Elon, Zohran, and the Pitfalls of College Endowments

Summary

Detailed Summary of "Elon, Zohran, and the Pitfalls of College Endowments"

Release Date: July 8, 2025
Podcast: The Victor Davis Hanson Show
Hosts: Victor Davis Hanson and Jack Fowler

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1. Elon Musk's Venture into Third-Party Politics

Overview:
The episode opens with Victor Davis Hanson and Jack Fowler delving into Elon Musk's recent announcement to establish a third political party in the United States. This move by Musk is analyzed in the context of historical third-party attempts and their impact on the American political landscape.

Key Points:

• Historical Context of Third Parties:
  The hosts compare Musk's initiative to past third-party efforts, such as George Wallace's American Independent Party and Ross Perot's campaign. They emphasize the recurring pattern where third parties often act as "spoilers" in elections rather than becoming sustainable political entities. [06:29]

• Musk's Political Objectives:
  Musk's proposed party, "America's Party," is outlined with its focus on reduced debt, responsible spending, a modernized military leveraging AI and robotics, pro-technology stances, reduced regulation (especially in energy sectors), free speech advocacy, pro-natalist policies, and centrist approaches elsewhere. [05:xx]

• Potential Impact on Republican Dynamics:
  The discussion suggests Musk's third party aims to target and undermine the Republican Party, particularly distancing itself from the MAGA faction. The hosts speculate that Musk's actions may inadvertently harm Trump by creating conflicting political pressures. [17:50]

Notable Quotes:

• "Third parties don't work. Fourth motor companies never beat into the big three." — Unnamed Speaker [17:50]
• "Donald Trump's strength is he will say anything to anyone, anytime, about anything, and most people won't do that." — Unnamed Speaker [20:48]

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2. Zoran Mamdani's Mayoral Candidacy and Racial Identity Controversy

Overview:
Victor and Jack discuss the contentious mayoral race in New York City, focusing on Zoran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist candidate accused of falsely claiming African American heritage on his college application.

Key Points:

• Allegations of Racial Misrepresentation:
  Zoran Mamdani is scrutinized for marking multiple racial categories on his 2009 Columbia University application, leading to accusations of deceit and manipulation to gain admission advantages. [28:19]

• Impact on Black Voter Trust:
  The controversy has sparked outrage among Black New Yorkers, who view Mamdani's actions as a betrayal of racial solidarity and an exploitation of affirmative action policies. [28:19]

• Broader Implications for Affirmative Action:
  The discussion extends to the integrity of affirmative action, arguing that such manipulations undermine meritocratic principles and perpetuate existing elite networks under the guise of diversity. [37:30]

Notable Quotes:

• "He's just trying to get over, end quote. An 86-year-old Harlem resident..." — Unnamed Speaker [28:19]
• "Affirmative action has at its core been a racket for white liberals and leftists." — Unnamed Speaker [37:30]

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3. Trump vs. Federal Reserve: America's Financial Future

Overview:
Victor revisits the economic warning presented at the start of the episode, highlighting China's reduction of U.S. Treasury holdings and drawing parallels to historical fiscal collapses.

Key Points:

• Economic Decline Indicators:
  China's sale of $8.2 billion in U.S. Treasury bonds marks a significant shift, positioning China as the third-largest holder of U.S. debt for the first time since 2008. This move is seen as a precursor to potential monetary instability. [00:00], [60:39]

• Historical Parallels:
  The hosts compare the current U.S. debt situation to past financial crises, such as the Athenian empire's debasement of silver and Weimar Germany's inflation, emphasizing the recurring pattern where foreign investors lose faith before domestic populations.

• Conflict Between Trump and Fed Chairman Powell:
  This economic tension is framed as more than political theater; it represents a fundamental struggle over America's monetary policies and future financial stability. [00:00]

Notable Quotes:

• "The coming battle between Trump and Fed Chairman Powell represents more than politics. It's about whether America can escape the historical trajectory of great powers who spent beyond their means." — Victor Davis Hanson [00:00]
• "It's the latest chapter in the eternal struggle between sound money and monetary manipulation that has played out from ancient Athens to modern America." — Victor Davis Hanson [24:21]

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4. Challenges Facing Higher Education Endowments

Overview:
The conversation shifts to the state of higher education, focusing on the sustainability of college endowments, the repercussions of affirmative action, and the declining reputation of prestigious universities.

Key Points:

• Endowment Sustainability Issues:
  The hosts argue that large university endowments are fraught with legal and financial vulnerabilities, including new taxes on endowment income and the impracticality of liquidating assets tied in long-term investments. [40:52]

• Affirmative Action and Meritocracy:
  Affirmative action is critiqued as a system that benefits elite non-meritocratic networks rather than genuinely addressing systemic inequalities. The manipulation of racial categories for admissions is seen as undermining the integrity of higher education institutions. [37:30]

• Declining Institutional Reputation:
  Due to issues like race-based admissions, political radicalization, and poor financial management, top universities are losing their esteemed status. The hosts predict a downturn in enrollment and financial stability as perceptions shift. [44:11]

Notable Quotes:

• "They have lost a lot of their constituents, a lot of Asian students, a lot of Jewish students. They're going to places in the south where they know they're not politicized and they're safe or they're merocratic." — Unnamed Speaker [44:11]
• "They have sex are thieves in every which way." — Unnamed Speaker [37:30]

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5. Medicaid Fraud and Policy Implications

Overview:
In the latter part of the episode, Victor and Jack address the pressing issue of Medicaid fraud, highlighting congressional hearings and the staggering numbers associated with fraudulent claims.

Key Points:

• Scope of Medicaid Fraud:
  An analysis of Congressional Budget Office estimates reveals that out of 12 million Medicaid recipients, significant portions are ineligible or engaging in fraudulent activities, including 1.4 million illegal immigrants and 1.1 million absolute fraudsters. [62:02]

• Impact on California’s Medi-Cal:
  With approximately 40 million residents and 40% on Medi-Cal, the system faces immense strain. The shift from traditional benefit distribution (e.g., food stamps) to digital credit cards has not effectively reduced fraud rates. [64:15]

• Policy Recommendations:
  The hosts advocate for stricter enforcement of existing laws rather than imposing new regulations. They argue that the expansion of Medicaid without addressing eligibility and fraud exacerbates fiscal challenges. [64:15]

Notable Quotes:

• "There's 12 million people total. 4.8 million are able-bodied adults without dependents who choose not to meet modest work requirements." — Unnamed Speaker [62:02]
• "If you're going to codify, go to Georgia Tech or SMU or someone like that, Texas A&M, you'll get a better education than you will be at these Ivy League." — Unnamed Speaker [43:xx]

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6. Regulatory Burdens in California: Boat Licensing

Overview:
A segment discusses the new regulations in California mandating boat owners to obtain licenses, critiquing the state's approach to regulation and its effectiveness in preventing accidents.

Key Points:

• New Licensing Requirements:
  California has enacted a rule requiring all boat drivers to be licensed, regardless of the boat size. The certification process is criticized for being overly time-consuming and expensive, with tests lasting up to six hours and costs ranging from $40 to $80. [26:46]

• Effectiveness and Enforcement Issues:
  The hosts argue that such regulations do little to prevent accidents caused by intoxication or inexperience. Moreover, enforcement is deemed impractical, especially in less populated areas. [27:16]

• Policy Critique:
  Instead of adding more bureaucratic hurdles, the hosts suggest improving infrastructure, such as expanding highway lanes, to address the root causes of accidents. [28:19]

Notable Quotes:

• "Do you really want to add that whole regulation, do you really think it's going to save what causes boat accidents are people who are drunk and high?" — Unnamed Speaker [26:46]
• "Why don't you just enforce the laws you have?" — Unnamed Speaker [26:46]

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7. Concluding Remarks and Audience Interaction

Overview:
As the episode winds down, Victor and Jack engage with listener comments, share personal anecdotes about classic films and actors, and reiterate their commitment to maintaining the show's integrity against external pressures.

