whose chief strategist Stephen Bannon claimed to be a Leninist because he was advocating the\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":11555,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/11555-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":10714,"position":3},"title":"Angry Reader 12-04-2018","author":"victorhanson","date":"December 4, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"From An Angry Reader: Since you never state that POTUS lies 80-85% of the time when he speaks publicly, what are some examples of his fake news. Who has discredited the main stream news other than POTUS? On a scale of 1 to 10 just how right wing is the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Donald Trump"","block_context":{"text":"Donald Trump","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/donald-trump\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9581,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/9581\/","url_meta":{"origin":10714,"position":4},"title":"From an Angry Reader: COULD\u2026","author":"Megan Ring","date":"November 7, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"From an Angry Reader: COULD THESE REALLY BE YOUR WORDS? \u00a0\"When Trump shoots off his blunderbuss, is it always proof of laziness and ignorance, or is it sometimes generally aimed in the right direction to prompt anxiety and eventual necessary reconsideration?\" \u00a0ITS IGNORANCE AND YOU KNOW IT. HAS HE ONCE\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":10969,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/02-08-18-angry-reader\/","url_meta":{"origin":10714,"position":5},"title":"02\/08\/18 Angry Reader","author":"victorhanson","date":"February 14, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"From An Angry Reader: I initially became interested in your work after your podcast interview with Dan Carlin many years ago. The need to engage in a priori reasoning is an important lesson. It is disappointing that you have forgotten this lesson in your many defenses of Trump and your\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10714"}],"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=10714"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10715,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10714\/revisions\/10715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Victor Davis Hanson\u2019s Reply:<\/h3>\n