In this great interview with Victor Davis Hanson, Dave Sussman makes a startling observation of Donald Trump and the erudite classicist Victor Davis Hanson, two men who would seem to differ as much as any in the public sphere in their character, background, and intellect, that each is “the everyman,” someone who speaks clearly to everyone and evinces a plainspoken authenticity.

He’s right. I think that, in Trump’s case, it is a matter of confidence and a willingness to engage any opponent. In Hanson’s, I suspect it’s an expression of deep integrity and a desire to understand and communicate carefully considered truths. But the impression is the same: an appealing lack of pretense, a blunt and compelling frankness, and a sense that the chaff of political correctness and poll-tested caution has been brushed aside in favor of simply telling it like it is.