Key Points:

• Audience Feedback:
  Positive listener comments are read, highlighting appreciation for the show's in-depth discussions and the hosts' ability to allow each other to fully express their thoughts. [69:53]

• Personal Reflections:
  The hosts share nostalgic memories of classic Hollywood films and actors, emphasizing a longing for the "Golden Age" of cinema. These segments serve to humanize the hosts and provide a respite from heavy political discourse. [55:04]

• Commitment to Independence:
  Victor addresses concerns about potential buyouts or external influences attempting to sway the show's content, affirming their dedication to authentic and untainted discussions. [70:45]

Notable Quotes:

• "We're doing four podcasts a week. I haven't missed one since January 1." — Unnamed Speaker [70:46]
• "We're not going to pay for it. And they don't get it." — Unnamed Speaker [44:11]

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Conclusion

In this episode of The Victor Davis Hanson Show, Victor and Jack Fowler navigate through a spectrum of pressing political and social issues, ranging from Elon Musk's controversial foray into third-party politics and the questionable racial claims of a mayoral candidate, to systemic problems in higher education and pervasive Medicaid fraud. The hosts employ historical analogies to contextualize contemporary challenges, advocate for meritocratic principles, and critique overregulation. Throughout, they maintain a critical stance on prevailing liberal policies and emphasize the importance of integrity and accountability in public institutions.

Highlighted Quote:

• "Affirmative action has at its core been a racket for white liberals and leftists." — Unnamed Speaker [37:30]

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Note: Timestamps in the summary correspond to the original transcript segments and are approximated based on content flow.

Transcript

[Victor Davis Hansen]

Before we dive into today's show, there's a new development that's caught my attention. China just dumped another $8.2 billion in US treasury bonds, dropping to third place amongst foreign holders for the first time since 2008. This isn't merely economic policy. It's a signal that repeats throughout history. When the Athenian empire debased its silver, when Rome clipped its coins, when Weimar Germany printed endlessly, the pattern remained, remained consistent. Foreign powers abandoned the currency first, recognizing mathematical realities before domestic populations. Today's $38 trillion debt creates the same impossible arithmetic that destroyed previous monetary systems. The coming battle between Trump and Fed Chairman Powell represents more than politics. It's about whether America can escape the historical trajectory of of great powers who spent beyond their means. Our friends at American Alternative Assets understand these historical parallels. Their new guide, Fed vs. The Coming Battle for America's Financial Future, connects these dots for concerned Americans. To download your free guide, call 8332-USA-YOLD.

[Jack Fowler]

Or visit victorlovesgold.com that's 833-287-24651 or victorlovesgold.com hello, ladies. Hello, gentlemen. This is the Victor Davis Hansen Show. I am Jack Fowler, but you're here to listen to the man, the farmer back from the hills, Victor Davis Hansen, who is the Martin and Ely Anderson Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and the Wayne and Marshal Busky Distinguished Fellow in History at Hillsdale College. And we are recording on Sunday, July 6, Victor is back in his happy home in the Central Valley. And he is rip roaring and ready to take on a few topics. The first one is that Elon Musk now has made it official. There will be a third party in American politics. We have Medicaid fraud. We have Trump UGs, which are refugees from Trump. Good luck, suckers. Mandami, the socialist candidate for New York City. Did you know Victor? He was, you know, he was black. You know that I mean, excuse me.

[Unnamed Speaker]

You tried a con that. I've had a lot of former students that were born in Africa either, in Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, and they said they were African. And every single. And I warned them. Not every single one got caught. Yeah, or at least they didn't work. They didn't get. Yeah, it didn't work with him either.

[Jack Fowler]

Nice scam. Well, we'll, we'll get your deeper thoughts on that and a few other topics and we'll do that.

[Unnamed Speaker]

It's not going to win him the black vote either.

[Jack Fowler]

Well, the, the initial take was pretty poed in, at least according to the New York Post amongst the black black citizenry of New York. Anyway, all that and more when we come back from these initial important messages. If you're running a business, you know that every time you miss a call, you're leaving money on the table. When every customer conversation matters, you need a phone system that that keeps up and helps you stay connected 24 7. And that's why you need OpenPhone. OpenPhone is the number one business phone system that streamlines and scales your customer communications. It works through an app on your phone or computer. So no more carrying two phones or using a landline. With OpenPhone, your team can share one number and collaborate on customer calls and texts like a shared inbox. That way any teammate can pick up right where the last person left off, keeping response times faster than ever. Plus say goodbye to voicemail. Their AI agent can be set up in minutes to handle calls after hours, answer questions and capture leads so you never miss a customer. So whether you're a one person operation drowning in calls and texts, or having a large team that needs better collaboration tools, Open Phone is a no brainer. See why over 60,000 businesses trust Openphone? Openphone is offering our listeners 20% off your first 6 [e-mail] Victor that's O P E N P H O-N E openphone.com Victor and if you have existing numbers with another service, Openphone will port them over at no extra charge. Open Phone no missed calls, no missed customers. Hey, I know you've got a gazillion photos sitting on your phone right now. Don't leave them there. Get them printed for free and delivered straight to your door with free prints.

[Victor Davis Hansen]

With more than 1 million 5 star.

[Jack Fowler]

Reviews, get premium quality photo prints. No subscriptions, no commitments. You get a thousand 4x6 sized photo prints a year for free. All you pay is a small shipping charge. Go to freeprints.com or download the Free Prints app directly from Google Play or the App Store. We're back with the Victor Davis Hansen show. Victor's the man with the website. The blade of Perseus. VictorHansen.com is the address. Later on I'll tell you why you should be subscribing. Victor. I listened to your shows with the great Sammy Wink from Friday and Saturday and you did discuss at some length Elon Musk's threat to launch a third party. I think it was yesterday on Twitter. Maybe it was the fourth of July. Maybe it was that how he celebrated. He did officially announce he was going to create an American party. And if I If I can just look at. Here's what it will do. America's party will be focused on reduced debt, responsible spending only modernized military with AI robotics. It will be pro tech will accelerate to win globally with AI, less regulation across the board but especially in energy free speech, pro natalist and centrist policies everywhere else. That's the basic theme of America's party. Victor, your thoughts?

[Unnamed Speaker]

Didn't we have a party called the American Independent Party under George Wallace? Third party had several parties. Yeah, I think it was called that. It's never worked, Elon. We had the Dixie cracks with strom Thurman in 1948, I guess, I guess it got some electoral votes. Ross Perot got the highest ever I think except for Teddy Roosevelt. He got 19% of the vote in 92. He probably ensured that George H.W. bush would not be reelected, which was. That was his purpose. He had a long Texas feud with the Bushes. Not that Bob Dole would have won but we, we keep forgetting that when four years later he announced and he pulled back and it was all crazy, he still got almost 10% of the vote. And that mean that Bill Clinton was never elected with 50% of the vote. So that's what they do. And Teddy Roosevelt, spoiler. He's sore loser. He thought William Howard Taft would be do would be the left wing progressive Republican, but Taft wasn't. So as you remember, he ran in the election of 1912, came in second, the Bull Moose, but ensured that that was his purpose. If he wasn't going to win that Taft wasn't. And what did they get? They got Wilson, we got Clinton. So if Eli Elon Musk knows that he's not stupid. So if he's running a third party it is to punish the, the Republicans in the next midterms and in 2028. And from what we know he's not close with the MAGA wing so there's incentive. He can't hurt Trump. But I don't know why he's doing that. It's so sad because it was a good relationship and I admire Elon Musk and I have a confession to make. I went out and bought a Tesla yesterday. I ordered one in support of Elon because I saw that they were, you know, everybody's trashing Tesla and I got one. I give him my wife's Tesla I gave to my son and he's very excited about it. But he, he's done so much for the country and then if he had have just come by that White House once a month but when you knew that he was moving into Mar Lago and he was over the top and he spent that money, you knew that relationship was not going to last at the same degree of intensity. And it had the potential. Now, Donald Trump, because Elon is attack, this is attacking Trump personally by forming the party to hurt him. So, so Trump is now speculating out loud, you know, about Elon's companies and his immigration status. And that's just not, it's not helpful for either one of them. And they should call up and they should have a private summit and each person should say, look, here's the parameters. I'm not going to ever attack you publicly. You're not going to attack me publicly. I'm not going to get in the way. I'm not going to use the office of the presidency to either enhance or detract from Tesla, SpaceX, Starlink X. And by the same token, I expect you not to go out of your way to hurt us. And if we can have this relationship, it'll be wonderful. That's easy to do for normal people, but they're very talented megalomaniacs, you know, and it's going to be very difficult. And the only people who benefit from all this is the left. It's a larger question. You know, Donald Trump has said things in the last 72 hours about going after people and he doesn't need to do that. And what it does is it detracts from what the left did to him. And everybody knows, see what the left says. Well, Donald Trump said he hates Democrats. That was today. He hates Democrats. Well, they hated him. He was just honest. And presidents are not supposed to descend to the level of their opponents, but he does. And that's fine. But every single thing that Donald Trump is doing, somebody handed him a precedent on a platter. So they're all saying, oh, he's going after two of the three networks. Poor George Stephan. George Stephanopoulos lied 11 times and slandered Donald Trump by calling him a rapist. That's a no brainer. And CBS may have affected the election by editing that transcript. I looked at the Kamala Harris transcript, Jack. Did you see the question they asked her? It had nothing to do. Her answer had nothing to do with it. They went back in the, in the transcript and then they edited and plugged answers in to make her look better. But my point is, who started that? Well, that was the left and Dominion, remember the voting machines? And they went after Fox News and they got that multi billion dollar settlement. And why did they get it? Because Fox News people like Tucker or Sean or other people suppose. Or they had guests like Sidney, what's her name, you know, Lin Wood and his partner, who, Sidney Powell. Yes. And they went on TV and they said that Dominion was communicating with the Communist Memorial Act. So they held Fox liable. So Trump comes into office and he said, well, they went after Fox because that network hosted people that said things that were derogatory. So that's a good precedent. And the same thing about subpoenas and threatening to jail. Well, they, they were the first time they took a presidential person, a former advisor, Peter Navarro, they shackled him because he didn't obey a congressional. That's a good precedent. We can do that. And then they use, they said, well, he went after Law. Well, they coordinated Marco Lias and the Soros Money Pa coordinated, as we know now, Fanny Willis and Jack Smith and Letita James, probably indirectly, E. Jean Carroll, but Alvin Bragg. And they had them all working as Lawfare. And Trump said, well, that's a good precedent. And they just handed it all up to a platter. And then they projected and said, well, what is he doing? Well, he's doing what he's replying in kind of what you did. And you can argue that he shouldn't go down to your level or you can argue that that's the only thing you understand is somebody who tit for tat karma.

