October 4, 2016<\/p>\n
So\u2014you tuned in hoping to see “Bull” Halsey? I suppose that was a reasonable expectation if the following propositions were true:<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1. <\/em>“Bull” Halsey was a draft dodger.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2. <\/em>“Bull” Halsey was a cheat. \u00a0I could go on\u2014in fact, I could go on and on and on\u2014but I hope you get the point. It’s that I’ve never seen this amount of self-delusion in one place at one time before. The mere act of instituting that comparison means your judgment ranks at zero, now and forever.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0Adios\u2014<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0Bob Acker<\/em><\/p>\n Mr. Acker,<\/p>\n I wrote in the column that conservatives\u2014not myself as you write\u2014probably tuned into to see Trump as a Bull Halsey-like character, not as Captain Queeg of The Caine Mutiny<\/em>. You do not understand the craft of allusion, metaphor, or simile. I suggested that Trump supporters probably thought he would come out in the first debate in speech and candor as aggressive and tough, in the manner that Admiral William \u201cBull\u201d Halsey often employed tough rhetoric in World War II. Instead, I suggested that Trump’s confused debate performance reminded one of the neurotic fictional character Captain Queeg of the classic movie The Caine Mutiny<\/em>, who melted down in courtroom rants about the trivial.<\/p>\n You strangely object to that narrow comparison because you seem to think that the life Trump has lived does not match the heroism of Halsey. True, but my limited comparison was to the impulsive Halsey’s combative language, not inclusive relative morality. According to your simplistic logic, Trump commensurately also could not be compared to the neurotic Queeg because Queeg never existed\u2014he was first a fictional and later a cinematic character. So I am also not allowed to note the comparison between Trump and Queeg because it would be unfair to the non-person Queeg: the phantom of literature and film whose made-up life might not have been akin to Trump, the \u201cfour-flusher\u201d?<\/p>\n The arrogance and puerility of your angry letter (“It’s that I’ve never seen this amount of self-delusion in one place at one time before. The mere act of instituting that comparison means your judgment ranks at zero, now and forever.”) only add to your utter confusion about comparisons to limited rhetorical characteristics of real and fictional characters.<\/p>\n Finally, if I were to say on occasion that Mitt Romney was Kennedyesque, in some of his better rhetorical moments, would the blinkered Acker then object that the comparison between the morally upright Romney and the dissolute and often abhorrent sexual practices of John F. Kennedy made the narrow rhetorical allusion unfair to Romney?<\/p>\n In sum, the angry letter is utterly incoherent, reminding us that ignorance and arrogance are a lethal combination.<\/p>\n VDH<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Comment on: Is Trump Admiral Bull Halsey of Captain Queeg? October 4, 2016 So\u2014you tuned in hoping to see “Bull” Halsey? I suppose that was a reasonable expectation if the following propositions were true: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1. “Bull” Halsey was a draft dodger. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2. “Bull” Halsey was a cheat. “Bull” Halsey was a four-flusher. “Bull” […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"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-2t5","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9510,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/angry-reader-8\/","url_meta":{"origin":9491,"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":9477,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/is-trump-admiral-bull-halsey-or-captain-queeg\/","url_meta":{"origin":9491,"position":1},"title":"Is Trump Admiral Bull Halsey or Captain Queeg?","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 4, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review In debate No. 2, Trump owes it to the \u2018deplorables\u2019 to focus on the issues and exert some self-control. In the first debate, Hillary stuck out her jaw on cybersecurity, the treatment of women, sermons on the need for restrained language, and talk\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Trump"","block_context":{"text":"Trump","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/trump\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11925,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/angry-reader-7-30-2019\/","url_meta":{"origin":9491,"position":2},"title":"Angry Reader 7-30-2019","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 3, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"From An Angry Reader: Dont worry , no silly greetings for you. Ha ha ha , reading your opinion in Albuquerque Journal made me laugh out loud. Fortunately, I rarely read such Bull Shit. Such crap is beyond belief. Thanks for the Laugh , Darrell Little \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 Dear Angry Reader\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":9322,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/president-obama-is-visiting-hiroshima-why-not-pearl-harbor\/","url_meta":{"origin":9491,"position":3},"title":"President Obama Is Visiting Hiroshima. Why Not Pearl Harbor?","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 26, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"On the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, what lessons does the U.S. need to relearn? By Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review Online This year marks the 75th anniversary of the December 7, 1941, Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor that killed more than 2,400 Americans. President Obama is visiting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "China"","block_context":{"text":"China","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/china\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10532,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/preemptive-strike-or-preventive-war\/","url_meta":{"origin":9491,"position":4},"title":"Preemptive Strike Or Preventive War?","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 30, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Williamson Murray \/\/ Strategika \u00a0 Image credit:Poster Collection, US 1696, Hoover Institution Archives. 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From time to time, Obama ventures from\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\/9491"}],"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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9491"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9492,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9491\/revisions\/9492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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Victor Davis Hanson\u2019s Reply:<\/h3>\n