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Jack Fowler
Hello ladies. Hello gentlemen. I'm laughing because Victor's telling telling jokes. I'm Jack Fowler. I'm the host of the Victor Davis Hansen Show. Welcome to it. We are recording on Monday 10th March. This episode is up on March 13th. We're approaching the infamous Ides. Victor. Victor is the Martin and Ely Anderson Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and the Wayne and Marsha Busky Distinguished Fellow in History at Hillsdale College where he's just come from. He survived it. He's here to share his wisdom. He's got a website, the blade of Perseus. VictorHansen.com is the address. Lots to talk about today with Victor. Student loans. Trump removing the security clearance for Perkins Co. Trump killing aid to South Africa over now rampant anti white racism. John Kerry exposed for undermining FBI investigations into Iranian terrorists. Maybe he belongs in jail at least for this bad plastic surgery. He belongs in jail. Pop up nonprofits are real problem that we are seeing in the abuse of the 501c3 tax code by leftists to line the pockets of their pals. So much to get Victor's wisdom on and we will get to that when we come back from these important messages.
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Jack Fowler
We are back with the Victor Davis Hanson Show. Victor, my friend, I'm glad you're still in the saddle here today. We recorded earlier but he's plugging through. Victor, I think it'd be Wrong for me to say Donald Trump kibosh the public service student loan program. But he has by the way the concept now that public servants who now make more money than your average American deserve to have their loans forgiven, their student loans forgiven after 10 years. I mean, gosh, my wife and I were suckers for not for sending our kids to a state school where they could have gone Holy Cross or something like that. I'm just glad that there's some Trumpianness being brought to this issue. Your thoughts?
Victor Davis Hanson
Yeah, I mean nobody in their right mind thought the student loan program would balloon to $1.7 trillion. I think 30% of the loans, especially after Covid, are non performing. And you know, it's directly correlated with two unfortunate developments in higher education. Number one, the average person that does graduate, it takes six years, not four. Half the people who enroll in college drop out and don't get any degrees. And third, the universities have raised their cost higher than the rate of inflation because they have a guaranteed source of cash and that's the federal government that backs these loans for students. And the only way you're ever going to get out of the problem is you're going to have to take tell the universities and colleges you're going to have to deal with the private sector. And we suggest that you put your endowments up as collateral and think of if you were going to Stanford University or Harvard or Yale or Duke and you were pre law, pre medicine, you know, you're going to be making a million dollars one year perhaps and you say to them, well you know, I'm just going to take six or eight units. No you're not. You're not going to take six or eight units. You're going and you know, I had some trouble after I graduated that gender studies major. I can't get a job so I'll pay you, I can. No you're not. No you're not. In other words, there would be accountability if those universities had to pay guarantee those loans when they defaulted, then they would advise the students about which majors were renumative. They want you to get out of college as quickly as possible in four years and they want you to graduate and they would expedite that. There's no way. The moral hazard is just not there.
Jack Fowler
They would also not have as big an administrative staff.
Victor Davis Hanson
No, they wouldn't. I don't know what the Wall Street Journal defined as administrators, but not long ago they said there were 16,000 graduate students and undergraduate at Stanford and 15,000 administrative staff people. One for one. And then, you know, Joe Biden, when he tried to counsel, as he remember, right before the midterms, he had that, that habit of draining the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and canceling student loans and trying to say that he was going to legalize marijuana for the youth vote. Well, the Supreme Court, Nancy Pelosi, says, unfortunately, Joe, you can't do that. It's against the law. It's just to give amnesties on loans and break those contracts. And then he did anyway, and it went through the courts and the Supreme Court ruled against him. Remember when he was still a candidate, he said, and, you know, I found a way around it. All you people who believe that Donald Trump is violating statutes and we're in a quote, unquote constitutional crisis should remember what Joe Biden did. He bragged to the nation that he would find a workaround. The Supreme Court ruling that said no president can arbitrarily cancel a student loan. And then you've got the issue that 60% of the people are not getting bachelor's degrees, and you're asking them as taxpayers to subsidize those who do. And there's an increasing cultural divide between people who are in the universities and people who are not. And the old argument for universities with the general education program, the people who leave the universities are better educated, better read, more enlightened citizens that take their citizenship more seriously. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I think everybody realizes that if you're 25 and you've been a master electrician for three years or you're a plumber, you know more about the world than somebody that's out at Columbia University screaming and yelling in pro Hamas fashion. That's a caricature. But the real world teaches people much better. The university is not this university of the 1950s and early 60s. And it's really hard to justify the number of people that are in college because these courses are not there. They're not reading Shakespeare and Shakespeare courses. They're not reading English literature, they're not reading history. They're just not doing it. The course titles may remain the same.
Jack Fowler
You're not learning Greek.
Victor Davis Hanson
No. They dropped the Greek requirement at Princeton University because they felt it was too exclusionary. Everything is exclusionary. If you think about it, everyone. DEI is the most toxic idea because ultimately it's entirely nihilistic. It can make the argument that there's unfairness in every aspect of our lives, and therefore the government has a right and a right and it has a power to address that inequity. And with diversity, equity and inclusion. But they want it. You know, it's so funny. They want to make the United States in a way that if you made the NFL or the NBA that way, they would go crazy. If you said to the NFL and NBA, you're one of the most lucrative, prestigious institutions in America. More people watch you. If you make it to the NFL, you're going to be a multi, multi millionaire with endorsements. But, you know, it's just not diverse. It isn't. I mean, 12% of the population is African American and maybe 65 to 70% are represented on NFL rosters. I'm sorry. It's just not diverse and it's not inclusionary because there's a lot of wonderful Asian people and poor whites and Hispanics. Why don't you have some, you know, Cambodian tight ends and maybe some Hispanic quarterbacks? Why don't Roman Gabriel, I remember him. He was great. So let's have quotas. And then of course, people say nobody would want to watch it. They want the best. Yes, exactly. They want the best people on the field. And you can find ways of determining that, can't you? Merit. Well, you can't find out merit. That's just a construct. Well, it's a construct if you're on the left, if you're talking about air traffic controllers, but it's real if you're defending the NFL for being not racially diverse. So people in the NFL believe that they have mechanisms to find the best people to make the most interesting games with the highest accomplished athletes. And the same thing is true with airline pilots or nuclear control people. You can find the best people through test and experience and stuff.