[Jack Fowler]

Oh, they killed the Marcus of Queensbury Rules.

[Unnamed Speaker]

We did that. I think the Republicans are saying we did Marcus A Queensbury rules. We would rather lose nobly than win ugly. And that's what we did. We did that in 68, 2008 with John McCain. Every time they slurred McCain and said he was senile, he didn't know that he had 11 houses, he was having an affair. And then somebody said Barack Hussein Obama. Then McCain said, Please don't say that. There's no need to put. Remember that. He said, don't you say he played. And they just trashed him. And then we had Mitt Romney and they had him. He was a frat boy hazer. He put an animal on his car. He and Paul Ryan took people in wheelchairs and, and they didn't reply in kind. They hijacked the, the debate. Cindy Crawford. What's her name? Candy Crawford. And they hijacked Candy Crowley. Yeah, Crowley. Excuse me. And they, they hijacked that debate. You can go back to last time. The Republicans were like Trump was when they unleashed Lee Outwater. 1988. They were 17 points behind at the Convention. And by the time they had the Boston pollution Harbor ad, the tank ad, the Willie Horton ad, that was the end. And everybody was outraged. And I guess George H.W. bush said, well, I'm never going to do that again. That was dirty.

[Jack Fowler]

That was originally an Al Gore ad. The, the Willie Horton, they steals it from Al Gore. Attacking.

[Unnamed Speaker]

So they did. They all want to. And here's a guy comes along and said, I don't care if I win ugly, I just don't want to lose nobody. And they won two out of the three elections that Trump was in. So I don't know, I mean, it's, they, they gave Trump, they gave, they greenlighted everything he does. Everything he does. And the executive orders, who said, I have a phone and a pen and if Congress won't act, I will just use it. That was Barack Obama. And who came up the idea of cherry picking district judges? It was Barack Obama's people, when they were out of power, left when they were out of power. They did that all the time. They created that precedent. And who was the. Yes, irs, Lois Lerner and who. And now they're saying, well, Donald Trump is that parade and the flyovers. He's politicized the military. Just listen to what Lloyd Austin and Mark Milley did. Mark Milley is on record, you know, calling Donald Trump a fascist. And he went, called his Chinese communist counterpart to say that his own commander in chief was unhinged, basically. So they politicized that, no end on sight. That's what's ironic about it. And I don't know why the Trump people don't just say that. Why don't the Trump people say, if you're upset that what I am doing right now. Why, why didn't you get upset? When I'm just following the precedent that my predecessors on your side allowed me to do. I'm just following protocols that you established. You know, it's very simple. They said, well, you can't call the Joe Biden ageist. You can't do this. You can't say senile. And Trump said, I, you know, they got Bandy. What was her name? Bandy Yee, the Yale psychiatrist who testified before Congress that Donald Trump needed a straight jacket, essentially that he was crazy. We had Rod Rosenstein, Andrew McCabe, that we're going to have an intervention to find out if he's crazy on tape. This is all what's going on. There is a divine reckoning. You know, every excess, there's an answer to it. Donald Trump is the answer to their excesses.

[Jack Fowler]

Hopefully we see more of it in our lifetime. Hey Victor, I do want to drill down a little more on the third party idea. But first a message from our sponsors. Students of history recognize the pattern unfolding before us. China just offloaded another $8.2 billion in US treasuries, falling to third place amongst foreign holders for the first time since the financial crisis. This mirrors the inevitable decline that follows when great powers debase their currency and accumulate unsustainable debt. Bohm faced the same mathematical impossibility we face today with our trillion debt burden. The coming collision between Donald Trump and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell represents more than political theater. It's a fundamental struggle over America's monetary future. While Washington fiddles, foreign central banks are quietly positioning themselves, buying gold at record levels. They understand what history teaches about currency transitions. Our friends at American Alternative Assets have created an essential guide. It's called the Fed versus the Coming Battle for America's Financial Future reveals how this historic confrontation could impact your retirement and what prudent Americans are doing to prepare. The parallels to past civil civilizational shifts are unmistakable. Take out your pencil now and write this down. Call 8332-USAGOLD or visit victorlovesgold.com to download your guide. Now that's 832-33287, 2465 or victorlovesgold.com Learn from history before it repeats itself. And we thank very much the good people from American Alternative Assets for sponsoring the Victor Davis Hansen Show. Victor about the third party. It's one thing to have a. A de facto independent effort, call it that, but to set up a real party that is going to, you know, act like the Republican Party or the Democrat party with all the rudiments, state level, local level, et I mean it's just an insanely gargantuan lift. So that's one thing. The second thing is Elon Musk said he is going to primary MAGA incumbents. Is he going to primary primary leftist Democrats?

[Unnamed Speaker]

No. No he's not. It's all designed to punish the Republicans. And when you read the charter principles of that American party, I couldn't figure out anything that was different than the Libertarian Party sounded. Almost like every Libertarian that runs every year. Once in a while they get 2 or 3%, maybe more, and 3 or 4 in a particular state. And some people have argued they've affected the election. But if it wasn't Elon Musk and as I said, third parties don't work. But this is not intended to be a permanent third party it's just a rubric, just a name for an effort in the midterms and maybe in 2028 to punish the Republican Party. And I don't know. And it would. The only problem I have by saying that third parties never work. Fourth motor companies never beat, break into the big three. NASA has a monopoly. Nobody in the private sector can outdo NASA. The idea that you're going to have an independent Internet person when you had all of these carriers and they're going to break in and everybody said if you pay three times what Twitter is worth, you're going to go broke or it's going to fall apart or the left is all going to leave. And every time the experts were wrong about you, Elon Musk. So I have a little bit of humility and I want to be careful about saying that third party won't work. But I don't think it's his intent. He's deeply hurt that he feels that he got this Doge super team and at great expense to their reputations and his time. He went through government and although he didn't get a trillion dollars, he got nearly 200 billion of suggested cuts and he gave what, over $300 million to particular candidates, mostly in swing states in Pennsylvania. And he feels that he did a great service to Donald Trump and he did a great service with Doge.

[Jack Fowler]

He did.

