Late Night TV, R.I.P., Clint Eastwood, and the Sorry State of Freedom in the Anglosphere

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Victor Davis Hanson Show Episode: Late Night TV, R.I.P., Clint Eastwood, and the Sorry State of Freedom in the Anglosphere
Release Date: July 31, 2025
Hosts: Victor Davis Hanson and Jack Fowler

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1. Stephen Colbert and the Decline of Late Night TV

The episode opens with a critical analysis of Stephen Colbert's role in the current landscape of late-night television. Victor Davis Hanson and co-host Jack Fowler delve into Colbert's diminishing appeal and the broader impact on network talk shows.

• Unnamed Guest: "He goes on every night and attacks his sponsors...his shtick is I'm going to insult them and whine and feel sorry for myself until they fire me." (04:54)

• Victor Davis Hanson: "Casting this as a First Amendment issue is kind of preposterous...he's lost $40 million a year, hundreds of millions for the company." (07:53)

They compare Colbert to Howard Beale from the movie Network, suggesting that continuous negativity has led to Colbert becoming unengaging and financially unsustainable for the networks.

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2. The New York Mayoral Race and Zoran Mamdami's Candidacy

The discussion shifts to the New York mayoral race, focusing on the Democrat candidate Zoran Mamdami. Hanson and Fowler scrutinize Mamdami's background, policies, and perceived anti-Semitic tendencies.

• Jack Fowler: "New York polls must condemn Zoran Mamdami's anti-Semitism...both come out publicly to attack Mamdami." (16:04)

• Unnamed Guest: "He grew up as an entitled Nepo baby...everything about him is he's an anti-Semite." (19:33)

Hanson criticizes the Democratic Party's leadership for fostering candidates like Mamdami, highlighting concerns over racism and the potential harm to the Jewish community in New York.

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3. Donald Trump's Rising Popularity and Midterm Election Polls

A significant portion of the conversation centers on the improving public perception of Donald Trump, particularly concerning the economy, and its implications for the upcoming midterm elections.

• Newsmax Headline Discussed: "President Trump sets stage for midterm victory...Republicans lead in the generic congressional ballot with 47%, Democrats at 42%." (54:39)

• Unnamed Guest: "The economic momentum under President Donald Trump's policy is driving a net 23-point swing toward optimism since April." (47:58)

They argue that Trump's focus on economic reforms, immigration control, and law enforcement has resonated with voters, potentially defying historical trends where incumbent parties typically lose ground in midterms.

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4. Elon Musk’s Neuralink and Technological Innovations

The hosts briefly touch upon Elon Musk's advancements, particularly Neuralink, and its positive impact on individuals with paralysis. They express admiration for Musk's contributions while cautioning against the potential political ramifications if he ventures into third-party politics.

• Victor Davis Hanson: "Every year we're going to read of some other discovery or some invention that he's created that's made a profound change in things." (28:48)

• Unnamed Guest: "I hope he continues to do what he does and sticks to technological innovations rather than getting involved in politics." (22:58)

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5. European Thought Police and the Erosion of Freedom

A critical examination of Europe's approach to freedom of speech and the rise of "thought police" is a central theme. The discussion highlights the UK's Home Office initiative to monitor anti-migrant sentiments and the broader implications for civil liberties.

• Victor Davis Hanson: "The home office is building an elite social media police squad to monitor your posts for anti-migrant sentiment...Britain deserves real policing, not digital thought police." (24:36)

• Unnamed Guest: "Europe lacks a Bill of Rights and doesn't respect freedom of speech or expression...they are destroying their country." (27:45)

They draw parallels between historical threats to Western civilization and current policies in European nations, expressing concern over the loss of free speech and cultural identity.

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6. Reflections on Media Appearances and Censorship

Victor Davis Hanson shares his personal experiences with media appearances, particularly on shows like Bill Maher, where he felt his perspectives were undermined. This segment underscores the challenges faced by conservatives in mainstream media.

• Unnamed Guest: "I was sabotaged on Bill Maher’s show...I'll never, ever set foot on that show again." (11:04)

• Victor Davis Hanson: "I've been on shows like Gutfeld and Bill Maher, but the left's interference makes genuine discourse difficult." (13:06)

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7. Concluding Thoughts and Future Topics

As the episode wraps up, Hanson and Fowler discuss upcoming topics, including polls related to the midterms, Trump's standing, and plans to explore historical wars and Western civilization in future episodes.

• Unnamed Guest: "After midterms, we'll discuss Trump’s influence on economic growth and other key issues." (53:52)

• Victor Davis Hanson: "We'll also delve into the Confederacy of fallacies and the state of Western civilization." (30:14)

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Notable Quotes

• "They have put up with that in Europe and to a lesser extent in some Asian countries. So they thought if they came here, they could put a plant, they could avoid tariffs, but they would not be a hassle." — Unnamed Guest (50:41)

• "The rule of law is paramount, and these policies are undermining it." — Unnamed Guest (46:10)

• "Trump doesn’t care if they call him Hitler or fascist; it’s like water off a duck." — Unnamed Guest (60:09)

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Conclusion

In this episode, Victor Davis Hanson and Jack Fowler provide a robust critique of contemporary media figures, specifically targeting the decline of late-night TV's impartiality and effectiveness. They express strong support for Donald Trump's policies and growing popularity, while voicing concerns over Europe's erosion of free speech and the rise of regulatory "thought police." The discussion also touches upon technological advancements and personal anecdotes, painting a picture of the current socio-political landscape through a conservative lens.

For a deeper dive into these discussions and more insights, listeners are encouraged to visit VictorHanson.com and explore the resources available on "The Blade of Perseus."

Transcript

[Victor Davis Hanson]

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[Jack Fowler]

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[Victor Davis Hanson]

We're back with the Victor Davis Hanson Show. So, Victor, let's get started with your thoughts on Stephen Colbert. A few things have gone on. Well, rallies, supposed rallies to support him that were kind of floperoos. But the continuing appearance, David Letterman and others, the comic world that I don't think anyone gives a rat's patoot about them anymore. Coming to his.

[Unnamed Guest]

I mean, what is the audience is what, 2 or 3 million people? Yeah. And you can get it free. And gut feel is 3 million, I think. And you have to pay for it. And gut feel is beating all of these guys. So I don't know what his shtick is. He goes on apparently, I don't want, I've never watched it, but from news accounts he goes on every night and attacks his sponsors. Right. And I mean.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

The network. Yeah.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

So he attacks you and me and not us personally, but the people we cbs.

[Unnamed Guest]

Right. He's mad about cbs, so.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Right.