Jack Fowler
I was always curious about you and Victor when you talk about sports, given that you were a farmer and teacher, I wonder when you ever had time to watch the NFL on a Sunday.
Victor Davis Hanson
I used to, once in a while. I wasn't between 1980 and 84, almost. For five years. I didn't do anything else, Jack. I got a PhD right before I turned 26. I'd written a book, but I didn't think I was ever going to go into academia again. So I was farming 180 acres with my brother and cousin. I was exhausted every day because we didn't have any hired men. You know, it was usually. So I did most of the herbicide spraying and I did a lot of the labor problem. My other brother did a lot of the pesticide stuff. And we pruned, we tied vines, we did a lot of the. To save money. But we'd get home at night, we were just exhausted. But I would watch on Sunday. I would watch football. I used to. 19, 80, 81, 82, 83. My favorite quarterback of all time was Jim Plunkett. He was a wonderful guy, man. He was at Stanford and my dad, mom took me up there and watched him. And he almost beat usc. He was a wonderful guy. He was a noble person. You met him? No, I never did. I did run out there when I was. I don't know how old. I was maybe an eighth grader, a freshman. We went to the Stanford, USC game and I ran out there and yelled his name. Got close to him. Oh, I did meet him in the bank of America in Stanford shopping center. Once. Said hello to him. He didn't know who I was because I was of no interest. But he was a wonderful. He was a great person, too. He took an enormous. I think he played for the Buffalo Bills before he went to the Raiders and 49ers.
Jack Fowler
Played for the Patriots, too.
Victor Davis Hanson
Yeah, Buffalo, yeah, Boston Patriots. I mean, and they really beat him up. I mean, he was sacked. He was like this old. He was like some kind of rock, you know. I mean, our statue. He would just stand there and these guys, he was about six, three, solid muscle. And these guys would just take shots at him and bounce off. And then he had that razor arm. I mean, it was just like a laser. I mean, it was. He was a great player. So I watched all that and then I lost interest in it. I got it writing.
Jack Fowler
It's only 24 hours in a day.
Victor Davis Hanson
Yeah, I don't have the time. And then football changed too. It became too glitzy and all this. Take the knee. I couldn't get into all that.
Jack Fowler
Well, performance art began there, I think, actually. Hey, Victor, before we get your thoughts on. I want to get on Donald Trump and Perkins Co. I just want to take a moment for our sponsor, Quince. Quince has all the must haves, like Mongolian cashmere sweaters from $50, iconic 100% leather jackets and comfortable pants for every occasion. The best part, all Quince Items are priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands. By partnering directly with top factories, Quince cuts out the cost of the middleman and passes on the savings to us. That means you and Quince only works with factories that use safe, ethical and responsible manufacturing practices. Along with premium fabrics and finishes. Indulge in affordable luxury. Go to quince.comVictor for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's Quince Q U I N C E dot com Victor to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.comVictor we thank the good people of Quince for sponsoring the Victor Davis Hanson Show. Victor Again, at the risk of harming our listeners by having me read more, I just want to give a little clip here from Donald Trump's executive order killing security clearance for Perkins Coyco, Fusion gps, the law firm. Here's the core section. I'm just thrilled that he's doing this. The dishonest. This is an executive order. The dishonest and dangerous activity of the law firm Perkins Co LLP has affected this country for decades. Notably in 2016, while representing failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Perkins Co hired Fusion gps, which then manufactured a false dossier designed to steal an election. This egregious activity is part of a pattern. Perkins COH has worked with activist donors, including George Soros, to judicially overturn popular, necessary and democratically enacted election laws, including those requiring voter identification. If one such case, in one such case, a court was forced to sanction Berk and coastal attorneys for an unethical lack of candor before the court. Victor there's plenty more in this executive order, but Donald Trump has kneecapped security clearance for this firm. And security clearance is pretty damn important for big Washington law firms.
Victor Davis Hanson
Yeah, I don't understand why they get any at all. I mean, they're kind of dumping grounds for rotating top military with law degrees or diplomats with law degrees. They go back out there and then they go on television or they bat their eyes and say, my sources tell me or I have inside knowledge because they have security clearances. Why do they need them? I don't think they need them at all. I don't think that National Security Advisor Waltz or Secretary of State Rubio or Secretary of Defense Hexis. That said, I, we've got to get a coherent policy toward Ukraine. I know what we need to do. Get those guys over from Perkins Coey. Get them over here. They've got security Clins, call up Clapper, call up Brennan. Those guys really, you know, call up some of the former generals. Maybe they can give us an insight. They keep up. I don't think that's going to work like that. They don't need to. And remember Perkins code Corey it was one of four links to hide the fingerprints of Hillary Clinton and something that was really illegal. It's against the law for a presidential candidate to pay money to a foreign national to work in their campaign. So she had the DNC give money to Perkins Coey, who gave money to Fusion gps, who gave money to, to Christopher Steele. And they had basically, from Hillary to the DNC to Perkins Coey to Fusion GPS to Steele, four paywalls. And it was all to hide Hillary Clinton's connection with the Russian collusion farce and the dossier farce. And they were. The irony was he was also being paid at the same time to be a informant for the FBI under James Comey. So I'm glad that he's doing this. I wish they would lift a lot more of these security clearances. Too promiscuous. And just go into these cable TV shows and listen to these people start to pontificate and they act as. And they'll give you some kind of, some kind of indication that they have sources and you're supposed to understand it from a security clearance. And we have too many of them out there. We need to really restrict the flow of knowledge. So the more that he can deny these to all sorts of people, especially if they have interfered in an election as they did. Everybody said, you know, in election denialism. Election denialism, no, it was election interferism in 2000 interfering in 2016, we forget about that. Hillary Clinton hired a foreign national to try to warp the election. And in 2020, according to Molly Ball and her Time magazine, February 2021 essay, that's exactly what they did again, they interfered in an election. They had Mark Zuckerberg give 419 million. They modulated the protests on the street. She said that they censored misinformation and disinformation. That was a code word for the FBI partnering with Twitter to suppress information to voters. So there's been too much of that and they need to clean it up. And that's what Trump is doing.
