
Loading summary
OpenPhone Ad
If you're running a business, you know that every time you miss a call, you're leaving money on the table. When every customer conversation matters, you need a phone system that keeps up and helps you stay connected 24, 7. And that's why you need OpenPhone. OpenPhone is the number one business phone system that streamlines and scales your customer communications. It works through an app on your phone or computer, so no more carrying two phones or using a landline. With OpenPhone, your team can share one number and collaborate on customer calls and texts like a shared inbox. That way any teammate can pick up right where the last person left off, keeping response times faster than ever. Plus say goodbye to voicemail. Their AI agent can be set up in minutes to handle calls after hours, answer questions and capture leads so you never miss a customer. So whether you're a one person operation drowning in calls and texts, or having a large team that needs better collaboration tools, OpenPhone is a no brainer. See why over 60,000 businesses trust OpenPhone. OpenPhone is offering our listeners 20% off your first six months@openphone.com Victor that's O P E N P H o n e openphone.com Victor and if you have existing numbers with another service, Open Phone will port them over at no extra charge. Open Phone no missed calls, no missed customers.
Jack Fowler
Hello ladies. Hello, gentlemen. Welcome to the Victor Davis Hansen Show. Victor is the Martin and Ely Anderson Senior Fellow at the Hoop Institution and the Wayne and Marsha Busky distinguished Fellow in History at Hillsdale College. And he's just about everything. He's a military historian, class philologist, bestselling author, syndicated columnist and a man with the website the Blade of Perseus, which you will find@VictorHansen.com, which you should subscribe to.
Victor Davis Hanson
Should subscribe to.
Jack Fowler
I'll tell you why later in this episode why you should. I'm Jack Fowler. I get the pleasure and honor of asking Victor questions twice a week. So does the great Sammy Wink. Today's episode being recorded on what day is it? Sunday the 6th. And this particular episode will be up on Thursday, July 10th. And we're going to begin the show talking about getting Victor's take on Trump UGs. And we'll just define it and discuss it when we come back from these important messages.
Vibrance Ad
If you're like me, you have a lot of product on your bathroom counter. Well, I have found the secret serum and it's vibrant Super C serum. The ingredients in this one bottle can replace your day creams, eye CRE creams night creams, neck creams, wrinkle creams, and even dark spot reducers. Made in the usa with the highest quality ingredients including vitamin C, hyaluronic acid, vitamin B5 and vitamin E, Super C serum delivers noticeable results. Simplify your skin care routine, get a healthier complexion and minimize wrinkles and age spots with Vibrance. I just began using Super C serum last week and I love it. My skin feels so much better, soft, moist and fresh. And by the way, it smells beautiful, like the orange blossoms outside my kitchen door. Give it a try and you'll love it too. And if you don't find it better than your current skincare routine, you'll get a full refund. Go to vibrance.com victor to save up to 37% off and free shipping. That's Vibrance V I B R I A n c e vibrance.com Victor and we'd like to thank Vibrance for sponsoring the Victor Davis Hansen Show.
Jack Fowler
We are back with the Victor Davis Hansen Show. Victor, first I have to make a correction. We recorded another podcast earlier and I wrote a note, I forgot to bring it up at the end. Thomas Aquinas, you so kindly were referring to Thomas Aquinas College and said it said St. Thomas Aquinas and there is a, there is a St. Thomas Aquinas College, but it's not the that Thomas Aquinas College. So I love Thomas Aquinas College, God bless him. And we just want to be certain we're not telling people go to a different institution. Now, that said, Victor, there's a headline in the Daily Mail. Huge spike in quote, unquote, Trump bugs fleeing America. But they'll quickly regret it. So, Victor, these are people who just got to get out of this terrible country. They're actually getting rid of murderers. ICE is getting rid of murderers and rapists. And it's unsafe to be in this country that's being made sick. Safer. And we'll go to maybe the Netherlands and the.