[Unnamed Speaker]

And their net result is the left demonized him and his cars are off by 20% car sales. And he's taken his eye off the ball. SpaceX. It hasn't had quite the spectacular success I think it will again that it did when we saw that erector set arm catching the booster, the descending booster, and he feels that he took a big hit and he wasn't appreciated. And after trying to explain to people that he took drastic message and he went way overboard with the Epstein reference and that he won Trump the election. And then Trump replied in kind and then he tried to put a peace feeder out and said he thought he did a little bit over. And what I'm trying to get at, Jack, if we were to go through a Rolodex of all the different people who thought they were going to take on Donald Trump and ruin them, Liz Cheney, Bill Crystal, John Bolton, Rex Tillerson. We could go. We could go on and on. We could go, you know, movie stars, Alex Baldwin, I mean, do you know anybody that came out on top? No, I don't.

[Jack Fowler]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Donald Trump's strength is he will say anything to anyone, anytime, about anything, and most people won't do that. And so they get in this thinking, well, he's president or he's a businessman. He won't. I can say this. No, you can't. The other thing about him they don't understand. If you've been called Hitler and Mussolini for 10 years and they tried to take you off the ballot like they've never done to any other presidential candidate and you were the object of five different civil and criminal courtroom psychodramas and 93 indictments and they raided your house and went through your wife's underwear drawer and they cancel the credit cards of your wife and son and you were almost killed twice. What, What? Why would you hang back? You know what I mean? What more can you do to him? So it's a stupid thing to get into a personal tit for tat with Donald Trump because you're going to lose. And I think the richest man in the history of civilization thought that that were not true. And I feel really bad. So I felt so bad about it. Not that I needed a Tesla, but I went out and bought a Tesla to show my as a sign of a obscure farmer in Selma, California making a appeal to Elon to lick his wounds and be on a workman like relationship with Trump.

[Jack Fowler]

Well, when you're, when, when it gets a little old, I hope you give it to me, Victor. Although, even, although I'm not your son. Hey, Victor. We have. We're going to move on and talk about the New York City socialist Democrat mayoral candidate. Madame. And some interesting invitation to New Yorkers from the mayor of Dallas. And after that we're going to get into Medicaid fraud and we're going to start all of that when we come back from these important messages.

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[Victor Davis Hansen]

In just a moment. But I want to address something that's important for every American. China has been systematically reducing its Treasury holdings, selling 8.2 billion just last month. For students of history, this represents a familiar warning signal. The Roman Senate continued debating while barbarian tribes accumulated gold today while Washington argues foreign central banks are stockpiling precious metals at unprecedented rates. The mathematical reality we face, $36 trillion in debt with no feasible repayment plan, mirrors the fiscal impossibilities that preceded every major currency collapse in recorded history. The approaching confrontation between Trump and Jerome Powell isn't just politics. It's the latest chapter in the eternal struggle between sound money and monetary manipulation that has played out from ancient Athens to modern America. Our friends at American Alternative Assets have prepared a guide explaining these historical parallels, Fed versus The Coming Battle for America's Financial Future. To download your free guide, call 833-2-USAGOLD.

[Jack Fowler]

Or visit victorlovesgold.com that's 833-287-2465. Now back to our discussion. We are back with the Victor Davis Hansen show recording on Sunday, July 6th. And this episode is up on Tuesday the 8th. Is it the 6th today? It is.

[Unnamed Speaker]

I don't know, it's the 9th.

[Jack Fowler]

I wrote the 9th. What an idiot.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Please don't take away my July.

[Jack Fowler]

I'm sorry. Victor, how was your Fourth of July, by the way, up in the mountains? Did you have a nice.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Well, I had a little setback with my post op. I had infection and I had some eye problems and I went up to altitude 7,200ft to get pure air. But then that was kind of counseled by the pressure up there. But my wife and I had a really good time. We didn't. The one thing was really frustrating for Californians, we are burdened by every regulation. So, you know, they passed a new rule that said every single boat owner that gets in a boat and drives it over, I don't know how many feet, 12ft, 8ft maybe, has to go be licensed to anywhere, a river or lake. And then when you go online, you see all these private companies that the state has authorized that you can go on and they range from 40 to $80. And this test can, can it goes from five to six hours. And it's not like a DMV that we're all familiar, you know, with it. You can just kind of sleep or watch TV while you're doing. It's this type of if you hear three blasts, what do you do? If you hear two blasts, what if you, what's a yellow flag with a white stripe versus a red stripe? And it's hard. And then you have to take this test, then you have to go get it, pay the state to download it so you can get the license from the state. And with all the things the sheriffs have to Do. And do you really want to add that whole regulation, do you really think it's going to save what causes boat accidents are people who are drunk and high? And why don't you just enforce the laws you have? But I bet you five bucks if we went through every single company that's posted online as a acceptable licensing agent, you would find a lot of people that had ties, a brother in law. Yes. With the Newsom administration or the California legislature.

[Jack Fowler]

So also if you're up there, you, your wife, let's say your son, daughter in law, you're all up there. And they would all, in order to, to pilot the boat, they would all have to have licenses, right? They would all have to. Oh yes.

[Unnamed Speaker]

If I, I signed up, I think it's five and a half hours and like a fool I just was kind of half asleep doing the first hour session and I flunked it so I had to go back and do it again that session. But there's six of them. I think it's going to take me six hours. And there's a time, I think you only have 30 days or 40 days once you pay your money.

[Jack Fowler]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

And it's not going to reduce, if he really wants to reduce deaths in California due to accidents. Gavin the 99, the i5, the 101, there are four lanes, only two in each direction in places that are very, very dangerous. The Monterey corridor, gosh, Delano, Tolleri, seven or eight bottlenecks on the 99. All of i5 basically from San Luis all the way down to LA is only two lanes each direction. Why don't you just do that and save people's lives rather than come up with this little stupid idea that you're going to make every single boat driver in the entire state have a license. And what are the sheriffs going to do? I mean, I talked to one person, he says if you're down at one lake where it's really crowded, it's easy to enforce. If you're up at another lake where you are now, they're not going to enforce it. That's just folk wisdom. With night luck. I would go on the boat, I would pull out for five minutes and then somebody would flag me over.

[Jack Fowler]

Well, hopefully that'd be happen to us podcast, Victor. And they would they cut you some slack. So let's, let's go to my native city, Victor, if you don't mind. Wrong. Here's the headline from the New York Post, I believe. Yes, Saturday, Black New Yorkers rage over Mamdani's Quote, unquote African American claim. And here's how the article begins. Black New York isn't buying it. A slew of Big Apple residents fumed Friday over mayoral frontrunner Zoran Mamdani's claim on an Ivy League college application that he is African American with enraging the socialist pal is a fraud and trickster. Quote, he's just trying to get over, end quote. An 86 year old Harlem resident identifying herself only as Marjorie said Mundani, a socialist of Asian Indian descent. Mandami, a democratic socialist, has checked off the box black or African American and, and both that and Asian boxes on his 2009 Columbia University application regarding his race, the New York Times reported.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Okay, VICT don't understand what he thought he was going to do. I mean, he's a Marxist dash communist. He's the son of wealthy, a filmmaker and a professor. He's a child of privilege. He's never really had a normal job. He's in his 30s and he has a long record. Well, he said, I never said I wanted to defund the police. He said that so many times. X is just full of people with direct quotes on postings from him. He just, he's just a pathological liar. He said, I'm going to go after richer and whiter neighborhoods. And as I said last time on the podcast, if you look at any survey of per capita family income, Indian people from India, Indian Americans, not Native Americans, but people from India have the highest per capita income and there's a huge Indian American community, as you know, Jack. So why didn't he just say, statistically I'm going to go after richer people and I'll start with Indian Americans because they're the richest. But he didn't say that. He said white because he's worried about Eric Adams, who's going to get the black vote and the Hispanic vote. Especially now, as you pointed out that he lied. And that was, as I said earlier, that was the oldest trick in the book. I've been in academia so long, I've canceled so many people going to graduate school and I've had so many people who were foreign students or from the Arab communities or Coptic communities. And they have told me why I was, you know, my family is from Morocco. I'm going to say I'm African American. I said it won't work. At least it didn't work then because it was affirmative action. Then when Obama refashioned that as DI and said anybody who's not white is a victim, that might have worked but that's probably what he thought. But then, you know, all of that stuff, you know, he's going to say, he said he wants to seize the means of production. I said to myself, what do you mean by that? How you're just going to take it? You going to tax it 99% a wealth tax? Are you going to dox people who are wealthy and unleash the Bastille Mob on them? Are you going to go after Trump Tower, Tesla? What's your priority? Who do you go after first? George Soros? I doubt it. And then just today, Jack, there were two more, three more studies. Alwaqi, remember that American citizen that Obama offed without a trial? He was a radical ISIS member. There's a report coming out, I think it's in the New York Post, that said that he tried to defend him. Not the fact that he was a citizen who was killed without habeas corpus or due process, but that he was a radical ISIS member. And he was. And then there was another story that said. And again, I haven't confirmed this. I'm just reading it so until I see it in six or seven different news accounts. But it just broke today that he, he posted or he trafficked in a video of Indian Americans dressed up as Hasidic Jews and kind of rapping about Hanukkah. And that's another one. And so whether he was, you know, trying to fake it out like he was a black person or whether he was attacking Jews or making fun of them, he sounds like a child, a spoiled little brat that thought he was a rapper and he did all these videos and he was overexposed. And then he ran for office and he's outraged that anybody would do to him what he does to other people. Does that mean he's not going to win? Not necessarily. Because everything I outline is probably a recommendation for his constituency to come out and vote for him. Right. So the only way that they're going to stop him is they're going to have to get Cuomo, who's an egomaniac, and Eric Adams, who's an egomaniac. And so I like this. An egomaniac. And they're going to have to get them all three together and they're going to have to say, one of you, whoever is pulling the highest, is going to. The other two are going to. I know that will be Joe Biden election rigging, maybe, but otherwise he's going to win.