[Unnamed Guest]

And they gave him a year. So I guess his shtick is I'm going to insult them and whine and feel sorry for myself until they fire me. And I hope they fire me so then I can be a wounded fawn, tragic hero. And I guess the crazy people that were at the network felt well to mitigate the idea that he was a loser. And we paid him $20 million a year and he cost us 41 million and we gave him $100 million budget and he still couldn't break even. We'll give him a year because he's a popular icon and an extension of the Democratic Party and we do business and the Democrats are nice to us because we subsidize these terrible losses so they can have a megaphone or a slot to air their grievances I get all that. But at some point, they must think he's kind of like, you remember Howard Beale and Network, the Peter Finch character? Yeah. He said it was crazy. And then finally he did it so much, he got boring and they had to kill him off.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

They killed him.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah. Well, I don't want to get into the killing metaphor, but my point is that I think he's going to get boring like Howard Beale, because every night he seems to complain that they're mean to me and they did this to me and they did this and like. And everybody's going, but you got 20 million. He's like a teenager that his parents, you know, the teen says, oh, he got a Firebird. I'm in high school, There was a witch kid. And he goes, oh, that other guy got a Firebird, and I only got a Camaro. And, you know, it's like, I don't care about my parents income, where it comes, how hard. I just want it. And that's what he is. Oh, these corporate people, they have all this money. They can afford to pay me 20 million and lose 40 million. No, they can't. And why whine about it? When Tucker Carlson was let go, he had the highest ratings at Fox. You know, some nights he was getting on special events near 5 million, but usually 3 to 4 million. And they let him go. The Murdoch family did. He was their top winner. He wasn't like Colbert, that he was not losing the money, not at all. And there were people mad at the Murdoch family, but I don't remember anybody. This happened during the Biden administration. I don't remember people saying, it's Joe Biden. And the left wing drove Tucker out. This is horrible. How did they take one of our. They didn't do that. And I don't remember Tucker complaining. I remember him saying something to the effect, I work for corporate America. I understand he didn't agree with it. He didn't think it was fair, but he didn't every. You know what I mean? Wine? Oh, my God. He's like an adolescent crybaby.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Well, casting of this as a First Amendment issue is kind of preposterous. And by the way, Victor, he's lost $40 million a year. That means he's lost hundreds of millions of dollars for this company.

[Unnamed Guest]

And he's lost it because as Jay Leno said the other day, you can't alienate half the country. When they asked Michael Jordan, well, why don't you be more left wing? He said, republicans buy shoes, too. And so it's stupid to destroy half your audience. And that's what he did.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

It goes with the genre, though. I mean, other than Gutfeld, it's.

[Unnamed Guest]

And the crybaby. I don't like the crybaby. Oh, poor me, I only make 20 million. I don't have a. I'm going to insult people so they'll, they'll fire me and then I can be really a victim. Who cares? Once you grow up, man, get a life.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

You know, I'm looking at the New York Post from Sunday, and it has an article titled Republicans Left Out. And on these shows it breaks down people from the left and people from the right who over the years appeared as guests. And Stephen Colbert had 176 from the left and one from the right. The Daily Show 1579 Seth Meyers 680 Jimmy Kimmel 582 Jimmy Fallon 412 this the talk about boring. This got boring a long time ago. Not only boring what he's doing now.

[Unnamed Guest]

But everybody knew what it was. It was a bunch of network corporate subsidiaries and their advertisers had made a conscientious decision to invest in the Democratic Party that would be in power half the time. And they thought, you know what? This is very important to vet, especially in the age of Trump. And we get Elizabeth Warren on my. Who would ever put Elizabeth Warren on anything to hear that scowling, whiny person. But she's angry because she can't go on Colbert anymore. Same thing with all of them. And that was what their role was. It was just a business decision. These corporate people got together and said, you know what? Here's 200 million we lose a year from all of these mediocrities who've ruined late night talk shows. They're not Johnny Caution, they're not Jay Leno, they're not Jack Parr, they're not Dick Cabot. They're just talentless and they whine and scream. But they put the left on and it's a good investment to cover our bases. It's like giving to both candidates. That's what they did. And at some point somebody came in and said, you know what? This guy is costing us 40 million a year. We can pay for Tin or Kimmel or Fallon or these other people, but this guy, this guy is the guy that really eats up the money and we're not going to do it anymore. And so why don't you just go ahead. I didn't remember everybody said you fired Bill O'Reilly. Oh my gosh, you Took away the biggest conservative voice. This is terrible. They just said, you know what? That happens.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Yeah. This is a crisis of the First Amendment. Victor, I think you were on of this genre, two shows. You were on Gutfeld once. You were on Bill Maher once. Is that correct? Were you on any.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yes, I was. Bill Maher sabotaged me. I had just come back from Libya. I had a ruptured appendix. I was on. I was really. I had still traces of peritonitis. And they called and said, we can't get anybody to talk about the Iraq war. Could you come on? I said, I don't really think I should. I said, no, no, you don't. Bill likes you. He wants you to have it open. So he had a little thing in his ear where he was getting prompts as director. Right. So I went on and Gandalf Ian McClellan, McLean, or whatever his name was.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Oh, he's a hardcore.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah. First thing he said is, they said, this is Professor Hansen from the Hoover. He said, he's not a professor. And they said, the war. Dick Cheney is a war criminal and all this. And I basically said that I thought the surge was going to work. That was 2007, I think. I said, the surge will probably work, and whether we get a lasting peace, I don't know. But the idea that it's not going to. And they went crazy, and it was a sabotage. And then the producer called up and said, we feel bad. We didn't think we were going to do that. But I said, I'll never, ever, under any circumstances, for the rest of my life, ever set foot on that show. Because you lied to me. It was all a setup, and I don't care. I'm not mad at you. That's what. You know, I think I said something. That's what Scorpions do. That's who you are. So it was my fault for agreeing to be persuaded by it. But you know what? You're not going to miss me, and I'm not going to miss you. I'll never set foot on your stage again. And I don't have anything against Bill Maher, but the way that they did it was very unprofessional. When I went on Gutville, you know, it was. I just happened to be in New York, and everybody was very friendly.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Yeah, you were pretty good that night. I enjoyed it.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Okay. Well, Victor, we're going to get to speaking of New York. We're going to talk about the mayoral race there. Actually, we should talk about what has led to this particular Democrat candidate. But first, to our listeners and viewers, it shouldn't be this difficult to get basic medical treatment in our country. Yet so many Americans are still being denied access to care and medications they trust. And that's why we want to tell you about All Family Pharmacy. This isn't just another online pharmacy. They're truly helping Americans get access to the medications they believe in, like ivermectin, mebanzadol, hydroxychloroquine, methylene blue, antibiotics and many more. And now they've recently lowered their prices to make it even easier and more affordable for families to get what they need. The process is simple. Just fill out a form online, select your medication, the one that you need, a doctor reviews your order, writes the prescription, and your order is shipped straight to your door. If you believe in medical freedom, this is the pharmacy for you. This company is truly making a difference and more people need to know about it. And now they do. Visit their website and order what you need today. Go to allfamilypharmacy.com Victor and use the code Victor10. That's V I C T O R the number one, the number zero for 10% off your order. And we thank the good people from All Family Pharmacy for sponsoring the Victor Davis Hansen Show. Victor, I'm looking still. Still, I love the New York Post and Sunday's paper. Michael Goodwin, who's a great guy, great columnist, won the Pulitzer Prize once. He used to be on Fox a little bit. I haven't seen him much. I've met him a few times. A good guy. He's got an article, a column, New York polls must condemn Zoran Mamdami's anti Semitism. And the article is basically about making note that Josh Shapiro, the governor of Pennsylvania and Rahm Emanuel, the former ambassador to Japan, the former congressman, the former mayor of Chicago, the former top aide to Obama, they have both come out publicly to attack Mamdaemi. Victor, you've talked any number of times already about Mondami, but to me, okay, good for you, Shapiro. Good for you, Rahm Emanuel that you're doing this now. But you know, there was so much culpability with the leadership of the Democrat Party for years, which I think you would put Rahm Emanuel in that category for creating this party in a way that it would turn out, spit out, puke out someone like a Mondami. And he is, he's the future of this party. Anyway, Victor, any thoughts on the culpability here?