Jack Fowler
Right, Victor? It's not only I think what he did in this, it's that he did it. If a typical, let's say even good Republican conservative had run for president and been elected, this wouldn't have happened. Only Trump would do this.
Victor Davis Hanson
No, if it had, let's say if they did it to Mitt Romney, like say, remember how Candy Crawley tried to rig that debate when he was trying to. She did. And then she said, no, you're wrong, you're, you're wrong. It wasn't terrorism. It was. There was a film guy did it. That's why the riots cost. It was a right wing filmmaker. It wasn't. And Mitt Romney said, no, no, I object. Well, he never followed that up. Nobody in the Romney campaign said that they were rigging the election. They didn't care. Any other Republican would have had a committee of sober and judicious experts and they would have said, let's refer this questions about security clearances and come back in six months.
Jack Fowler
Yeah, well, happy to.
Victor Davis Hanson
It's not who Trump is for good or evil. When he's billing some big high rise, he doesn't make a committee, he steamrolls opposition. He makes a deal with roadblocks and then he feels that the eventual product will be very good for people and they'll overlook the messiness of the implementation and construction.
Jack Fowler
Victor, I have to spring something on you here. This is mean of me because I usually clear this ahead of time.
Victor Davis Hanson
Why don't you give me, is it 2 advils or Tamifu?
Jack Fowler
I sent you this link. This is apropos of nothing other than while at Hillsdale. Part of the reason you were there was to discuss war movies. This is a tweet, an ex post in an apparent violation of the president's DEI order. The American Battlefield Monuments Commission, which you were a commissioner on, still has a chief diversity officer who believes that DEI is quote unquote, imperative to preserve American battlefields. Can you believe that that commission had a DEI officer? Of course you can believe it.
Victor Davis Hanson
They didn't when I was there.
Jack Fowler
No, I.
Victor Davis Hanson
But I was fired with. It's another thing that's funny. We had the five former defense secretaries, Secretary Austin, Secretary Mattis, Secretary Hagel, Secretary Perry, Secretary Panetta, and they said, Donald Trump is firing and this is outrage. And we've never politicized the Pentagon. I'm thinking, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Not only did Obama fire generals and generals, many of the generals who signed one of them, who signed the letter. And not only did Panetta interfere in an election and lie about the Hunter Biden authentic laptop and never apologized, but they fired all these generals. But they fired 18 people. Biden did that were on the service academy boards. Remember that? He just came in and said, you're fired. They even fired HR McMaster. He was on the West Point board and I was on the American battlefield's Battlefield Monuments Commission. And I just got a letter, it says, you will surrender your passport. They each gave us a diplomatic passport. I never really used it. I never charged them one penny to visit. Half the American dead in World War I and World War II were buried abroad. I always, if I was overseas and I was conducting tours, I always made an effort to take a side visit to the ham cemetery or If I was in Tunisia, I went over and looked at the American cemetery there. Same in Italy. But there was no need for diversity. What would that mean? I mean, each year there was maybe one or two people who were found, you know, from a construction project or something. They would find the remains of an American soldier, and then they would have DNA. But the whole point of the cemeteries, that was the most rigorous standards about the Karaya marble crosses and the shape of the cross and what can be and not put on the can and cannot be put on the cross. And the whole point is these beautiful manicured cemeteries, and everybody is equal. There's no. It's not like a private cemetery. One guy has a monument and another person doesn't, or there's a. An angel statue or pyramid or a monolith or an obelisk. None of that. That's the whole point. That in death, people were like they were in the army. They were all equal as the Americans. So what would a DEI person do? The only thing that I can remember about my brief tenure on the committee was that the Europeans were trying to partner with US Peace Gardens, basically, after Saving Private Ryan and the Normandy battlefield became one of the biggest tourist attractions in Europe. And of course, they wanted to have out in the parking lot some kind of utopian, postmodern war is harmful for young kids and their other living things type attitude. And we were just trying to stick to the mission statement. So the mission statement was how to ensure that the graveyards reflect the dignity and the sacrifice of American soldiers, and they keep to the mission statement as outlined in the original charter of the commission. And I had mentioned that if Donald Trump really wanted to stop all that, then he could appoint Thomas Connor, a professor at Hillsdale, who wrote the book on the commission, the American Battlefields Commission. He wrote the entire book on it and the history of it, its operation, its value. And he's a Trump supporter. He would be a nonpartisan, but he would be. If he was head of that commission, he would do a wonderful job and he would ensure. I can guarantee you there's not going to be a diversity equity inclusion officer in that they have a permanent staff. That was very good. But. But why would you need someone. What would be the purpose? To do what? How would you want to bring race or gender into the operation of cemeteries abroad?
Jack Fowler
The Soviet way. The ideology must be everywhere. And in everything I mentioned before, the chess club, the Soviet Union chess club, thought they could escape Marxist rule, but there was no hiding. Silence is violence and all that crap. Hey, Victor. We're going to get your thoughts speaking of racial matters, of Donald Trump's actions related to South Africa, and a proposed bill by Senator Mike Rounds about US Land being sold to our enemies. And we're going to get Victor's thoughts on these things and more when we come back from these important messages.
