{"id":12471,"date":"2020-07-06T17:09:25","date_gmt":"2020-07-07T00:09:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/?p=12471"},"modified":"2020-07-06T17:09:31","modified_gmt":"2020-07-07T00:09:31","slug":"angry-reader-07-06-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/angry-reader-07-06-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Angry Reader 07-06-2020"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From An Angry Reader:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor Hanson:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In your recent article Class, Not Race, Divides America<\/a>, you said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 Biden style of \u201cPut y\u2019all back in chains\u201d or \u201cYou ain\u2019t black,\u201d or reinvent himself in Hillary Clinton fashion as a civil rights veteran possessed of a phony drawl, \u201cI don\u2019t feel no ways tired. I come too far . . . \u201d Think of the logic driving these white liberal elites: \u201cBlacks cannot understand my <\/em>good English, so I will descend into their<\/em> poor grammar, diction, and syntax to feign \u2018y\u2019all\u2019 and \u2018ain\u2019t\u2019 and \u2018no ways tired.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think maybe you are right, and probably you are more right than wrong. But it could be that the way Hillary, Biden, and Obama spoke were just efforts to blend, or to connect with their audiences, and there is nothing wrong with that. Trump used twitter and street language or layman terms, or even behaved and acted like one of the labor, low-income class when speaking as though he himself is a citizen, not a president, is another way to connect to his audiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both ways are ok in my opinion, and the emphasis should be how genuinely one speaks. Trump in your eye is genuine even if crude, but who knows if he is a talented actor who went further by standing in with the crowd when in fact he is just an arrogant racist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be honest, I agree with you more than with the other medias (who provide too much criticisms without sound analysis) in many matters including Trump\u2019s character. Writing to a well-known professor like you is very uncomfortable, you can guess, but I dare saying my thought because I am inspired by your articles and I am encouraged by your answers to other angry readers that you don\u2019t mind if one has a point to discuss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you for reading my letter. I wish you well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nghia Vu<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear Calm and Thoughtful Angry Reader Nghia Vu,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I give you only a 1 (the lower the score, the more professional the angry reader letter), given your letter does not contain the usual three-dot ellipses, capitalizations, exclamation points, profanity, threats, and general incoherence. It reflects a calmer and more thoughtful \u201cangry\u201d reader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I agree that all politicians pander to a degree, but my point was that Trump does not seem to modulate his accent and mannerisms to fit the sociology and race\/ethnicity of particular crowds, at least in the manner that Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and, yes, even Barack Obama did. From what we know, Trump\u2019s accent, grammar, and vocabulary are not contingent on his audience, as his critics note in their disparagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I confess I lose your train of thought with \u201cbut who knows if he is a talented actor who went further by standing in with the crowd when in fact he is just an arrogant racist.\u201d If you mean Trump tries to disguise his tough talk on sensitive issues, I suggest that he does not. His critics go ballistic precisely because he says anything to anyone, anywhere, and anytime, without filters, euphemisms, or equivocation. His enemies are shocked at his directness; he handlers worried that he needlessly is so explicit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t mind at all discussing your points. A final one: I agree with those who judge one\u2019s temperament and ideology on what one does rather than what one is interpreted as saying. Take two examples: Trump\u2019s supposed \u201cracism,\u201d and his \u201cRussian collusion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s policies lowered minority unemployment to record levels. He sought to reduce prison-terms for felony drug crimes that he said fell inordinately upon blacks; he championed inner-city charter schools, as well as tax-exempt enterprise zones; he has pardoned, paroled, or commuted the sentences of a number of African-Americans whom he felt were inordinately sentenced beyond what their convictions warranted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On collusion, Trump has said many wild things about the Russians\u2014most infamously joking that perhaps they could help find Hillary\u2019s deleted emails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what he has done far exceeds anything punitive from the \u201creset\u201d Obama administration: he upped sanctions on Russia, he got out of an asymmetrical agreement with Russia on short-range missiles, he sold weapons to Ukraine, he jawboned against the Germany-Russia natural gas deal, he killed Russian mercenaries in Syria, he crashed world oil and natural gas prices, the essence of the Russian economy, by green lighting horizontal drilling and fracking, and he upped the U.S. defense budget and pressed NATO members to keep their promises\u2014all to the chagrin of Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump says all sorts of things in his art-of-the-deal manner, and the media often report things he didn\u2019t say as if he did. What Trump actually does is what counts, and he has done more for the African-American community than most prior presidents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you for your letter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victor Hanson<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 Biden style of \u201cPut y\u2019all […]<\/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-3f9","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12536,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/angry-reader-08-01-2020\/","url_meta":{"origin":12471,"position":0},"title":"Angry Reader 08-01-2020","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 1, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I was really impressed by the article you wrote that was published in the east bay times today. Mostly impressed by the enourmase size of the piece of shit that you are. Inciting violence from the \"silent majority\" is one of the most irresponsible things one can possibly publish. FUCK\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10643,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/10643-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":12471,"position":1},"title":"From An Angry Reader: Dear\u2026","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 3, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"From An Angry Reader: Dear Mr. Hanson, I\u2019m a black Ivy-League educated liberal raised in NC and something in me snapped last week. Have no fear, I\u2019m still in the liberal camp, but it perturbs me greatly to see all the hoopla over Confederate memorials. This is so not important\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":9625,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/9625\/","url_meta":{"origin":12471,"position":2},"title":"From an Angry Reader: To\u2026","author":"Megan Ring","date":"November 21, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"From an Angry Reader: To Victor Hanson: f**k all y'all motherf**king f**kers unlubed with a f**king broom handle, you elitist motherf**king uniparty pieces of sh*t. Victor Davis Hanson's Reply: Dear Angry Anonymous Foul Reader who mailed from\u00a04m6sm1+2ewjjnl72o2x0@guerrillamail.com, Even though in cowardly fashion you did not print your name, you did\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":6266,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/angry-reader-8-angriest-reader\/","url_meta":{"origin":12471,"position":3},"title":"Angry Reader #8 — “Angriest Reader”","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Hey Victor well i cant say that im honored to write you this piece of which im sure youll not respond to it. I was taken aback and rather disturbed by the puny little brain you have that thinks youre a credible scholar of history but i digress to say\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":9957,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/9957-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":12471,"position":4},"title":"Academy Untoward 2","author":"victorhanson","date":"March 20, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"From an Angry Reader: After reading your discombobulated thoughts on Academy Awards, Mayor Bloomberg, et al., I now know why newspapers have traditionally been used as toilet tissue. M. Buendia Breinigsville PA Victor Davis Hanson's Reply: Dear Angry Reader M. Buendia, Are such angry letters mass produced in some central\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":11926,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/angry-reader-07-31-2019\/","url_meta":{"origin":12471,"position":5},"title":"Angry Reader 07-31-2019","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 3, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"From An Angry Reader: I have known hypocrite God mocking scum like you my entire life. Your cynical article mocking the suffering of the BRAVE German people and glorifying the demonic scum jew who CAUSED are are personally offensive to me and every informed TRUTH loving man woman and child\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\/12471"}],"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=12471"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12471\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12474,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12471\/revisions\/12474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}