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah, I think they, they decided that their message was not Appealing to people, whether it was a Green New Deal or open borders or defund the police or redistribution or their foreign policy apologetics. So then they doubled down and they went the full racial. We're going to divide people by race. We're going to let in 12 million new constituents and we're going to go crazy over Donald Trump and call him Russian. Collusion, laptop disinformation, raid Mar Lago, get him off the ballot. Indict him, indict him, indict him. And the logical culmination is somebody like Mondami. Not just that he's a socialist, but he's a complete fraud. He grew up as an entitled Nepo baby. His father was an endowed professor, a convenient leftist. His mother is a multi million dollar subsidized documentary maker. He just had a big wedding festivity in Uganda that was fit for a king, not for socialists. He keeps saying he's going to look at affluent and whiter neighborhoods. And Mr. Mandami knows of course, that when you rate Americans by their ethnic affiliation in terms of per capita income, the number one is Indian Americans from India. So he basically should say, as an Indian American who is among the most successful and affluent group, I'm going to look at richer and Indian American neighborhoods. But he can't do that because he's a racialist. And that was clear when he claimed that he was an African American because he was born in Uganda and tried to get special preference under the corrupt affirmative action system dei. Everything about him is he's an anti Semite. He knows that. He won't even say he can't. He won't disown. Globalize the intifada. It's like saying you're a racist. That's the term. I don't feel comfortable when people. I don't feel comfortable. I don't use Globalize the info. Would you reject it? No. I could. He appeals to upscale professional elite minorities and mostly white professionals who feel that they are in the same intellectual and social category as the very wealthy. You can afford New York, but because their genius has been unrecognized and they're not compensated, they cannot buy a brownstone in the Upper west side. And they're angry about that. And he comes around and says, I'm going to give you rent control. I'm going to give you this, I'm going to give you that, I'm going to give you that. And we'll see if he turns it into, you know, what we expect blue cities are, and we'll see what he does, but he's going to do a lot of damage. But they voted for him, so they get what they deserve. We'll see what the Jewish population, it used to be 30 or 40%. I think it's down to 12% in New York now. What happens to those who are actually Orthodox or they identify as being Jewish American because it would be stupid to live in that already. Of all the victims of hate crimes, they are the most disproportionate. They compose about 3% of the population. They make up about 40% of hate crimes. And if he's there, it'll be open season.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Well, Victor, I'm sorry once again, my, my headphones. Same thing happened last show. Something screwy here, but it happens to be with me. But we're going to take a break in a minute, but before we do, I want to drop something on you. I just, I know you've been a big fan of Elon Musk as an inventor. And as we go, as we were recording today, a story came out, it's on the Daily Mail. A paralyzed woman reveals shocking effect of Elon Musk's neuralink brain chip. And here's a woman who was paralyzed for 20 years. And now this thing this guy made, amongst the many things he's made, has profoundly affected her life positively. This is just.

[Unnamed Guest]

Anyway, I just bought another Tesla, gave my Tesla, my wife's Tesla, to my son, and I picked it up and I drove it home. Man, it's a beautiful car. It's even better than the model just two years ago. It's an amazing car. And the SpaceX is an amazing company. X is an amazing company. I'm speaking right now in rural California because of starlink. So he's done a lot. I wish he wasn't going to start a third party. And if he does, I hope it doesn't really destroy the conservative movement. And the way that Ross Perot sort of got Democrats elected. I hope he can heal his wound with Donald Trump so they at least have a modus operandi they can get. They have a truce or something. And I hope he continues to do what he does. It's so funny, is that he was an icon of the left because of his EVs and his sustainable reputation, sustainable energy, etcetera, solar panels, batteries, all that stuff. And then he was. Because he endorsed Donald Trump 2024. And now that he had a rupture with Donald Trump, guess what? Nobody is destroying Tesla cars or dealerships. It's like, well, we're going to Destroy you and drive down your. Tim Waltz is not. Why isn't Tim Waltz talking about driving down the price of his stock? Because he's no longer public enemy number one. Because he's mad at Donald Trump. Therefore he's okay. Therefore we were not going to torch his dealership. That's how the left thinks. Well, very gifted Renaissance person. I'm very happy he's in the United States. Yeah.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

But this I, I have to believe every year we're going to read of some other discovery or some invention that he's created that's made a profound change in things. I agree with you. I hope he, I hope he sticks to that and less to the third party stuff. Well, Victor, the Europeans have lots of problems and what they also have is lots of thought police. And we're going to get your thoughts on that. And you've written an important piece on X Confederacy of fallacies. And we'll get your share why you wrote that when we come back from these important messages. We are back with the Victor Davis Hansen show. Me and my stupid headphones. So I apologize for my. I got to get that Starlink Victor, that maybe will.

[Unnamed Guest]

It's very impressive. I have, I've tried use Internet. I've tried local Internets out here in Fresno county. And this is just. All you do is go up on your loop, put it on the roof or somewhere out and take your app out and guide it to the best direction. Presto. You have high speed Internet, very affordable. I've tried everything else, Verizon, everything. Nothing compares with it.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Well, if you hang out on X a little bit every day, there's no question you're going to see stories about Europe and the thought police, particularly Britain. Britain is. It could weep. You know, you and I, we talk about war movies that love, love old British war movies and old Britain. Frankly, even for an Irish guy to see what this country has become is sad.

[Unnamed Guest]

It's sad.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Yeah. Here's a piece from someone named Darren Grimes says the home office is building. Actually, excuse me, I think the Telegraph reported this. The home office is building an elite social media police squad to monitor your posts for anti migrant sentiment. While asylum hotels fill, protests grow, immigration hits record highs. If you dare criticize the chaos, expect a knock at the door. Instead of deporting criminals, labor's policing priority is now policing. Your opinion. You didn't vote for a surveillance state. You voted for control of our borders. Britain deserves real policing, not digital thought police. Victor, this, I don't get it. Your thoughts?