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Jack Fowler
We're back with the Victoria Davis Hansen show on recording on the 10th of March. This episode is up on the 13th. Do remember Victor's website, the Blade of Perseus. VictorHansen.com is the web address. You have to subscribe. You have to subscribe. Why? Because if you're a fan of Victor's writings, you want to read everything he writes. And twice a week he writes ultra articles exclusively for the Blade of Perseus. He also does an exclusive video every week for the site. You'll find the archives of these podcasts, links to everything else Victor writes and does. But it's $65 a year, which is discounted from 650 monthly. Do please check it out early and often, like they vote in Chicago. Victor. Here's a headline from PJ Media. Trump all South Africa Aid cites anti white government policy. A quote from the article South Africa as being terrible. Excuse me? This is Donald Trump's post from Donald Trump on social media. South Africa is being terrible. Plus to longtime farmers in that country, they are confiscating their land and farms and much worse than that, a bad place to be right now. And we are stopping all federal funding to go a step further. Any farmer with family from South Africa seeking to flee that country for reasons of safety will be invited into the United States of America with a rapid pathway to citizenship. This process will begin immediately. Exclamation point. There are lots of all caps in this. From Donald Trump on truth. This is a truth social post. Yeah, Victor, the wheels are coming off the bus there.
Victor Davis Hanson
It was inevitable, but because the government is a Marxist government. And the only thing I don't understand is they have the. I understand that you had to end apartheid and that was a good thing that it ended. And I understand Rhodesia, that became Zimbabwe. But what they did in Rhodesia, Zimbabwe, was they destroyed one of the most productive per acre farming regimens in the world. And it was a big exporter of food. It was an anchor of all of Africa. And they destroyed it by driving out all of the British farmers without compensation and harassing them and shooting them. Or they could have done it gradually or they could have allowed them to have trainees to train Africans to help. But they just got rid of them. And then they regretted it. They regretted it. So South Africa looks at this and what are they doing? They, they're doing exactly the same thing. And the Country. I think whatever your feelings are about Africa, everybody agrees on one thing. It's not working. It's too violent, it's too corrupt, and it's destroying the infrastructure that they inherited and they cannot sustain it. Donald Trump cut off all foreign aid to South Africa. And I think, and remember, South Africa is a very radical country. They always side with Hamas, they're anti Semitic, they're anti Israel, they're anti American, they're anti European, they're a very wealthy country and it's probably the most corrupt country in the world. And I don't. But you know, when he says some of these people have been in South Africa since 17th century, 18th century, so they feel that they would like to stay. And even though they're only 20, they used to be 20% of the, you know, the so called white Boers and British, I think most of the British South Africans have left. But he'll get, he's getting a lot of criticism for that by welcoming in people from South Africa. But it would be a immigrant that would, you know, you bring people in who had skills that spoke the language and probably had capital.
Jack Fowler
I would think someone that has a thousand acre farm and is running it successfully. I'm not blowing smoke at you as a farmer, but you don't have a thousand. You could have 188 acre farm. Right. And it shows your skill set and value to the country you're coming to.
Victor Davis Hanson
Yeah, but the problem that Trump will have will say, well, they're white. Got to remember how the left thinks. The left thinks if 85% of all immigration legal and illegal is non white, that's normal. And if you were to bring in people from South Africa, that's racist. That's just how they think. And it's such a minefield that people don't talk about it, but it gets us. It's not so much about race, it's a system. The British came in there and they had that horrific Boer War with the Boers, the early Dutch, and then they had a peace. And apartheid was sort of a late phenomenon in the 30s and 40s and 50s. But my point is that they had this system of free market capitalism, a judiciary constitutional government, and it was racist because they didn't let other people fully participate. Had they earlier done it very gradually and trained people, it might have avoided this. But nevertheless, it was a hot spot during the Cold War. So you had a lot of communist influence that were using race to make sure that South Africa was a revolutionary society on the part of the Soviet Sphere, et cetera, et cetera. But now why do these people who are killing the white farmers and confiscating the farm, do they ever just take a minute, just a minute second and say, why are their farms working and why are they so productive? Why? Why? Why? And what can we do to make sure that all the farms follow in that vein? What is the protocol? Is it capitalism? Is it the rule of law? Is it an independent judiciary? Is it a meritocracy? But whatever it is, we've got to emulate it because it produces more food and it cuts down on disease and starvation. But they don't think like that. They don't. And that's when I never understood the squad. When Omar said that she came here and she thought it was dirty, or so she. Remember that squad. She said something that her father and she thought that homeless people and it wasn't that great a place. And then this is a person who allegedly married her brother to circumvent immigration law. And she's been very critical of European colonialism and so called white privilege and all of that. But just think away the racial compound and look at the culture. Why did they want to come here? They meaning people who were not born in the United States. Why do we have 50 million of them who were not born in the United States? What's the attraction? Why did these 12 million people want to leave their own families, their lifelong homes? Venezuela, Bolivia, I mean China, mainland China, Taiwan, South Korea? What was it about this country that, that drew them here? And why do some people when they come here attack the system as racist and the people who created it as racist when they want a part of its fruition? I don't understand that. When Obrador said, I think it's a beautiful thing, 40 million Mexicans have come. Well, why didn't 40 million Americans come to Mexico?
Jack Fowler
Well, Victor, we have another agricultural related question to raise with you, but I'm going to spring something else on you. And I forgot to mention this in advance. Hunter Biden's withdrawn his lawsuit about the laptop and all the excuses.
Victor Davis Hanson
Poor Hunter.
Jack Fowler
I know. I wanted to get, I wanted our listeners to feel your expression about.
