Victor Davis Hanson: The Subtle Threat of Democrats’ Sophisticated Crudity

Not all “civil” behavior is harmless. Some actions, cloaked in sophistication or authority, can be far more destructive than overtly crude ones. From Donald Trump’s press interactions to the actions of journalists, university leaders, and political officials, Victor Davis Hanson distinguishes between crass and refined crudity—showing how the latter misleads the public under the guise of authority or expertise—on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.” “No need to call Jasmine Crockett a low-IQ person or a reporter dumb or stupid or fatty. And I would call that crass crudity. And it's something that Trump does and probably should not do, and people have probably reminded him of that. But there's another type of crudity, I would call that crudity refined crudity.

Crass crudity is openly overt, transparent, and condemned. But it's also rhetorical. It doesn't affect policies. It's the ways one reacts to criticism in Trump's case. But what is refined crudity? I wanna tell you, give you some examples, very different examples of what I would call refined crudity.”