[Unnamed Guest]

One thing they've never had a Bill of Rights and they don't really have a written constitution like we do, but Bill of Rights. Every day I get up and I look at Europe and I say, thank God for Thomas Jefferson and others, Hamilton, that gave us a Bill of Rights. Because they don't respect freedom of speech at all or freedom of expression. Put it this way, there's about nine books with the title Suicide of the West. There really is. But if you were going to, you said to Britain right after World War II, let's destroy this country in a way that Germans can never do. The Blitz didn't work, the V2, V1 barrages didn't work. Let's destroy Britain. Let's just fast forward 50, 60, 70, 80 years from now. And what would you like Britain to do if you want to destroy it? And you would say, ah, I know what I'll do. I will open the borders and I will import people from antithetical Islamic cultures that do not want to assimilate and I will make them 15 to 20% of the population and in major cities like Manchester or London, maybe 30 or 40%. And then I will create a sense of guilt and shame about the British colonialism and British literature and British universities and everything. And I will make them hate themselves, censor themselves to the point where they'll be impotent to do this. And then I'll say, I will also ensure that they do not utilize their natural resources to the fullest and will go on to renewable energy like the rest of Europe. This is true of Europe too. And then I will try to demonize anybody who speaks out against radical non assimilation immigration. And I will make them into public enemies and I will put them in jail and threaten them and I don't really care. And then I will disinherit their whole 20th century and earlier legacy. So World War II, what they went through in World War II when they were the only country from basically June 25th of 1940 to June 22nd of 1941, they were the only country to be against Italy and Germany. And they stood just forget all that, forget about all that. Don't mention it. Lord Nelson is no good. All the pantheon of heroes, it just, it's just amazing that how they're destroying their country. And you think in World War II and afterward, they were the innovators of technology, they were indomitable. They created probably the greatest statesman of the modern world, Winston Churchill. I don't know why they're doing this. I mean if you think Australia is Something different than the surrounding New guinea or something as far as humanity and the way people are treated in today's world. Or you think that Canada is even under the left wing regime, is a successful country. Or we are, it's because of them. And yet we're more pro British than they are.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Than they are. Right.

[Unnamed Guest]

It's sad. And we have all that affliction in the West. Something about Western civilization that was remarked of since antiquity. When you combine market capitalism with constitutional government, which is the only combination that works, you create such a level of affluence and freedom and leisure that without bridles on your appetites, without family, tradition, religion, if you don't have that, then you just, there's no moral bearings and you can do whatever you want. And these people that are running Britain right now feel that they're going to make a big thought experiment on the middle class. And I don't think it's going to work. I think they're going to be a rebellion, I hope against it. But when you look at Europe, every sign from economic growth to energy to open borders to fertility, it doesn't look good. That's why Trump is always. Trump is more pro European than the Europeans.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Yeah, yeah. Look, we should treat all tyranny and injustice the same. But if some Asian country is being oppressive, I don't get as worked up as when Australia and you know, it seems to be diminishing the rights of the Anglosphere we have. There's something about that. But you look at Britain, Canada and Australia and on us under Obama, like what was happening to the English speaking world that was the center of civilization and progress. And you mentioned suicide of the West. It seems to be something that's been embraced and thankfully Donald Trump seems to have broken it.

[Unnamed Guest]

But that's what he's trying to do. He's trying to say to people, don't feel guilty about your legacy. Don't change names. You don't have to be perfect to be good. Respect your traditions. You're a singular civilization. Da, da, da. And people hate that. They don't really hate it. If you look at their behavior, if you look at the way that left lives or John Kerry or Al Gore, they love Lewis, they love the appearances of jets, they love the 5,000 foot homes, they love all that. But they feel that they can in the abstract critique all that and the negative.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Well, the Dhaka is there, right? Hey, Victor, on X, you wrote a piece, a Confederacy of Fabulous. Would you like to tell us about that and why you wrote it?

[Unnamed Guest]

Well, you know, I try to look at msnbc, cnn, the network news to see what is on, what people are saying other than Fox or something sometimes. And I was looking at MSNBC and they brought on these characters and they were all in response to Tulsi Gabbard's release of these troves. And by the way, there's a new one coming out of classified section of the Durham report which I think will be devastating, especially the whistleblower second tier intelligence officers that are going to give us a separate assessment of what Brennan and Clapper said. So anyway, I was looking at these people and I just said to myself, liar, proven liar, proven liar, proven liar. So there was Susan Rice and she was castigating Trump and Tulsi Gabbard. And I said, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Why should I believe you? You lied about Benghazi and said it was a just an impromptu anger fit of anger over a video when it was a pre planned Al Qaeda related terrorist operation that was due to your lax security as National Security Advisor. You lied about wmd. You said we took care of it in Syria. It's all gone. No, they killed civilians. After you said that, you told us that Bo Burgendall acted honorably. No, he was a traitor, treasonous deserter. He endangered the lives of people in his unit. You've lied about this. You went on the talk shows and you lie, lie, lie. Why should I believe you now? Then the next person was James Comey and I thought, wait a minute. The last time I saw you, you lied about just stumbling upon seashells on the. Well, gee, Jack, I just happened to see 8647 on the. Hmm. I saw one about Harris not too long ago that was interesting. I took a picture, I didn't know what it meant. That's James Comey 245 times he said, I don't remember. He looked at Donald Trump in the eye and he said, you are not the subject of a FBI collusion investigation when it was already full blast. Why do I believe him now? And then I thought, there's Andrew McCabe, he's on there criticizing Tulsa. Wait a minute. Andrew, you lied four times according to Michael Horowitz, three times. You lied under oath that you, you didn't leak. You're a proven liar. And I don't know why Bill Barr let you off, but he did. But that doesn't mean you didn't lie, so why would we believe you now? So then Jeffrey Toobin's on there and he says that Donald Trump is blah blah blah and Tulsi glad blah blah. And I thought, wait a minute, you were on Zoom and you were self abusing yourself and you claimed that you didn't know that the camera was on. You're the expert on Zoom, so you're not telling the truth. And then there was Clapper. And I thought, wait a minute, why would we believe you? You said that Donald Trump was a Russian puppet. You were the one that said the NSA doesn't spy on. And then there was Brennan. I said, brennan, you just lied and said you'd never looked at the Steele dossier. That's demonstrably untrue. You lied and said you never spied on Senate staff or computers. You lied when you said there was no collateral. They were all liars is what I'm saying. And yet they put them on there and were supposed to. So I just said, why would we believe any of them? And Brennan said, I'm confused. This is the weaponization of the intelligence agent. Clapper said, well, I have to lawyer up. Well, this is what you did to people for a decade and now it's coming home to roost because there is a cosmic justice in the world and it's coming back to haunt you. So all of them were liars. I didn't even mention McCabe. Remember, McCabe was going to work with Rod Rosenstein. They were going to put a wire on and they were going to go get Donald Trump to act crazy and they were going to record it. And then they were going to go to the cabinet members and said, see, we got a secret recording of Donald Trump. He's unstable. If you'll vote to remove him under the 25th amendment, we can proceed. That's what.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

And yet. So they could work to elect a president who really was mentally feeble.

