WELL, THE ELITES DIDN’T LIKE HIM UNTIL HE WAS SAFELY DEAD: Victor Davis Hanson: Truman May Have Been the Proto-Trump. “Truman swore. He had nightly drinks and played poker with cronies. And he shocked aides and the public with his vulgarity and crass attacks on political enemies. Truman mocked the widely respected Senator William Fulbright as ‘Half-bright.’ In the pre-Twitter age, Truman could not keep his mouth shut. When a reviewer for the Washington Post trashed Truman’s daughter’s concert performance, Truman physically threatened him.”

Related (from Ed): Nearly 70 years before Trump was accusing Ted Cruz’s dad with being involved in the JFK assassination, Truman had no problem with his own form of political character assassination, which likely helped him close the gap in the waning days of the 1948 election. As a New York Times headline screamed in late October of that year, “PRESIDENT LIKENS DEWEY TO HITLER AS FASCISTS’ TOOL; Says When Bigots, Profiteers Get Control of Country They Select ‘Front Man’ to Rule DICTATORSHIP STRESSED Truman Tells Chicago Audience a Republican Victory Will Threaten U.S. Liberty TRUMAN SAYS GOP PERILS U.S. LIBERTY.”