Victor Davis Hanson: Democrats’ Refined Crudity—Not Trump Insults—Pose the Real Danger

The Daily Signal

Government, Daily News, News, Politics

4.6 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 26 December 2025

⏱️ 8 minutes

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Summary

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.” (0:00) Introduction (0:20) Trump's Crass Crudity (1:13) Refined Crudity in Media (2:16) Refined Crudity in Academia (3:59) Refined Crudity in Law and Politics (5:12) Refined Crudity in Military Leadership (8:04) Conclusion We need your help to ensure The Daily Signal can continue to counter the liberal media's lies with the truth. Support The Daily Signal’s work today by becoming a Signal Elite Supporter. Your tax-deductible monthly gift will help: 👉Help us provide free access to Victor Davis Hanson’s video commentary 👉Fund investigative reporting on the stories the liberal media will not cover 👉Counter the liberal media's lies 👉Keep The Daily Signal free to the public http://dailysignal.com/donate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Our generous Signal elite supporters make this video possible.
0:14.0	Please consider joining today.
0:16.0	Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson for the Daily Signal. It's been a lot of attention to Donald
0:23.3	Trump's rallies and his interactions with reporters, a political reporter, impromptu press conferences,
0:32.7	and the gist of it is that Donald Trump can say things that are cruel. It's true we can.
0:37.2	No need to call
0:38.7	Jasmine Crockett a low IQ person or reporter dumb or stupid or fatty. And I would call that
0:46.8	crass crudity. And it's something that Trump does and probably should not do. And people
0:52.4	have probably reminded him of that. But there's
0:55.0	another type of crudity. I would call that crudity, refined crudity. Crass crudity is openly,
1:02.2	overt, transparent, and condemned. But it's also rhetorical. It doesn't affect policies. It's the
1:09.4	ways one reacts to criticism in Trump's case. But what is
1:13.8	refined crudity? I want to give you some examples, very different examples of what I would
1:19.6	call refined crudity. The University of Southern California School of Journalism, the Annenberg
1:26.3	Center, gives a prize for the top journalist in a nation.
1:30.3	This year they gave them to Rachel Maddow and John Stewart.
1:34.1	That's refined crudity.
1:36.5	Rachel Maddow said almost every night that she was on the air, Russian collusion, Russian collusion, Russian collusion.
1:45.3	And when that was exposed as a fraud, she went right into Russian disinformation, Russian disinformation, Russian disinformation.
1:52.6	John Stewart is not a journalist. He may be entertaining, he's funny, but he blows up and
1:58.4	screams and yells about the lockdown. Does anybody really believe that
2:02.7	these are even in the liberal tradition, liberal tradition of Walter Cronkite, the eponymous
	...

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