[Unnamed Guest]

And I haven't heard one of them say one word about Joe Biden and the Cabal to hide his physical and mental decline.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

I wonder, Victor, someday we should figure out, you should figure out if there was a Mount Rushmore of all these terrible people who really hurt our country, like who would be the four that would. That's a hard call.

[Unnamed Guest]

I thought of that, Jack. I think Anthony Fauci would be up there. Because the problem with Anthony Fauci is not just. He said, one mask is good, two are better. You don't need masks and all that stuff. If you look carefully at his correspondence with Francis Collins after the arrival of COVID and you look at the budget and his relationship with Peter Desic and Echo Health, it's pretty clear that he knew it was against the law to fund gain of function research here. And he routed the money to the Wuhan lab that he knew was not a very good place to put money. And they were experimenting on coronaviruses. And more importantly, he allowed instrumentation and expertise to be sent over there. Bottom line, he was really not the major role, but he had a role in the creation of a virus that killed millions of people. And somebody who had long Covid for a year and six months twice, I feel personally agreed by Anthony Fauci what he did. And then they made him. He was pardoned. So he's up there. Mark Milley's up there, too. Jack. I've never heard of a joint chief of staff that called his Chinese counterpart and said, you know, I think my president might be crazy, and if we ever get into a DEFCON one or something like that, I'll call you first to warn you. You. And then that's an advisory role. You don't interrupt the chain of command. Then he said, I called in the theater commanders and said, no order to you is going to be issued unless it goes through me. That's insubordination. It goes from the president to the department Secretary of Defense to the theater commanders. The joint chief is over here. He advises. He's not in the direct chain of command. That was an order. Basically, if you could be dramatic, a coup. So Millie and Fauci and Brennan and Clapper and Comey. That's a pretty roguish bunch of people. We could add the minor players. Lois Lerner, who corrupted the IRS before the 2012 election to deny conservative groups nonprofit status. She's up there, Eric. Yeah.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Eric Holder, Barack Obama, Hillary deserve to be on also.

[Unnamed Guest]

Well, yeah, they're elected, but Hillary remember all the things. Oh, I'm going to be. I'll okay the uranium one sale. So North American uranium goes up. Oh, my husband got 500,000 bucks from the mayor of Moscow. How did that happen? Oh, you mean you're saying that I bleached my. My communication? You mean like with Clorox? Is that what I did? She had her assistant go out with a hammer and break them all up, and then she suddenly lost the 30,000. Donald Trump joked about, said maybe Putin can help us find it. And next thing you know, he admitted to collusion. Remember that?

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Well, Victor, we have a little. We're going to be a little truncated today. That's life. But we're going to take a break right now. When we come back back, we're going to talk about polls for the midterms, polls on Donald Trump. And I think we should begin it by getting your views on your favorite Clint Eastwood movie. As I like Clint Eastwood. Yeah, he's just turned 95. So we'll do that when we come back from these, I think our final important messages.

[Unnamed Guest]

You.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

We'Re back with the Victor Davis Hanson Show. Victor's website, the Blade of Perseus. Its web address is victorhanson.com when you go there, you can find everything Victor's written, his weekly essay at American Greatness Weekly syndicated column, archives of these podcasts. Many of Victor's other appearances are linked there. And the ultra articles that he writes twice a week for the Blade of Perseus, exclusive to that website. And the exclusive video he does once a week. To watch them, watch those videos, to read those articles, you have to subscribe. You want to stick your toe in the water. It's $6.50. You want to do the whole year, $65 for the full year. The blade of perseusvichtorhansen.com so, yeah, Victor, Clint Eastwood. You love him. I know you love him. That's why I planned this. If you had to, if you had to pick one or two of your favorite movies.

[Unnamed Guest]

How about three or four? Sure, go ahead. Oh, I, I really like the Good, Bad and the Ugly. Eli Wallach was brilliant in that movie and Lee Van Cleef was, too, but that established Clint Eastwood as his presence. He didn't, he didn't claim that he was, you know, Marlon Brando or Anthony Hopkins as far as acting, but he had a presence on the screen. He knew when to be silent, everything about him. He dominated the screen the way John Wayne did. And it was a great. Sergio Leone was an authentic genius. It's often unrecognized. I think the more I watch his other movie, Once Upon a Time in the west, the more I think that might have been the best western of all. The music and everything about Charles Bronson, Jason Robarts, Claudia, it was a brilliant movie, but I really like Good, Bad and the Ugly. I thought that the Unforgiven was a great movie. That was a revisionist Western. But gosh, Gene Hackman was brilliant in that movie as well. But Clint Eastwood spoke more than he usually did. He was very good in that movie. Gran Torino, I liked. I thought that was a good movie. Yeah, that was a great movie. He did a movie a long, long time ago that was kind of different. Outlaw, Josey Wales. That was a good movie. Yeah, I liked Everything he did. I had dinner with him once. A good friend at the Hoover Institution invited me.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Oh, really?

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah. And I sat across from him and he's just exactly in person, what he is, you know, that was a very. I used to go to a good friend, Shelby Steele's house, actually. He was one of my best friends. Wonderful person. And I think I told you I saw David Mamet there for the first time, whom I really admire. And we've had on the show and I've mentioned this before, and Obama had just been in Philadelphia and said, you know, get in their faces. You got to take a gun to a knife fight. I said, that's kind of provocative. And David Mamet says, especially when he stole the line from my screenplay of the Untouchable. I didn't know that was funny. But Clint Eastwood, I felt really embarrassed because I take supplements. I was taking supplements. I looked across the table and unlike me, he had them on the table, taking them. There was a book a long time ago written by a couple, I don't know if you remember, they created something called Life Extension. And then that drug company, that's very good, that makes Life Extension products was an offshore, I think was sold to them, or offshore. Anyway, they always mentioned an unnamed movie store that they had advised about life extension.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

He's 95. I think it's working.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah. They're antioxidants, anti inflammatory senolytics. All those things we thought were kind of crazy are probably true. They extend life.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

I love, by the way, back on Clint Eastwood, the Dirty Harry movies, they. Yeah. And spoke to a certain time and a certain moment, just like Charles Bronson's movies.