[Jack Fowler]

Yeah. And why, why can't New York be Detroit? I know Detroit is supposed.

[Unnamed Speaker]

It will Be very. I think it's becoming that way now.

[Jack Fowler]

Yeah. You know, once upon a time, Victor, when we went through this 50 years ago, 40 plus years ago, new York circling the drain, you did have industry bases that had to be there. I mean Wall street had to be there. There was was still some manufacturing. The media was there. This all pre bandwidth. Once bandwidth happens a lot of these. First of all, there's no manufacturing left and everyone else can like so long. See you later. Why.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Why wouldn't Miami become the new banking of the East Coast? Well, what's life down there? Or North Carolina? North Carolina, Charlotte.

[Jack Fowler]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

It's got a lot less taxes, it's got a lot less regulation, it's got a lot better climate. And New York. I went there the first time, I was 18 and I was a summer of my first year in college and a professor said, if you're going to get four years of Latin and Greek, you're going to have to go to summer school. So go to the Yale intensive summer school. So I did 10, 10 weeks and one weekend on my own. I thought, I've never been to New York. So I took the train. It was 1972. Thomas Eagleton had just announced that he was. Had psychic shock treatment. And they were looking for Sergeant Shriver, somebody to take his place. McGovern was. Anyway, I went there and that was the most seedy, dirty Times Square I can ever remember. At 8 I got off, I got out and I walked up there and about five people came up and asked me if I wanted sex and from somebody, if I wanted drugs, if I. It was sorted. And then, you know, I didn't really go much. But when I went under Giuliani, I would be doing a Fox thing. And they'd say, well, the Fox car will come and get you. And I say, why would they have to come and get me at the hotel? It's only 15 blocks. So I would do a late Fox and I walked 15 blocks and everybody was out, you know what I mean? In the 90s, they were all out. It was lit up. Hi, how are you? There was no crime. It was like a night and day. And then they went, they took that and they just destroyed it. And you're right, they've turned it into Detroit.

[Jack Fowler]

Well, it really could circle the drain. I have another thing I want to bring up about this Mondami stuff. But first, Victor, I want to let our listeners know that right now the headlines are chock full of data breaches and regulatory rollbacks, making us all vulnerable. But you can do something about it. Delete Me is here to make it easy, quick and safe to remove your personal data. Want an easier way to deal with data breaches? Get Delete Me. By the way, that's all one word. Delete Me. The fact is we're all at risk. How many times have you gotten an email or a letter saying your data has been breached? It's unsettling. But the good news is Deleteme can help. Deleteme does all the hard work of wiping your personal information from data brokers. Also your families from the websites. Delete Me is the best solution that I found. I do use it to protect my personal data. And if you're someone with an active online presence, don't wait till you become a victim of data breaches. Delete Me isn't just a one time service. Deleteme is always working for you. Constantly monitoring and removing the personal information you don't want on the Internet. Boy, do I have a lot of that. Take control of your data and keep your private life private by signing up for Delete Me now at a special discount for listeners of the Victor Davis Hansen Show Today, get 20% off your delete Me plan by texting Victor V I C T O R to text that to 64000. The only way to get 20% off is to text Victor to 64000. That's Victor to 64000. Message and data rates may apply. We thank the good people from Delete Me for sponsoring the Victor Davis Hansen Show. Victor, two quick things about Beckham and Dami and the broader question is that this seems again to make the point that Shelby Steele and others have made for years that affirmative action has at its core been a racket for white liberals and leftists. And this also shows this propensity amongst the left to steal things. We have here stolen race, stolen valor, and then stolen sex. You know, by Lia Thomas and others, they just, they're thieves in every which way. Anyway, any thoughts on any of that? Not we'll move, we'll move on.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Except they, they say you can construct your sex, but they don't say you construct your race. So if a man is born biologically like Lia, quote Leah, unquote Thomas, and he says, well, I'm a mediocre swimmer and I have sort of feminine qualities. So I declare myself a constructed female. And then if you don't accept that, then you're a bigot. So mom, dummy, to take one example, says I am an Indian American, but I'm going to construct myself as a black person. But we don't allow that. And the question is, does Mondami, who has black hair and black beard, would he be closer to being black than Leah Thomas would be to a woman? I think so. And so the point is, it's all hypocritical, but it has one common theme, that certain people who feel that they don't have the qualifications to do something want an edge. And all affirmative action was, was the bookend to white networking. I'm not talking about Asian students in general or poor kids from Bakersfield that were merocratic. I'm talking about the old boy network, the professor's son, the president's son that didn't have the qualifications. Maybe their parents did or and they used money or influence. And then the white bi coastal elite said we feel kind of bad, but not bad enough to give it up. So what we're going to do, we're going to allow blacks and Hispanics to have the same type of insider non merocratic advantage that we wealthy white people do. Now we've got to explain this so how we're going to get away with it. So we're going to say that they have been victims of systemic racism for years. Slavery, Jim Crow in case of Hispanics, the zoo suit riots in LA 40s. And somebody did that, but it wasn't us. It was those awful people from East Palestine Ohio, those awful garbage dregs, chumps of Joe Biden, those awful irredeemables deplorables of Hillary Clinton and the awful clingers of Morocco. And that's what happened. And so the, the people who lost out on it were, I don't know, the white working class that didn't have any money, it didn't have any influence, didn't have any contacts, but there were very talented people among them that were self motivated, they studied hard and they applied to college and they were deemed a white oppressor. Not the wealthy person who had everything going for them, who said, yes, there are white oppressors, but not me, it's him, him, it's him. He's the guy that voted. Or there's a guy that voted for Donald Trump. Those are the guys that are right wing, those are the guys with a southern accent, those are the guys that work in factories. Those are the guys with the beer guts. Or as that famous exchange from Peter Stroke and Lisa Page, I went into Walmart and I could smell them. So that's what it was all about. And that's why they should abolish all of it. And I'm perfectly happy. I think all of our listeners are perfectly happy. And if you're going to get rid of affirmative action and these corrupt universities and they shouldn't sell admissions either by charging 10 or 12 million for a legacy or giving somebody extra, just get rid of it and make it merocratic. But that's a larger question, Jack. There's an article by Peter Berkowitz in today's Real Clear Politics that he talks about a discussion. Sorry, I get animated when I talk about universities.

[Jack Fowler]

I'm sure Peter Berkowitz was, will be excited to see you got so animated talking about his piece.

[Unnamed Speaker]

I'm a little dizzy too. We had Larry Summers and Ross Douthot. Is that how you.

[Jack Fowler]

I say douth it?