Victor Davis Hanson
He was. What did he say? Did he sell 27 paintings.
Jack Fowler
When Daddy was president?
Victor Davis Hanson
Yeah, but then it was so unfair because he was doing such a great job. He was selling them, selling them, selling them based on his wonderful talent, getting 50 something thousand. And then all of a sudden it stopped because of Donald Trump, the right maga. They were mean to him. Or did it have something to do with his father was no longer president. And then we learned that the little gallery that said, well, there's going to be a paywall. Nobody will know who buys these and there won't be. That was a complete lie that the head of the gallery has basically confessed that every single person who bought a painting of Hunters was known to Hunter Biden and therefore to the Biden family. And that was the only thing. And then he's poor. He had his memoir. Remember he said he sold 4,000 copies. 4,000 copies is not.
Jack Fowler
He was expensive, expecting a lot more income from.
Victor Davis Hanson
And then it went down to just 1,500. So he had to drop his lawsuit. He can't sue the. Is it the computer person that. Yeah, yeah. That poor guy. He wanted to harass that person. He was getting all this money and I think what happened to his sugar daddy friend that pays all his bills? I guess he doesn't see any utility. He was renting a home and he says that it was burned. I don't think it was burned, but it suffered smoke damage. Here you have a person who's on the wrong side of 50, and he's probably made in his life. He's grifted or leveraged at least 20 or 30 million bucks. And where that money went, I don't know. I don't know how you can take that amount of money. You divide it among the family members. But still, he must have had 5 or 6 or 8 million. Did it all go up his nose? Did it go for prostitutes? Did it go for travel? I don't know. Divorce?
Jack Fowler
Well, he's lucky because as his father told us, he is the smartest man dad ever met.
Victor Davis Hanson
But he doesn't have a marketable skill anymore. Which means he must know that my only marketable skill was influence pedaling.
Jack Fowler
Victor, we're going to get to some legislation, but first I want to take a moment for our sponsor, Hometown Title Lock. Let me ask you, when was the last time you, fair listener, ever checked your home title? If you're like me, the answer is never. And that's exactly what scammers are counting on. That's why we trust Home Title Lock. Their million dollar triple lock protection helps you keep your home and equity safe. Here's what you get. Immediate 24,7 monitoring of your property. Urgent alerts if there are any changes. And if fraud should happen, their US based restoration team will spend up to $1 million to fix the fraud and restore your title at no additional cost. And here's the best part. We've teamed up with Home Title Lock to give you a free title history report so you can find out if you have already been a victim and you get access to your personal title expert a $250 value just for signing up. Go to hometitlelock.com and use the promo code Victor250 that's V I C T O R 250 or click on the link in the description that's hometitlelock.com promo code Victor250 to get the protection and peace of mind you deserve. And we thank the good people from Home Title Lock for sponsoring the Victor Davis Hanson show. Victor Senator Mike Rounds from South Dakota tweeted, X'ed commented he has reintroduced the Promoting Agriculture Safeguards and Security act legislation to ban individuals and entities controlled by China, Russia, Iran and North Korea from purchasing agricultural land at businesses located near U.S. military installations or sensitive places. And Victor, your thoughts on that? But also I wonder, should there not be also some kind of national security eminent domain that takes these lands that have already that China has already bought near US bases and just boots them out but in the good old USA buys them out while they boot them out?
Victor Davis Hanson
Gee, you mean we're going to argue whether the communist Chinese can say they've suddenly become farmers and they want to buy a bunch of farmland right next to a Minuteman III missile site or one of our biggest air force bases? I mean that's a no brainer, right? But only in America would we think it's controversial. I think the whole theme of the Trump administration has to be reciprocity, reciprocity, reciprocity. We'll know if we're on the right track. If we always ask ourselves this question, would they let us do what we're doing for them? Can you go to China and can you buy, if you're a big capitalist, can you go buy, I don't know, 5,000 acres next to a Chinese submarine base, air force base? The answer is no, you cannot, you can't do it in Russia either. So why would we allow that here? Same thing with the tariffs. If they have an 8% tariff, we'll have an 8%. It's a very good policy to have because it's not provocative. It just says that we don't really want to do this, we just want to live and let live. But if you're doing this to us, then we're just going to mirror image you and apply your standards to yourself. So if you're Canada and you want a 258% tariff on butter, then we'll have one on your butter and just make it equal. Same thing with Mexico. If you're running, as I said last session, if you're running 260 billion in cartel profits and remittance profits and trade surpluses. And we're going to have to try to find a way to get that back to make it equal, not to our advantage. So it's very simple. Just don't buy farmland next to a military base and we won't do it to you. But if you do that, then maybe we'll do it in your country. And if you won't let us do it in your country, then we're not going to let you do it here.
Jack Fowler
Amen, brother.
Victor Davis Hanson
Seems so simple, doesn't it?
Jack Fowler
It does.
Victor Davis Hanson
That's all Trump is. He's right about. He's just return to normalcy.
Jack Fowler
Well, we have a couple other things. We're a little truncated here today. We've got to keep Victor alive by not.
Victor Davis Hanson
Yeah, I have.
Jack Fowler
Thank you for the well timed cough, my friend.
Victor Davis Hanson
I got to get some tape to tape these eyes open.
Jack Fowler
We're going to ask you about John Kerry's hijinks with Iranian terrorists and a scandal of what are called pop up nonprofits. And maybe if we even have a little more time, some action, legal action being sought on by Joe Biden's cognitive decline. I mean, who the hell was signing all these executive orders when he was still president? We'll try to get to at least two of those things when we come back from these important messages.
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Jack Fowler
We're back with the Victor Davis Hansen show recording on the 10th of March and this shows up on Thursday the 13th. Victor, I wrote a note here. Wouldn't you want to see John Kerry prosecuted. The headline Obama Justice Department. John Kerry Systematically derailed FBI probe of Iranian Terrorists while pursuing nuclear deal. This is according to whistleblowers.