[Unnamed Guest]

I went with my dad to see Dirty Harry. And my mom was an appellate court judge. She was very angry about that. My dad and I went. And then we were talking about. And she came in, she goes, you know, he took the law in his own hands. And my dad goes, he wouldn't have to if the judges didn't let them out. So it was really funny. They had that great line, you know, it wasn't just make my day punk and all that. That one they said about the. What was his name, the Zodiac Killer. It wasn't Zodiac. It was something else. And they said, he's going to do it again. And they said, how do you know that? And he says, because he likes it. He likes it. And that's absolutely true. That was a great. It's pretty amazing. I remember him as Rowdy Yates on Rawhide. He used to sing some around the.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Campfire so curious at the dinner you were at was this. This wasn't one of these big gala dinners. It was a private dinner.

[Unnamed Guest]

No, no, no, no, no. Just four or five guests.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Oh, okay.

[Unnamed Guest]

And I used to. Shelby was a wonderful person. He is a wonderful person, Eli. Yeah. And he. Everybody likes Shelby. And so he lived at that time in Carmel. So he'd have local people that lived in the area come over for dinner and you never knew. And he's the kind of person that would never tell you who's going to come to dinner? Come to dinner. Clint's going to be there. You just go there and all of a sudden there's Clint Eastwood. And he's. I asked him, I had a little talk with him and I was. Whenever you're around somebody, you never want to talk about yourself one iota because you're never going to get that chance again. You want to talk about. So I asked him about people that he dealt with. You know, he was very professional. He never spoke ill with anybody. But it was very clear that he really liked Sergio Leone and felt that he had made that transition from television to stardom with Fistful of Dollars for a Few Dollars More so called spaghetti Western.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Well, what if he had stayed in America and hadn't made those movies?

[Unnamed Guest]

He made a weird movie. Remember Hang Em High, where he's in there. What's her name? The Swedish actress. Swedish American. She died. I think she committed suicide tragically. A blonde woman. I'll remember. Inger Stevens. Inger Stevens. I always. Because of my father. He would always. Every time there'd be a Swedish American actress, Inger Stevens or Ann Margret, he'd say, see to my mom. See Pauline. There's true Swedish beauty.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Funny.

[Unnamed Guest]

So that movie, my mom would go, and I'm not Swedish and I'm not beautiful.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Your mother might have liked that movie because the judge was very much.

[Unnamed Guest]

She did like it. She did like. I know it. I know it. I said to my mom, because she. I think we went to the movies together. And I was really angry at the judge and I said, he's stopping Clint Eastwood from handing out justice. He's trying to create law in a lawless territory. And you always. The rule of law. My mom would, you know, every April 15th. Have you paid your taxes? Yes. Did you take any deduction? No, I didn't.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Mom.

[Unnamed Guest]

Did you take. Did you. Did not write off any business, I hope? No. Did you write off anything on the farm when you're not actively farmed? No, I didn't. I trust you on that. I do not want you to do any. It wasn't just because of, she was a judge reputation, but she just really hyper legal, you know, I mean, she had a great respect for the Wall.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

God bless.

[Unnamed Guest]

Even to this day, I can't even, you know, I get paranoid about driving 75 and a 73 or something. Oh, really? I don't have that problem.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

I did it today and I didn't have my license with me either.

[Unnamed Guest]

So, yeah, I get, I always feel my mom's looking down on me. Don't break the law. Don't break the law.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Well, well, let's get your take on as we come to the home stretch here about some polls. The first one, this is, let's see, I think it's from the Wall Street Journal. It's a report on the Wall Street Journal. Maybe it's from Newsmax. Public swings massively in Trump's favor on economy since April. A bipartisan poll shows a dramatic shift in public opinion on the state of the US economy with a net, net 23 point swing toward optimism since April, an uptick that parallels renewed economic momentum under President Donald Trump's policy, according to officials at Market Data. The Wall Street Journal survey conducted by Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio and Democrat partner firm Impact research found that 47% of Americans now rate the economy as excellent or good, up from just 36% in April. Meanwhile, those saying the economy is not so good or Poor dropped from 63% to 51%. Victor, you're.

[Unnamed Guest]

Taking, I'm not saying that the unpopularity of the Democrats. There was also a poll by Quinnipiac. Quinnipiac, yeah, Quinnipiac. Excuse me, that the Democratic Congress was polling 16, 16%. So when you see that 61% of people have a negative view of the Democratic Party and even much less the Democratic Congress, you think, well, Trump was going to get a landslide in the midterm. Not necessarily. Because got to remember one thing about polls. It's never about what you think about a particular person or party. It's what you think about a particular person or party in comparison with the alternative. And the alternative has always got to be there because you'll be misled if you don't think that somebody you know depends on that. And I saw another poll with the do you have a high regard for the Ivy League? I think it was 20%. And then another poll do you have a high regard for higher education? It just plummeted. But again, Donald Trump, I was talking not too long ago, some Silicon Valley people. And I was asking about foreign investment and did they know the ratio of $1 trillion per jobs created? And they quoted some impressive figures. I mean, you're talking about 20 million jobs if you have $10 trillion in investment. But one of the things I said, why are all these people investing here? Why are the Japanese, the Europeans, everybody's promising. I said, well, they're afraid of Trump. The trade, the tariffs did make them want to symbol things. It'll be terror free. But another one said this wouldn't have happened if Biden had said this because they didn't trust him. And they thought they would come in here and they would get regulated with climate change regulations and DEI regulations. And they have put up with that in Europe and to a lesser extent in some Asian countries. So they thought if they came here, they could put a plant, they could avoid tariffs, but they would not be hassle. They would allow, they would call up the government and they said, your permit will be expedited. We want you to be successful. How can we help whether than what's the percentage of your workforce? Do you have this? You do this? What type of energy? All that stuff. So I think it's, I think there's a force multiplying effect with all this stuff. The immigration feeds into the economy, the economy feeds into lower crime rate. We have the lowest crime rate in a long time time. I think it's 30 years in big cities. It doesn't seem like it, but that's what the statistics say.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Yeah, well.

[Unnamed Guest]

We'Ve already deported, I think 150,000 criminals. Hundred thousand somewhere around there. And there's, you know, there's three or four hundred thousand known criminals to go. But. And then I don't think there's any popular movement to say let's decriminalize stealing like there was before. So there's a backlash, there's a shift that people want accountability, they want the rule of law, they want to go back to normalcy. Trump feeds into that. We're not going to change any more names. There's nothing racist about the Washington Redskins, et cetera, et cetera.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

We'll change the name of the Gulf of Mexico, but not only, by the way, this is a side story. You know, we're trying to think of all these, you know, big issues, big things happening, tariff negotiations, war, trying to settle wars and successfully, you know, bringing about peace here and there. I just read a piece yesterday that the Trump administration has stomped out these dark web porn sites.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah, he did. That had like 150,000. Yeah.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Users and millions and millions of images. Wow. This is the kind of thing that, you know, the Angel Gabriel.