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah, douth it.

[Jack Fowler]

Ross.

[Unnamed Speaker]

He and another person, Frank Mealy or somebody. I don't know who the other one was. No, not him, another person. All on the liberal side except Ross, who's centrist. And they were talking. I was surprised that Larry Summers was basically saying, I don't like the way Trump's doing it, but the universities deserve it. And so what I'm getting at is if I. Again, I keep saying that if I was Stanford, if I was the UC system, if Columbia, Princeton's going that way, you better settle. Because people don't know what you do. And you have defied the Supreme Court. Now you're on record of breaking the law. You have race based admissions, hiring, retention. You have race based graduations, theme houses you call segregated dorms. You've been gouging us at 55, 60% of federal grants. You have not given due process and protection for anybody on your campus that is accused of sexual assault, even if he did that. They have a right under the Constitution. And more importantly, you don't respect free speech and you don't believe in diversity. 95% of your faculty is left wing. So just settle. As far as your big esteemed endowments, do you understand what's coming down the line? You're going to pay. According to the reconciliation, Jack, the house wanted 21%, but I guess the loan number is still 8%. That's billions of dollars out of higher education on the endowment. That's on top of the 15% limit on surcharges. And that's going to cost these Ivy League schools a half a billion. A billion a year. And they brag about their endowments, but like we've said on many occasions, the money's either targeted or it has never been liquid. And so there was a good article in the Wall Street Journal and another person wrote and said, you know, a lot of these institutions brag about their endowments, but until you actually get the money and you know, you're talking about, I don't know, half a trillion dollars, probably nationwide, and you start taking that money out and trying to liquidize it because it's tied up. And when you add on the taxes, these new taxes on endowment income, they're going to be in big financial trouble, trouble and it's only going to get worse and they're going to have no empathy. And more importantly, they have lost a lot of their constituents, a lot of Asian students, a lot of Jewish students. They're going to places in the south where they know they're not politicized and they're safe or they're merocratic. So if you're going to go code, go to Georgia Tech or SMU or someone like that, Texas A and M, you'll get a better education than you will be at these Ivy League, it'll be safer. You won't have to put up with, with a lot of foreign students that are demonstrating. You won't have to have these spoiled brat kids, their legacies as many. And so they don't know what they're doing. They're like blindfolded walking off a cliff. And they're so arrogant and they've been so protected and they're so insular that they don't understand that they don't have any cards to play. The latest poll has them about 35% approval of higher education. And yeah, Cornell is about to take.

[Jack Fowler]

Take a beating also.

[Unnamed Speaker]

You know, there was a, there was a thing today. Was it in Fox or New York Post, the Dartmouth Riots of May 2, you know, on Dartmouth when there was the pro Hamas, they put all the pictures of those kids in there and it was almost like a textbook. A lot of them were from the Middle east, but a lot of them were very wealthy kids. And they go and they this rite of passage. So I think Trump just said if they're going to turn out left wing people and move the country left in a way that the majority of the people don't want, that's fine, but we're not going to pay for it. And they don't get it. Claudine Gay, you know, she gets up there in that inquisition. This was, they really tore her apart. But it was like, well, whether we enforce that, it depends on the context. And you're thinking you're a plagiarizer and you're president of Harvard, and you have never paid the price. And after. After you resign under pressure, you're going to never pray the price because you guys protect your own if you, if you hit the right button. Plagiarized.

[Jack Fowler]

Plagiarism.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah, she plagiarized and she should have been fired.

[Jack Fowler]

You know, Victor, something philosophical about endowments and the obsession of them. I mean, you have to have. You should have an endowment, but the. The obsession to supersize them, it almost, you know, if the institution itself was doing its. Its mission and truly educating and being a good thing, then it would not have to obsess about future funding because it would have faith that the new alumni would treat the institution like the old alumni did and would give. And in the giving, these enormous endowments could be spent now to make education much more affordable, et cetera. And have faith that you're such a good institution that the money will keep coming.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Me.

[Jack Fowler]

But they've done very good.

[Unnamed Speaker]

When I was a point, I won't mention names, but when I was appointed to my present job, most of the senior fellows are endowed, so somebody in, I thought, endowed it. So this philanthropist who was a wonderful person, everything about him, I'll just mention his name. Martin Anderson. Not. Not the Martin Anderson. He was just a saint. And he said, I see you've been at the Hoover. I want to talk to you. And I said, okay. And he said, I'm willing to chip in, as every senior fellow is, but I'm not going to endow it. And I don't want to put my capital in something that's permanent. And I don't know after I'm gone, how it will be used. I won't make a annual contribution to your compensation. And I said, well, why would you want to do that? I mean, why would you want to help me? Is it something I wrote? Said, nope. And he said, you've got three things going for you. You're sweeties like me. I'm Marine combat veteran who was at Choi Sun. And you're named after a Marine who was killed on Okinawa. But I said, I didn't do it. He said, it doesn't matter. And he said, I have family in the San Joaquin Valley. And you punched all three buttons. And as long as I'm alive. And he passed away. But the point he was trying to teach me was I was only 49. And he said, when you endow something, you lose complete control over it. They'll tell you something. But how it will be used decades. And you see all these professors, it's so funny, Jack, when I see all these radical professors and I look at the names of, you know, the Jack Thompson professor of Humanistic Studies and you go out and look at the person he's named after, that person has, that person's worldview, has nothing to do with what the money has just been misappropriated. So it'd be much better if the donors follow that precedent that they want to endow a professor. They'll say for I have a 10 year contract and I will do it predicated on if they follow the rules of a university or something that I agree with.

[Jack Fowler]

There's a trust but verify aspect to that, you know, to close this out. There's a guy called up National Review one day when I was still there and he went, he had gone to Holy Cross and coincidentally I picked up and he said, I want to fund a chair at, at Holy Cross for Bill Buckley. And my immediate instinct was what I, I said to him, are you crazy? I mean they will, first of all, you'll die someday and you won't know what the hell's going on, but they'll take your money and then they'll put a communist note.

[Unnamed Speaker]

They will. I've had, I've had people call me, I've had four or five people in my life call me and say, I wish I really had have done some research. Because the person, that's my name chair is, it is a Marxist. Yeah, I said they're all Marxists, basically. So all this stuff is coming, it's all coming like a perfect storm to the university. It's segregation, it's racial prejudice, it's defying the Supreme Court. It is shady bookkeeping on grants. It is, these enormous endowments are kind of fraudulent. What they, what Harvard or Yale or Stanford says they have, they really don't have. It's like a guy who says, I have a 10,000,401K and then all of a sudden somebody said, you just got sued for 5 million. Well, you have 10 million. He tries to take out 5 million. No, you don't have 5 million. And a lot of that stuff is tied up in speculative real estate and long term CDs with penalties and stocks and they don't have a lot of discretionary income and they rely on the interest on the endowment which will now be taxed in part and annual giving, which their publicity is negative and that's going to scare off a lot of people. And there's another thing that no one talks about. But I have talked to a lot of people because I've had to do a lot of fundraising the last two years. If your child, if you're in Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, I don't know, alumnus. And you want your child to go there. And from an early age, he was in the Harvard child prodigy camp, you know, five. And they have such things. And he did everything that you wanted. He got a perfect SAT score. He got 4.5 with Advanced Placement. You sent him to Ghana to build water wells in the summer so he could help the poor. And he applied and didn't get in. You're not going to give any more to that place. You are not going. And so they have so many people that they have excluded on the basis of race. These people are. Had it with them. And I'm talking about the people who pay 10 million or 20 million. I'm talking about affluent people who can't afford 10 million, which is, I hear 10 to 15 million is if your child's qualified. He's white. That's what it takes to get a fair hearing. I'm being a little bit cynical, of.

[Jack Fowler]

Course, but I remember the actresses who went to jail to get their kids into some of the California schools, right? They were like half a mil, half a million to 700, something like that.

[Unnamed Speaker]

What was it? Sailing scholarship or a crew, something. Yeah, yes, something like that. So megaphone on the crew.