Victor Davis Hanson
Remember during the Trump first administration, you would see pictures of John Kerry meeting with his foreign Iranian foreign counterpart in Paris and places where he was still doing de facto diplomatic work in preparation for the Biden administration, where he became, I guess he was climate czar or something. He really thought in those years that he was going to be Secretary of the world or he was going to be the UN Attorney General. Secretary General, excuse me. Or at least he was going to get a Nobel Prize. And he's always been that way. He's Always underperformed. He had these enormous ambitions. I mean, he married an heiress, and then he had some affairs and divorced troops. Her, she passed away. And then he married the heir to the widow, to the Heinz tomato fortune after, I think, her husband, John Heinz. The senator was tragically killed. And then he was flying all over the world in his wife's private jets, the company jets, while he was lecturing us about our carbon footprint being too large. But he really wanted to say that he was the person who got the Iran deal ratified and made into real action. And he was willing to do anything with that, and he did. He did anything. And if somebody came to him and said there's Iranian agents in the United States that want to kill a president, he just said, stop it. I don't want anything to get in the way of my ambition and my agenda. He's always been a very selfish person, Victor.
Jack Fowler
You cross paths with a lot of people through life. You never crossed paths with him, did you?
Victor Davis Hanson
No. I had to give a lecture in Boston, though, once, and I wanted to go see where he lived, so I walked because I thought he was a man of the people. It was one of his many homes. It's quite impressive.
Jack Fowler
Yeah.
Victor Davis Hanson
No, I haven't had that wonderful experience yet.
Jack Fowler
Just curious.
Victor Davis Hanson
Certain things that I hope I don't have to do before I die.
Jack Fowler
Yeah.
Victor Davis Hanson
One of them is to meet John Kerry. He lost me when he was testifying about how horrible Americans were in Vietnam. And he had kept saying, genghis for Genghis Khan. Worst. It's the worst atrocities since Genghis Khan. Okay, young Carrie, we understand that you're, you know, you're an offender.
Jack Fowler
John O'Neill, who took him down?
Victor Davis Hanson
I remember John. I've met John O'Neill. I've had dinner next to John. I like John O'Neill.
Jack Fowler
Oh, he's a great guy.
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He came.
Jack Fowler
He came on a National Review cruise and then I had him as a speaker on a cruise. Just a real.
Victor Davis Hanson
Remember that debate they did where he just destroyed John Kerry?
Jack Fowler
Yeah. God bless him. Special American. All right, let's get into Biden here, Victor. With his cognitive decline. The Missouri Attorney General, Andrew Bailey has asked the Justice Department to investigate whether White House staffers exploited Joe Biden's cognitive decline and issued far left orders at the end of his presidency without his knowledge. The premise being, if this indeed happened, then what is the validity of this executive order, that appointment, that. What do you call it when you. When you let a murderer off death row? I can't think. I'M given my own cognitive decline. Pardons. Presidential pardons. Are they legitimate? If Biden himself, if evidence can be found that he actually didn't do it.
Victor Davis Hanson
It became a very important point when we learned that only one of his signatures was unique. They were all the same, and they were done by an auto pin. But it just amplified what Speaker Johnson said when he. Remember, I think one of the last weeks that Biden was in office, he went to see him about canceling liquid natural gas terminals for export in Louisiana, his home state. And Biden said something to the effect I did. I don't think I did. Yeah, you did. You mean I canceled. Yes, I canceled these gas terminals. Yes. I don't remember. And he didn't. And so they were just signing things, I suppose. Little elves that were working in the White House in the elf room. And I think it was like Obama said. You remember that famous clip they said, you know, all these little Obama fans said, would you like a third term? Well, I'd like a third term. I just stay down here in the basement and work out, and I call in once in a while and just, you know, not be identified or have to meet people, just order and everybody run the country. That's exactly what he did. He tipped us off. He and Michelle and the Obama crowd, they never seem to be a waxing effigy.
Jack Fowler
He should be questioned by many reporters over the last two weeks or so, given the collapse of the Democrat Party. But Obama seems to be in hiding, so.
Victor Davis Hanson
Well, it'd be hard to find him. You'd have to go to the Chicago mansion and then be like chasing a billiard ball, going back and forth on a billiard table. No, no, he's at the. He's at the $15 million estate on the coast. The Martha's Vineyard pad with the 2,000 gallons worth of propane. Oh, no, we missed him. He's at the Colorama Washington mansion. Oh, yes. No, he's in his new home on the beach in Hawaii. And you'd say, no, he can't be there because he said that global warming would inundate all of our shorelines within 10 years. So why would he buy something like Martha's Vineyard on the coast or Hawaiian digs on the beach? There was another weird story about Obama that apparently a secret woman claimed that a secret. Secret Service person assigned to his Hawaii mansion before he'd actually moved in was partying, inviting her to come over. And so the Obamas weren't there yet. I don't know if that's True or not, but that was a record.
Jack Fowler
That was daily. The Daily Mail has been running a bunch of stories about the frailty of the man. We're not here to discuss these things. The Barack Obama and his wife.
Victor Davis Hanson
He has a third party visitor, right? Yeah.
Jack Fowler
Interesting, interesting.
Victor Davis Hanson
I mean, I thought that his lifestyle would be after he left, there would be an effort to pursue a different type of lifestyle, but he wouldn't be in the media. And then after about 10 years when his kids were growing up, he would just do what he wanted. Maybe we're reaching that point.
Jack Fowler
It's America that we suffered through this.
Victor Davis Hanson
Would you think it would be wrong that my wife and I are living alone here in our house and we, I just invited some friend of mine guy, and he just moved in with us. What are you suggesting? Anything on court about that.