[Unnamed Guest]

It's very different than the first term. It's very different than the first term. There's. If you come to Trump in the first term, you say that I'm a respected Republican grandee, I served with the Bush administration, I was advisor to the Romney campaign. Here's. They hired you and then you said, oh, not in my name. I'm not a part of that tweet, that executive order. I'm going to find a way to nullify or neuter today. It's how can we help Donald Trump enact and promote and accelerate the mega agenda? They have people like in energy and interior. They're just educated. They're all doing a wonderful job. At least this Counter Revolution, the subtitle of the book that I'm almost finished that comes out from basic is the Fall and Rise of Donald Trump and His MAGA Counter Revolution. And I'm trying to think of the. There's all sorts of suggestions for the title, comeback American Phoenix, etc. I've got to decide on which title.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

What you just said sounds like it should be the title. Is that your idea?

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah, Mine was the Fallen Rise of Donald Trump and his. His MAGA agenda. I like that. Yeah, that's what it was. I could not believe his polls after January 6. They were rock bottom. And I quote all the people who said he was done. Mitch McConnell said after January 6, he took a gun and we gave him a gun, he shot him, or basically he committed suicide. And we're so happy he did. And I didn't realize all the people who voted, I thought there was just. There were 10 senators or. No, there were seven or no. That voted against to convict him as a private citizen, as an ex president.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Gosh, you mean Republicans.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah. Not just impeached him during his term, but after he was out of office. No, it wasn't just Mitt Romney. It was people like Susan Collins, Ben South, Lisa Murkowski, that Senator Burr, Richard Burr. And he was, he was just written off. Everybody, I quote pundits. And then the left did what they always do. They thought, you know what? We. It's not enough. We've destroyed him politically. We want to destroy him financially, psychologically, physically, everything. So they started in on the Mar A Lago Ray, the indictments. They get him off the ballot. And each time they did that, we're going to have a mug shot. Every time they did that, he went up one or Two points.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Yeah, Mug shot was a great thing for him. Hey, Victor.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah, it was.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Sticking to polls and you mentioned the midterms. Here is indeed a Newsmax headline and beginning of an article. President Trump sets stage for midterm victory. Our latest, and this is Newsmax. Our latest national survey of 1,000 likely voters was conducted from July 9th to the 14th reveals strong public support for President Trump in the wake of his reforms. His job approval rating remains solid. Republicans lead in the generic congressional ballot and optimism about the direction of the country is at its highest levels level since before the pandemic. A large majority supports key Trump policy stances, including the deportation of criminal illegal immigrants and preemptive strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities. By the way, that generic congressional ballot numbers were Republicans 47%, Democrats 42%. And as we know, Democrats still are foundering or floundering or maybe it's both of them for a leader. I don't know who their leader is, but so I don't know if I was betting today on the midterms.

[Unnamed Guest]

Well, I mean, it's the only. I think it's only happened twice in the last hundred years or 100 years or so. FDR was elected in 32. I think he picked up seats. In 36. He did. And I think George W. Bush picked up in 2002 because of nine, 11, he picked up three or maybe four or five seats. And it was unheard of everybody else. Obama lost over 60 seats, I think, in 2010. So. And Donald Trump lost the House in 2018. So the expectation is he's going to lose the midterms. I'm not sure he is. Especially he's got if the economy kicks in. If you think of all the things that are going on, it's sort of like on the one hand, the economy is rapidly developing with AI. You know, two years ago when you went on Google, you didn't see AI at all. I even you. I don't know how to use it, but I use it and grog and AI and it really, there's some things there, you know, the other day I wanted to test it, so I just did to Grok. I think it was. What are the main classical sources for the life of a Paminondas? Bam. Plutarch, Bam Diodorus, Bam. It had Apocrypha from Plutarch's Moralia. So that's making a big change in the economy. Everybody's using it and it's saving time and it's efficient. The reductions in the bureaucracy. There's all these things going on that the borders closed and you don't have as many people on public assistance when you deport them, the crime rate is going down. You call to account dei. It's like di is basically the people in DEI said, I didn't think you'd let us get away with this this long. And yeah, we're culpable and we have no argument for it. Yeah, it is racist, but it's good racist. That's all they can say. And the military, oh, we're up 45. We had this conversation five years ago. It was systemic, Victor. There's just no way you can get that level of recruit. And today's now it's like, okay, no problem. 10,000 people volunteered today. And it's almost eerie what's going on. And the more that it happens, the angrier the left gets. They have no Congress, they have no Supreme Court, they have no White House. They have no 55% margin on the issues. They just have Donald Trump. They hate him. So they are ideas. We call him Hitler and fascism. We call him Hitler and Mussolini and Tojo Stalin this week and it didn't work. And they don't say, well maybe you shouldn't do that. So now we're going to call him super Hitler and hyper. It just doubled down on losing. And that's why these poll, that's why the polls are the way they are. People are so tired of hikem Jeffrey with his baseball bat or screaming and yelling about, you know, it's just they're tired about Nancy Pelosi and her insider multi million dollar career from insider truck stock trading her mansions and yelling and screaming about everything. And it's just, they're just tired of it, I think. And so my point is, I think he could, he could do pretty well in the midterm.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Yeah, I saw your, your old friend Chris Matthews. Oh, he. Maybe he's my old friend because he too went to Holy Cross like me.

[Unnamed Guest]

Everybody seems to.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Yeah, yeah, he saw some praiseworth.

[Unnamed Guest]

I had a backhand once.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Guest]

And I don't think. Well, I won't comment on it, but.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Don'T comment on it. Right.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah. You beat him.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

You beat him.

[Unnamed Guest]

No, it was at a private gathering. So at least he said the truth, that the country was swinging toward Trumpism and nobody else will admit that. But all Trumpism is common sense. It really is. Do you want an open border or not? Do you want to punish criminals or not? You want to have deterrence abroad or not? Do you want to try to Address the debt or not? Do you want to have free trade or fair trade? Take your pick. There's pretty common sense.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

70, 30 issues. Yeah.

[Unnamed Guest]

And the only way it's working, and it didn't work under the Romney candidacy or the McCain candidacy or the Dole candidacy or the Bush presidency or the George H.W. and the second term of Reagan, it didn't work, is that they became captive, what George Patton once called, do not be captive of your fears. They were worried that the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Georgetown, they didn't like them. People were mad at them. They thought, you know, we're going to give Janet Napolitano the National Humanities Award. Remember that? Stuff like that. We're going to do this and they'll like us. No, they're going to hate you. So Donald Trump doesn't care. Call him a fascist or Hitler, it's like water off a duck. He doesn't really care. He doesn't. You know, he'll just say, you're fake news. And then Rosie o' Donnell will say something, he's a fascist. Somebody shows it to him, you know, she's a loser. And somebody will whisper, you shouldn't lower yourself as president to respond. I don't care. He was in Scotland. He is now as I speak. And I was just amazed that the reporters just walk up to him. What do you think about Epstein? What do you think about Putin? What do you think about the. He just bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. He didn't care.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

He just answers more questions in one day than Biden did in his whole damn president.