[Jack Fowler]

Somebody's got.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Anyway, it's. It's a corrupt situation. And you know, what's the good thing about it? Peter Berkowitz is a very astute writer and he wrote this essay about this discussion about higher education. And he made the point, or he reflected what people were saying is that the brand itself is being tarnished and the biggest beneficiaries are. I wish I could say in deference to you, they were Catholic or religiously themed university. But that's not true, as you know, because there's only a few. Catholic, yes, that's, you know, St. Thomas Aquinas, et cetera, et cetera. But what he was. What they were saying is we might have reached peak Harvard and that brand no longer means anything. If you've gone 20 years with DEI and affirmative action and you've accelerated to an insane commissariat degree after 2020, then you put thousands of people out into the workplace that by your own admissions, did not meet the standards that you used to institute across the board. And you did it for a purpose. You did it to show employers and government that your Graduates in terms of computation skills, analytical, historical knowledge, oral and written fluency were so superb to get through and get a BA through your rigorous curriculum. World class scholars. But if you take that, that brand and then you destroy it and you let in people who have not met those requirements, then the faculty either has to inflate the grades, which they did, or lower the workload, which they did, or make new GUT courses, which they did. And the net result is for many years now, you've sent out people. You should read the comments on some of these articles about higher education. They're from people who hired these kids. I was reading them today and they're like, oh, I have hired two kids from blank school and I had to get rid of them both. They were just troublemakers. So the point I'm saying is that they've taken that brand and demonstrated to employers and prestigious law firms or medical associates that their name doesn't mean anything. And they've been using the fumes of it. The creator of the fumes no longer exist. So what's going to happen? I think they're going to be put out of business. And that's sad, but it's going to happen. Unless they have a. They got to get some. They got to get about 10 presidents that are, you know, like a John Silber or somebody. Yeah, 35. And they got to go in there and just clean house and get back to the original mission statement. And I don't think you could do that.

[Jack Fowler]

Donald Trump was a president of a university. That's kind of what they need. By the way, that piece is called Reforming Higher Education Reform by Peter Berkowitz on Real Clear Politics. Victor, one last thing before we go to the break and then we'll get one more topic in for today's show. When you're talking about the, the, the funding tied up just reminded me of George Bailey when there's the run on the bank and the run on. No, I don't have all the cash here. It's in your house. It's in your house. It's your house.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah. It's funny you meant that because as I was recuperating, I was trying to write, but I had this infection and I was watching and did you see the other night, you know how they run thematically on Twitter? Did you see Mr. Deeds goes to Town and Meet John Doe.

[Jack Fowler]

John doe? I saw Mr. Deeds like three weeks ago.

[Unnamed Speaker]

So yeah, I just saw Meet John Doe.

[Jack Fowler]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

And of course, Mr. Smith goes to Washington.

[Jack Fowler]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

And I didn't Realize Meet John Doe, got Academy Award for Best Picture.

[Jack Fowler]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

It's very sad because Those pictures from 1935-40 were the most popular pictures. And Frank Capra was a. He was.

[Jack Fowler]

He had a fort.

[Unnamed Speaker]

He had that.

[Jack Fowler]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

But then with World War II, you know, there was a more sophisticated. And the film noir, the anti hero.

[Jack Fowler]

Right.

[Unnamed Speaker]

His last great film, which is. Was his best, I think, is A Wonderful Life, but I didn't realize it did so dismally at the box office.

[Jack Fowler]

When it came out. Yeah. Was a flop, I think, for some reason.

[Unnamed Speaker]

It's a brilliant piece of filmmaking.

[Jack Fowler]

Oh, it is. Yeah. You know those. He always has the big. It's kind of like John Ford, too, with the movies. They have these crowd scenes constantly. And Capra has several of them in most of the movies. And it's the pop. You know, the Greek chorus is in there. I love his movies. Yeah, I like him.

[Unnamed Speaker]

I like Eli Kazan. I was watching on the Waterfront the other day. Even Marie Saint. There's something about her. She was just stunning.

[Jack Fowler]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

I don't know. I mean, I know she didn't have that classic look like Ava Gardner, Elizabeth Taylor, but.

[Jack Fowler]

No.

[Unnamed Speaker]

When she was in north by Northwest. Beautiful. She was beautiful. She's still alive. I think. She is. She's a. I really like her. I've always liked her. She was my favorite actress. I really thought she was wonderful. All those movies, I mean, I was thinking of all those. George Stevens. Gosh. And William Wyler. Best Years of Our Lives, all of them. God, I have to tell you, never going to have people of that talent again.

[Jack Fowler]

Yeah, it's. We. We miss the Golden Age. Thank. Thank God for Turner. It's still there. Two things. One is, I have two ties, personal ties to on the Waterfront. The priest in the movie, that's Carl Malden. Well, he was based on a real priest. John Car.

[Unnamed Speaker]

I didn't know that.

[Jack Fowler]

Yeah. A Jesuit who had tried to clean up the waterfront. And he went to my. He went to my high school in Anthony Faith, but he worked for what was called the Xavier Institute of Industrial Relations. And the Jesuits were trying to create this Catholic counterforce to the Communists who were trying to run the waterfront. So Father Carey ran the Xavier Institute. He was a dear friend of the family. And then the second thing in the movie, you know, part of the scene, there's a wedding at a bar where. And the bride, Mrs. Garvey, in real life, she was a friend and a family friend. Yeah. And she came by National Review one day. She used to be an editor for Oxford University Press. And she, little sweet lady and she came by one day, said, let's go have a drink. So I went to the bar on the 3rd and 35th.

[Unnamed Speaker]

I didn't realize. I, I just looked at characterizations and I lost. I didn't realize how brilliant Lee J. Cobb and Rod Steiger were. They were great. Yes, they were. Really. Carl Malden is kind of. He was like Eli Wallach character actors that I think they each. Didn't they live in their mid-90s?

[Jack Fowler]

He did. Did.

[Unnamed Speaker]

They were both indestructible. They were both brilliant character actors.

[Jack Fowler]

I think he, I think Carl Malden ended up better. I think he always overplayed it a little in the movies, but in the streets of San Francisco, the TV series.

[Unnamed Speaker]

He was terrific in that. There's no question. He was the villain. Remember, there was a weird Marlon Brando flop, but I really liked it. It was a western called One Eyed Jacks and Carl Malden was dad. Dad they called him. He was evil. And, And Marlon Brandel comes back. Back to kill him.

[Jack Fowler]

Yeah, a little out of character there.

[Unnamed Speaker]

So.

[Jack Fowler]

Hey people, thanks for letting me reminisce. I love when you reminisce about movies, Victor. We, we're, we're running, we're running overtime here. But we got time for one more topic and we'll get to it when we come back from these final important messages.

[Unnamed Speaker]

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[Jack Fowler]

We are back with the Victor Davis Hansen show recording on July 9th. This. No July 6th, Jack. Get it right. And this episode will be up on the on Tuesday the 8th. Victor's website, the Blade of Perseus. Victorhansen.com check it out. Anything and everything about Victor's on there. Links galore to his other appearance on other podcasts and shows, the archives of these podcasts, his weekly essay for American greatness, weekly syndicated column. Why would you want to subscribe? Which if you do, it's $65 a year, which is discounted from the monthly $6.50. You do that because twice a week Victor writes an exclusive piece for the Blade of Perseus and he does an exclusive video. So check it out. VictorHansen.com is the address. I one more movie thing. I just have to say I saw Night of the Hunter last night, which was a terrible bomb when it came out. But in my gosh, I haven't seen.

[Unnamed Speaker]

It a long time. Oh, it's, it's, it's fantastic.

[Jack Fowler]

Okay, what should we talk? Oh, let's talk about. Let's end this show today. We're talking about Medicaid fraud. So there was a hearing the other day and this has to do with the cbo, Congressional Budget Office estimates and of course Democrats are saying these, the big beautiful bill, Medicaid, they're going to, people are going to die, they starve.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Et cetera, et cetera.

[Jack Fowler]

Here the guy who testified said, here are some of the numbers. It's staggering. Who's going to get kicked off?

[Unnamed Speaker]

Victor?

[Jack Fowler]

There's 12 million people total. 4.8 million are able bodied adults without dependents who choose not to meet modest work requirements. 1.4 million are illegal immigrants. 1.6 have access to other insurance. 1.3 are already ineligible and shouldn't be on it in the first place. 1.8 million on Obamacare are illegal immigration immigrants. And finally 1.1 million are absolute fraudsters. This is 12 million people. I mean this has to, this is a massive fraud operation.