Jack Fowler
You know, speaking spice things up a little bit.
Victor Davis Hanson
Okay, Victor, I don't think that would be the right term.
Jack Fowler
Yeah, the wrong kind of spice. Victor, this may be too much and I hope it's not too in the weeds for our listeners, but you and I are both very involved in nonprofits. You're on the, you've been on the board of, you work for one. You've been on the Bradley Foundation. I work for a company, Anfield, that helps nonprofits. I've been on the board of nonprofits. And this is titled the Scandal of nonprofits. And Lizzie McDonald, who I assume many of our listeners know, she's a reporter, terrific reporter at Fox Business News. She put this comment up on X the other day. Give me a minute here to read some of this. She writes. This is disturbing. Biden and Obama Democrats created a new beast, the pop up nonprofit shell, end quote. They suddenly launched to take in your taxpayer money supposedly for things like climate change and illegal immigration. It's a major front for taxpayer abuse with accusations of grift growing by the hour. This is again, Liz McDonald writing. Never saw it like this in decades covering IRS and taxes. Check out the tax returns for one of these pop up NGO shells, the Climate United Fund, which got the biggest nonprofit grant in history out of Biden's massive climate slush fund that got $7 billion. I'm not going to read through all of this. Not a lot of money spent. A fraction of the 7 billion is spent, by the way. Part of that fraction was given to Stacey Abrams. It says there are these forms called 990s that are tax returns for nonprofits. This slush fund has little to no details of how much its officers get paid. That you typically see on NGO 900, in fact, virtually no details, red flags that it's a shell Victor, this is bad in its own right. And of course, now ideology has marched through nonprofits really aggressively. Any thoughts on this as we go?
Victor Davis Hanson
Well, I mean, it's exactly. It's exactly what Doge is supposed to find out. It's fraudulent. And there's a kind of a pattern to it, and that is mid level or low level functionary in government. When their tenure expires, they go to work for an ngo. Usually it has something to do with diversity, equity, inclusion, green transformation, solar power, something like that. And then they master it. They stay there a year or two, and then they get and say, you know what? I'm going to make my own company. Sheldon Whitehouse's wife, we've talked about that, she was doing this too. She had a clearinghouse of money that he voted for. I think she distributed 14 million and shaved off 2 million for herself or something like that. And then they understand how it works, so they set up a dummy company and then they can say, it's not for me, it's for the cause. And they usually do it in the last year of an administration. So Biden is losing, he's going to lose. Harris comes in after she loses. Then all this money is gold bars. On the Titanic, I think they called it. Just throw the money to these NGOs who are going to distribute. Stacey Abrams was giving people. What was her. She was on TV the other day, or she. She was in the news and she said that she could justify all the money. She went from $100 in her nonprofit to. Was it 2 billion?
Jack Fowler
2 billion?
Victor Davis Hanson
Yeah, yeah, 2 billion. And she said she was doing this so that the poor deserving people of Georgia would have green refrigerators and appliances. Not Obama phones, but green, so they could have all new. Think of that. What does green mean? It means you go into Home Depot and every single refrigerator there, by law, has to have the power usage for the whole year. And then you go and say, we're going to buy the one with the lowest and won't make a bit of difference, but it will justify the scam. And then we'll just start to distribute these to our crony friends and take a huge overhead and make, you know, 7 or 800,000 for ourselves per year. That's what they do. And how can you be for that when Doge is exposing this every day? And, you know, it's not that they don't know this is going on when the President, United States starts listing people 130, 140 years old that are getting this and that. Rubio shows you that. I think Rubio just came out today and said 83% of USAID will be gone for good and the residuals will be under his control in the State Department. But it's just, it's what broke us. And it's so many brilliant political philosophers and political scientists from antiquity on have, have warned us that once you turn over revenue to unelected bureaucrats that are not accountable, not audited, they expand and expand and become more powerful than elected officials and you'll never stop it. And I don't know if Elon Musk, the left is very worried because they've got a guy who created the first evidence viable car and really is synonymous with EVs. And he made, he saved NASA with SpaceX, he reinvented the whole social media with Twitter and he's got one of the biggest artificial intelligence companies. And then they think he's in charge of cutting this waste, fraud and abuse. And then they've got Trump and Trump's basically go to it. He's not going to ankle bite him. And that combo really gets them afraid because they're going to find stuff. I think they're just going to keep finding things that are shocking and keep the Democrats off. You get the impression that the left has been just stealing money from the government for years. I don't mean money, I mean hundreds of millions. Hundreds of billions.
Jack Fowler
Well, I think America has the stomach now to care from the, which we discussed on the last show, the polls following Trump's speech to Congress. I mean, Americans are not indifferent to this anymore. So God bless, God bless them. So, Victor, we're going to, we're going to round this out today. Again, we're cutting it a little short so our, so our friend can take care of himself. I want to thank our listeners who take the time on Apple to rate the show zero to five star. And practically everyone is giving Victor five stars. Some are actually leaving comments. I'm going to read two comments. So this first one is titled Colonel USMC Retired. Dr. Hanson's insight analysis and commentary is just so spot on. I was privileged to have served for almost four decades, including a tour as a professor at the Air War College. And throughout that time, I never encountered academic acumen like his. A true American treasure that should be on the top of each service's visiting lecturer list. And this is signed by DAO1217. That's pretty cool. Thank you. Yeah. One other from ALI44, titled American Treasure. Victor is an American treasure. Whether he's talking about politics, history, or movies and music, he always tells it like it is. I also love when he reminisces about his father, telling him how great the Swedes and Swedish steel are. It reminds me of my proud Swedish grandmother who lived to be 110. She was the same way. The Swedes have the biggest brains. She would tell me they have the most innovative ideas. As an aside, I. I was wondering if Victor could recommend his favorite Civil War books and authors, as well as what's on deck for his own next book. I think we should bring up the Civil War books on another podcast.