[Unnamed Guest]

There's not a bunch of. The difference with Biden is he always had these grime, a worm tongue. Remember that character and the Tolkien Riders of Rohan? He was a pretty good actor that played that. But he'd always whisper in the ear of the demented Theodine, who was like a Joe Biden character. And you always had people around Biden that were pointing where he's supposed to walk, or when he went off into the Amazon rainforest, they'd grab him by the elbow and bring him back. Or they'd whisper. With Trump, you get the impression that nobody dares whisper in his ear. You don't do that with Donald Trump. You don't go up and say, donald, Donald. Don't say that. Please don't say that. I look at Carolyn Levitt's face sometimes when she's standing next to him and he says things that are just outrageous. Instead of going like this, she goes, you know what I mean? And then I Look at her. And it's like, oh, my God, she pushes every button. They go in there and she's just so upbeat and da, da, da, da, da, da, da. And she's very attractive. She's very young. She's very energetic.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

And they, you know, think about how she performs in that environment now. And I'm not knocking Sean Spicer, but went out of the box, the first administration, how the chaos of Q and A in the White House. And she is. She's handsome.

[Unnamed Guest]

It's something about youth when you're that age. I think she's 27 or 28. You just. You get up and you have so much energy and you're so, da, da, da, da. Let's get the job done. And when you get older, you get nuanced and ambiguous, and that's not what you want for that job. And she's. She learned a lot from Kayleigh McElhenny, too, I think, with her books, you know, and she doesn't have the books like Kaylee did, but the idea that she was going to go mano to mono with a journalist and she preps a lot. She's very bright on her toes. And I think Trump would say she has good optics.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

She does. Everybody.

[Unnamed Guest]

I mean, I've seen these people. I thought I'd always said to myself, I used to end up speaking a couple of times with Harmet Dillon. I thought, wow, if that woman was ever in a position of authority, she'd be wonderful, right? And I remember in the primary, Doug Burgum, everybody thought he was kind of weird, but every time he said stuff, it was really wise, you know what I mean? And he was earnest and honest. I thought, that guy is ever something he'll do.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

He looked. He looked like some. And does look like there's something Old Testament prophety about him.

[Unnamed Guest]

He does. Yeah, he does. He does. He's. All of these people are. We'll see. It's. It all is hinged on a couple of things, and that's the health of Donald Trump and safety of Donald Trump, because he is, you know, he's. He's getting to an age where you got to be very careful, and he's got a lot of enemies, so. Well, hopefully, Victor, safe and healthy.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Hopefully you and I, two senior citizens, can get to that age. Now we're at the end. I just want to thank everyone who has. Who takes the time to comment. One YouTube video episode the other day had like 900 comments on it. Victor, you do elicit opinions from people. You and the Great, Sammy Wink. Here are a few, too. One from cattle company, cattle with a K and company with a K. VDH's shows, podcasts, interviews, anything. Victor, actually, is what I look for when I pick up my phone. Very cool. And then Jeffrey Strader 3191 writes, Victor, I've listened to you for two years now, and every day I get to work, I put on my earbuds and tune into your words of wisdom and enjoy hearing about battles, wars, planes, tanks and things I have never known.

[Unnamed Guest]

Jeffrey, I'm going to do this when we finish the wars of the trip. 20th century. We started with the 1906 war, and we're up to Vietnam. We'll do first Gulf War, then Iraq. We're going to do Great weapons of the 20th century.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Oh, that's cool. Yeah.

[Unnamed Guest]

Or maybe Western Civilization. We'll see.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

I got to go back. Did you ever. We have to shut down here, but did you ever. Do you and Sammy talk about those wars? Like nature? 1910, 11, 12, Italy vs Greece vs.

[Unnamed Guest]

No, we didn't talk about the first, second, and third. Bulgarian, Greek, Greco, Bulgarian War.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Yeah, that's very cool. To unwind those wars.

[Unnamed Guest]

Okay, I didn't talk about the 1956 Suez War. Suez Crisis. But I mentioned it in passing. But we're going to talk about the first. We did Korea, Vietnam, and I'm going to talk about the first Gulf War.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Okay, Victor, you've been terrific. I want to thank people who write me. Lots of people do. About Civil Thoughts. That's the free weekly email newsletter I write for the center for Civil Society. Civil Thoughts comes out every Friday. 14 recommended readings. Articles. Great articles, interesting articles I've come across the previous weeks. I know you're going to like it. How do you get it? Go to civilthoughts.com Sign up. It's free. Not selling your name. You will like it, trust me. Victor's website, the Blade of Perseus. Very Quickly, Victor's on xdhansen, VDH's Morning cup is on Facebook, and there's a great group of friends on Facebook. The Victor Davis Hansen Fan Club. It's not an official entity, but. But they're really good people. By the way, Joe, who's one of the leaders of that group, wrote me. Now, I don't have it in front of me, but I said the other day that Mitt Romney's nickname was Carlos Danger, and it wasn't.

[Unnamed Guest]

That was Anthony Weiner. Weiner, yeah. His was something different. Oh, Delecto. Yes, Delecto. Something Yeah, they were both kind of criticized for being insulting to Latinate people by using as Jewish or Anglo Saxons using the Latinate vocabulary as disparate, you know. But yes, I'm glad that you said that. It wasn't Carlos Danger that was the self exposing Anthony Weiner who by the way is running. Isn't he running for council or something?

[Victor Davis Hanson]

I think he. Yeah, he wants. I don't know if he wants to and he lost a primary or what but he was. Yeah, he was out there. But don't these people just like go away, get a frickin job somewhere, do something.

[Unnamed Guest]

I kind of enjoyed him because he always had mental breakdowns in front of you on the camera, you know what I mean? He would.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Yeah. His ex is married to Soros's son now.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah, I saw that. The whole thing is these people deserve each other.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Well Victor, I'm an Anglo Saxon guy. Anglo Saxon slash a warm blooded southern European. But I'm going to say hasta luega and adios. Thank you Victor, you've been terrific. Thanks folks for listening. Thanks for watching. We'll be back soon with another episode of the Victor Davis Hansen show.

[Unnamed Guest]

Bye bye. Thank you. Thank you everybody for listening and watching. And via con deals Shopify helps you sell at every stage of your business. Like that. Let's put it online and see what happens. Stage and the site is live that we opened a store and need a fast checkout. Stage thanks. You're all set. That count it up and ship it around the globe stage this one's going to Thailand and that. Wait, did we just hit a million orders? Stage Whatever your stage Businesses that grow grow with Shopify. Sign up for your $1 a month [e-mail] listen.