[Unnamed Speaker]

There's 40 million people in California and 40% of them are on Medi Cal and 50% of all babies are born on Medi Cal. When I go to the supermarket, I beat that horse to death. But it's not just that the majority of people ahead of me are on Medi California, but the idea, the cards that they give the wic, women infant children or the electric bank transfer credit cards, the old days at least you had to have these kind of confederate dollar, remember food stamps? Well, today they're just credit cards. So but the number of people I would say that present a card and then it's rejected is 50%. And I think the number of cards that are produced are about three or four. And my experience is watching people and so what the left does though is they're, they, they, they, they vastly expand the roles and they vastly expand the budget and then they set into motion periodic hikes. And then when Trump came in, or any Republican, if they say we're not going to increase by 20%, we're going to increase by, that's a cut. So any slowing down of the enlargement? I think Medi Cal was five times or it's double, excuse me, than it was just five or six years ago. The labor participation rate is only 62%. So that's not going to work. I don't understand the Democrats. Maybe their propaganda is going to be more effective. But trying to suggest that you shouldn't go after people who are illegal or able bodied and they're taking money from people who need it or all these deportations of people who are criminals doesn't make any sense. Hi.

[Jack Fowler]

Well, Victor, I want to let me just throw in one last thing. We were talking before about New York and this is funny. I think the mayor Of Dallas. Who is Eric Johnson?

[Unnamed Speaker]

I remember him.

[Jack Fowler]

He's black. He's a former Democrat. Yeah. In 2023, he did that after opposing a city council tax hike. Well, this is according to the center square. He reported he sent out a note. Dear concerned New York City resident or business owner, don't panic. Panic just moved to Dallas, where we strongly support our police value our partners in the business community, embrace free markets, shun excessive regulation and protect the American dream. A big city in a state with no income tax, run by a black Republican. I don't know, sounds kind of appealing. You know, doesn't have four.

[Unnamed Speaker]

And there's another. Isn't Myrtle beach now the big retirement place in South Carolina was kind of like a New Jersey, you know, like the boardwalk. And now it's been upscaled. The point I'm making is that this is one of the greatest transformations in American history. That south of the Mason Dixon line, where per capita income, gdp, state, everything was below. Given the Civil War and the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow and agrarianism versus the modernistic Yankee New England or Midwest. It's all flipped. It's all flipped. The center of dynamism, of population, growth, of GDP is all in Florida, Tennessee, Texas. And everybody thought, we're going to be the blue state. It was the Pacific, Seattle, Oregon, California, and then the east coast strip and then the Midwest around the Great Lake. It's all stagnated. And people are going. I don't know when it's ever going to stop.

[Jack Fowler]

Yeah, I think, Victor, there's a thought. Well, it'll get so bad, people will come to their senses. But people don't always come to their senses. I mean, you wrote a book.

[Unnamed Speaker]

I do, but it's too. I mean, the emperor, the last Paleologus in 1453, came to his senses and he said, this used to be 1.4 million people. We have 50,000 residents and half of Constantinople is open fields and we only have 7,000 people on the walls. And the army out there is 200,000. Come to your senses. And yeah.

[Jack Fowler]

When. When did the mayor of Detroit come to his sense? When did St. Louis, Gary, Indiana.

[Unnamed Speaker]

When did had Francisco? Yeah, we had London Breed. We had Willie Brown, we have Gavin Newsom, we had Jerry Brown. And now we have a moderate Democrat and look what he's got to work with. And the budget. The budget is just. The blue state model doesn't work. It's an aging population. It's a huge underclass. It is an understaff. It's pension, the pensions, are not sustainable. The taxes and regulations are so high no business wants to locate there. The climate is not all that great and except for, you know, the Pacific coast and. But even places like that used to be part of the red state model like Arizona and Colorado and Nevada are starting to hemorrhage because they're purple states. They haven't gone full blue state. They have ruined Minnesota. They probably almost ruined Michigan. They ruined parts, much of Wisconsin. They tried to ruin Pennsylvania. They had the unmitas touch. Everything the left does gives turns to dross. Give us your illegal aliens. We'll put them on hotels. We want more federal funds. Half people on Medi Cal. How dare you do that. We got all these new constituents. Mayor Johnson's a wonderful guy in Chicago. 8% approval rating. What a disaster.

[Jack Fowler]

Oh, Victor, you've been terrific as ever. I'm glad to see you're, you're surviving at least. I know this is an ongo struggle for you, but.

[Unnamed Speaker]

I thought it would be.

[Jack Fowler]

Well, you'll, you'll, you'll get there. I want to thank people that I had a couple emails yesterday from folks who get Civil Thoughts, the free weekly email newsletter I write for the center for Civil Society comes out every Friday. Every Friday, including Fourth of July came out. And how do you get it? You go to civilthoughts.com sign up. It's totally free. We're not selling your name. And when you get it, you'll see this. 1415 recommended readings. Interesting, great, cool articles I've come across the previous week. I'm confident next issue I'm going to put that Peter Berkowitz piece in there.

[Unnamed Speaker]

For people to see.

[Jack Fowler]

So civil thoughts.com sign up. Thank you, Victor. I have a couple of notes I want to read with so many comments so blank and Many on, on YouTube now I thank folks that, that do that. I'm trying to plow through them and read them. I'm going to read a few. I'm going to, I'm going to call this the great Sammy Wink comment authority from capped 4550. Love your show and your inside picture. I so enjoy it when Sammy hosts from United States, Dale. He writes just simply the great Sammy Wink. And Stevie's 4784 writes. Thank you Sammy. I really appreciate how you let Victor talk. Your cohort sometimes talks too much, talks too loud. So thank you Victor for letting you, for letting Victor complete his thoughts. One more, one more. This was from, from the 4th of July. Jill Clark, 6076 wrote Happy 4th of July, VDH and Sammy, I got ready for our barbecue, listening to the best podcast on America in America.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Thank you very much. That's very nice.

[Jack Fowler]

There's so many nice people writing, so many wonderful things.

[Unnamed Speaker]

You know, I had, I'll just finish. I had an anecdote. I was up in the mountains and a person came up to me and he said, did they buy you off? I said, what did you mean, mean? And he said, we haven't heard you lately. And I said, yeah, we haven't missed a podcast. And he said, no, no, I haven't heard you. I thought they just finally got to you and they bought you off. I said, we're doing four podcasts a week. I haven't missed one. I even did it the day after my operation. And we do. I do five for the Daily Signal. I have not missed one since January1. But I have missed a lot of Fox because, because I had, you know, when you, you don't want to go on there when you might sneeze. And I had some eye problems. So. Yeah, you don't want to go. So I, But I might go on tomorrow night. So we'll see. Okay, well, but we have not. My point is we have not been bought off.

[Jack Fowler]

Yeah, who? By whom?

[Unnamed Speaker]

I mean, I was wondering, the powers that be, who's the.

[Jack Fowler]

Hey, somebody. Somebody. Actually, somebody wrote a comment somewhere, Victor, that said, I thought, this is so funny. This was a negative comment. You think you were a suck up to Israel and Turkey. I'm thinking, have they ever heard Victor talk about Turkey?

[Unnamed Speaker]

No, I have not been very. I visited there a lot. I like the Turkish people.

[Jack Fowler]

Very honest.

[Unnamed Speaker]

I'll leave it at that.

[Jack Fowler]

Yes. Yeah, I'll leave it at that. Okay, Victor, you've been wonderful. Thanks for all the wisdom you shared. Thanks, folks, for listening and viewing and we will be back soon with another, another episode of the Victor Davis Hansen Show. Bye bye.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Thank you everybody for listening and viewing.

[Jack Fowler]

Big news, All Family Pharmacy just launched its biggest Fourth of July sale ever. And it's one you don't want to miss. Now through July 13th, it's buy one, get one free on the meds everyone's been asking for. Ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine and mebenza all order 90 capsules. They'll send you 90 more completely free. And yes, the doctor's prescription is included as well. You don't need insurance or extra steps. This is the kind of freedom and convenience most pharmacies stopped offering a long time ago. But not all family pharmacy. They're keeping it simple, affordable, and available to everyone. So if you've been meaning to stock up, now's the time. Time go to allfamilypharmacy.com Victor again, that's all family pharmacy.com Victor.