Victor Davis Hanson
That would be a pretty good idea. I like to do that. The most stylishly written and engaging is Shelby Footes. There's no footnotes in it, but it's a literary history of the Civil War that was published pretty good, and I can look at all of them. Yeah.
Jack Fowler
What's the book again? I'm sorry, Victor. The Greek book. The Greek book you have plans to write?
Victor Davis Hanson
I was going to write. Well, the problem with getting influenza A is that all your plans, you think you're never going to get over it. So after five days of this 101 temperature, I've had all these people, you know, they say, what happened to you? You know, they write, are you going to do this tonight, Fox? Tonight you're going to do Newsmax. Are you going to. You haven't written any. I have over 400 emails I haven't even looked at. So the last thing on my mind is a biography of Epaminondas. And there's not a lot of Epaminondas fans out there who are saying, victor, if you don't write that biography of Epaminondas, I'm going to be really upset. So. And there's so many classes out there. I'm sure somebody's writing one anyway. But if I can get this book. Another thing is, I have a very tight. I just started on it for basic books, the Return of Trump or the Recalibration, whatever the title we've come up with. But I was going gangbusters, and I haven't been able to. Every time I start to type, my head goes like I'm on a yacht or something.
Jack Fowler
Victor, you should go. You should be aware that in two minutes, your head will be on a pillow. I need to thank people who thank me for writing Civil Thoughts. That's the free weekly email newsletter I do for the center for Civil Society where we are trying to strengthen civil society. What Civil Thoughts. It's a newsletter. It comes out every Friday. It has 14 recommended readings. It's free. We do not sell your name. There's no strings attached. I know you'll enjoy it. So go to civilthoughts.com and sign up. Go to the Blade of Perseus victorhansen.com and subscribe. Thanks everybody for listening. We will be back. I hope we will be back with a healthier. Victor Davis Hansen.
Victor Davis Hanson
Thank you for listening. I'm sorry if we. Sammy and I have missed some paws. We're gonna try to make them up, but Sammy's in bad shape. Sammy's got a flat tire. Okay, we'll see you guys. Bye.
Jack Fowler
Bye.
Victor Davis Hanson
Take care.
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Podcast Summary: The Victor Davis Hanson Show
Episode: Revising Government, Rooting Out Crime and Waste
Release Date: March 13, 2025
Hosts: Victor Davis Hanson and Jack Fowler
The episode, recorded on March 10th and released on the 13th, delves into pressing political and social issues, focusing on government policies, corruption, and the efficacy of non-profits. Victor Davis Hanson and Jack Fowler engage in a robust discussion, offering insights into current events and historical parallels.
Timestamp: [06:12]
Jack Fowler opens the discussion by highlighting Trump's actions regarding the public service student loan program and the broader implications for higher education:
Key Points:
Notable Quote:
Victor Davis Hanson [07:07]: "If those universities had to pay and guarantee those loans when they defaulted, then they would advise the students about which majors were remunerative. They want you to graduate quickly, but there's no moral hazard without accountability."
Timestamp: [18:27]
The conversation shifts to Donald Trump's executive order aimed at revoking security clearances for Perkins Co. and its affiliates:
Key Points:
Notable Quotes:
Jack Fowler [17:14]: "Let me give you a little clip here from Donald Trump's executive order killing security clearance for Perkins Co."
Victor Davis Hanson [19:49]: "It's against the law for a presidential candidate to pay money to a foreign national to work in their campaign... that's exactly what Trump is doing."
Timestamp: [25:04]
A critical examination of DEI initiatives within government bodies, particularly the American Battlefield Monuments Commission:
Key Points:
Notable Quote:
Victor Davis Hanson [25:41]: "What would a DEI person do?... How would you want to bring race or gender into the operation of cemeteries abroad?"
Timestamp: [34:37]
Discussion centers on Trump's decision to cut federal funding to South Africa amidst anti-white policies and a proposed bill by Senator Mike Rounds:
Key Points:
Notable Quote:
Victor Davis Hanson [38:29]: "If you're doing this to us, then we're just going to mirror image you and apply your standards to yourself."
Timestamp: [53:56]
The hosts discuss allegations against John Kerry regarding his interference in FBI probes into Iranian terrorism:
Key Points:
Notable Quote:
Victor Davis Hanson [53:56]: "He's always underperformed. He had these enormous ambitions... he just said, stop it. I don't want anything to get in the way of my ambition and my agenda."
Timestamp: [60:53]
Addressing concerns about the rise of "pop-up nonprofits" as fronts for fraud and ideological agendas:
Key Points:
Notable Quote:
Victor Davis Hanson [63:45]: "It's fraudulent... mid-level or low-level functionaries set up dummy companies to say it's not for me, it's for the cause."
Timestamp: [57:53]
Exploring allegations that Joe Biden's cognitive decline allowed White House staffers to issue orders without his conscious oversight:
Key Points:
Notable Quote:
Victor Davis Hanson [57:53]: "Only one of his signatures was unique. They were all the same, and they were done by an auto pin."
Timestamp: [70:18]
The episode concludes with positive feedback from listeners, highlighting Victor's expertise and influence:
Key Points:
Notable Comment:
Listener "DAO1217": "Dr. Hanson's insight, analysis, and commentary is just so spot on. A true American treasure."
In this episode, Victor Davis Hanson and Jack Fowler tackle a range of critical issues, from higher education and student loans to government corruption and the influence of non-profits. Through incisive analysis and historical context, the hosts advocate for accountability, transparency, and policies that prioritize national security and economic stability.
For more insights and in-depth discussions, visit Victor's website VictorHansen.com and subscribe to his exclusive content at The Blade of Perseus.
Note: Advertisements and sponsor messages within the transcript have been excluded from this summary to maintain focus on the core content.