{"id":12431,"date":"2020-06-17T15:00:08","date_gmt":"2020-06-17T22:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/?p=12431"},"modified":"2020-06-17T12:43:47","modified_gmt":"2020-06-17T19:43:47","slug":"not-so-swift-smear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/not-so-swift-smear\/","title":{"rendered":"Not-So-Swift Smear"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I recently&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/2020\/06\/not-so-retiring-retired-military-leaders\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote<\/a>&nbsp;about a number of retired high-ranking generals and admirals, none running for office or currently serving in the Trump administration, whose strident criticisms of the present elected president were setting an unfortunate precedent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many disagreed. There are certainly arguments to consider on both sides. But rarely have I read an attack that is wholly disingenuous, so poorly written as to be incoherent, and mostly adolescently ad hominem, of the sort leveled by one&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/thebulwark.com\/the-generals-and-the-historian\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Jim Swift of the Bulwark<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Swift says I am a hypocrite (\u201chypocritical criticism wrapped in a history lesson\u201d) for criticizing current strident political attacks on an elected president, given that I had not previously objected to Generals Mattis, Kelly, and Flynn serving in the Trump administration. (\u201cSo much for keeping the military out of politics.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But surely even Swift can see the difference between a retired general serving in a government and a general blasting a president while in retirement and not in government. Mattis, Kelly, and Flynn probably all have differing political views. They did not necessarily serve the Trump administration to advance their own or Trump\u2019s political agendas; perhaps they aimed to serve the country if so asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/corner\/not-so-swift-smear\/\">Read the full article here <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review I recently&nbsp;wrote&nbsp;about a number of retired high-ranking generals and admirals, none running for office or currently serving in the Trump administration, whose strident criticisms of the present elected president were setting an unfortunate precedent. Many disagreed. There are certainly arguments to consider on both sides. But rarely have I [&hellip;]<\/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":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-3ev","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5320,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/four-months-in-vietnam\/","url_meta":{"origin":12431,"position":0},"title":"Four Months in Vietnam","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 27, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Or how to misdirect public attention. by Bruce S. Thornton Private Papers Everyone knows magicians use misdirection to make their illusions work. While one hand distracts us the other is pulling the egg or coin from its hiding place. Politics is no different, as the Kerry campaign and its shills\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bruce S. Thornton&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9804,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/9804-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":12431,"position":1},"title":"Postmodernism by Another Name","author":"victorhanson","date":"February 3, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"02\/03\/17 From an Angry Reader: Re: Fake News: Postmodernism By Another Name \u00a0While I thought the article was well written and cited several good specific examples. I find is a bit disingenuous that only the progressive movement is called out. Perhaps it would be worth mentioning the \u201cSwift Boat\u201d stories\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Angry Reader&quot;","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":3300,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/obamas-race-card\/","url_meta":{"origin":12431,"position":2},"title":"Obama&#8217;s Race Card","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 7, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton Private Papers The liberal media are in full Captain Renault mode, \u201cshocked, shocked\u201d to find race injected into the presidential campaign by a \u201cSwift-boating\u201d John McCain. How shameless can you get? The Obama campaign\u2013\u2013indeed, the whole of Obama\u2019s public existence\u2013\u2013is about nothing other than his perceived\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bruce S. Thornton&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13335,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/a-childs-garden-of-animals\/","url_meta":{"origin":12431,"position":3},"title":"A Child\u2019s World of Animals","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 7, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Nested Owls on the Ranch Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ Private Papers \u00a0Part One One of the problems of the modern world is our helicopter society of well-meant, but over-parentage.\u00a0\u00a0Or is it the belief that the more we shield and protect our children, the safer they become, as if a houseplant\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/OwlsRanchCropped.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/OwlsRanchCropped.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/OwlsRanchCropped.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/OwlsRanchCropped.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/OwlsRanchCropped.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/OwlsRanchCropped.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9834,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/make-haste-deliberately\/","url_meta":{"origin":12431,"position":4},"title":"Make Haste \u2014 Deliberately","author":"victorhanson","date":"February 7, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson\/\/ National Review If Trump shows that his actions are a reaction to past extremes, his changes will win public support. The emperor Augustus who oversaw the transition from the nonstop civil war of a collapsing republic to the Principate \u2014 with all the good and bad\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Democrats&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Democrats","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/democrats\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5307,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/interpreting-the-returns-of-election-04\/","url_meta":{"origin":12431,"position":5},"title":"Interpreting the Returns of Election &#8217;04","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 4, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"All that razzle-dazzle can't fool average Joe. by Bruce S. Thornton Private Papers Now that, as Hank Williams might put it, it's all over but the Democrats' crying, what are some preliminary conclusions we can draw from this election? The most obvious is that the Democrats are increasingly out of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bruce S. Thornton&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12431"}],"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=12431"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12432,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12431\/revisions\/12432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}