Victor Davis Hanson
Maybe I would be careful about going to the Netherlands. Yeah, they have a. Yeah, what? Where are they going to go? Because Trumpism is not unique to the United States or any particular state. It's a representation of the failure of the post war progressive project and how it hijacked liberal democratic parties and turned them into socialist, Marxist, racially obsessed parties. What you see in Hungary or what you see in Romania or what you see in Italy and what you see growing in Britain, it's a revolt against the elites who destroyed the border. They had Bankrupt ideas. So they imported people from other countries that were impoverished, that would need larger state efforts, higher taxes, bigger government. They dismantled their defense. They couldn't deal with homelessness because they can't be judgmental. And they were elite. So if you go to, you say you're going to get rid of Donald Trump, Kurt Wilder is the most popular guy in Denmark, in the Netherlands. And so people are not going to be receptive because you're, you're saying, I'm going to go to enlightened country that's not like Trump. And they're going to say, we're trying to be like Trump. Get the blank out, probably. And here in the United States, I mean, verdict is out. Whatever your political allegiances are. If you look just empirically in the last, say, 17, 18, 20 days, look what he's done. I mean, we're not at war with Iran. And the thing that was that sword of Damocles over our head for. They're not going to have a nuclear weapon for years. And there's no wide scale World War Three, there is none. And China is in desperate economic shape. And she reportedly is not in such great hell. And everything the Wall Street Journal told us in March was not true. We didn't have a recession, we didn't have a market collapse. The stock market's the highest it has ever been. And there was good job growth. This is despite AI and all of these larger megatrends. There was good job growth, better than expected. The economy is sound. There's more personal income and savings. There's some, you know, anxieties about it. But we still haven't seen the, the effect of a lot of these tax cuts. We haven't seen the effect of 8 to 10 trillion dollars. And we'll see if they deliver on promised foreign investment. People said that tariff, including me, wasn't going to be a big revenue earner, but it seems like it is. It could be. I did say that people will do anything to stay in the American market. And they were making such huge profits that they're willing to keep their prices low and make less profits but still be profitable. Donald Trump has a club and he's beating these people. But if anybody's been in the university, what they got away with is outrageous. And I think everybody understand you don't want this esg, commissariat and Wall Street. You don't want dei. The Green New Deal is just ludicrous. So everything is in flux. And I think people are just, they don't know what to say. About it. If we come out the other end, if Trump is successful, you'll see it easier to buy a house, you'll see it easier to go to college, you'll probably see less emphasis on race, you'll see a stronger military, you'll see a greater deterrence abroad and that's not going to be a bad thing. And then he will leave in three and a half years and people will not give him credit for what he did and they will hate his guts and they'll say he was a horrible orange man. And then a bunch of left wing lunatic professors will do their annual ratings of presidencies and they'll say Joe Biden was 32 and Trump was 47. You know what I mean by then 48. Yeah, that's what's going to happen. Everybody knows it's going to happen. As I keep saying, he's going to be Ethan Edwards and he's going to be at the end of the Searchers and he's going to walk out that door and he's going to hand Natalie Wood back to all the people who couldn't find her and couldn't do anything about it and mouthed off and said he was used on orthodox mechanisms and what was his background and was he really, did he ride with Contrell or somebody and then he's going to open the gate and walk out holding an arm where he's apparently kind of wounded or something.
Jack Fowler
Yeah.
Victor Davis Hanson
So that and the same thing with Shane. He's going to run it all. He's not going to get credit for any of it. So if you people hate him, he will be your benefactor and you will not like him.
Jack Fowler
Yeah, partly in Shane. In Shane, where they were mocking him early on the movie. Right.
Victor Davis Hanson
I love that, that dancer. I don't know about the rest of you, but I want to know how you know, how you know Wilson. Yeah, it's like the subtext of that is I am, I'm terrified of Wilson. He's going to kill us all. But how dare you think that you might have associated in any group might be in the same and please go kill him, but don't do it in my name and then leave.
Jack Fowler
Let us turn around. Hey, Victor, one thing on the economy that's worrisome though. I forget where I saw this the other day, but I know it was Jeffrey Tucker who's writing in the Epoch Times or the Epoch times there were 400,000 manufacturing and you know, I think high end trade jobs that are unfilled and I don't See how they get filled quickly given the culture still in our education system, including our high school system. Like you gotta. It's the preference is to go to college and take eight years and become a sociologist and leave with a mortgage payment and have no skills as opposed to directing kids towards a well paying and quite necessary jobs. Good luck getting a plumber.
Victor Davis Hanson
There's all these mythologies about the employment that we don't have. We don't have pragmatic common sense economists that try to explain the inexplicable. I'll give you some example. So there was a number of news stories this week that Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon are not hiring, Jack, they're not hiring. And there is no job market now for a technical writer, for example, because of AI. And this trend will continue. And then there was another article that Amazon is in the process 50 or 60% mechanizing. And they show these videos of, you know, in their warehouses where these little strange robots pallets. So on the one hand you're getting this message that there's going to be fewer and fewer jobs, not just on the professional side, but people working in a warehouse and things like that. They're going to be automated with AI robotics, okay? So there's going to be less need for labor. And then you're told we're starting to see again and again that of the 12 million people that are coming in, a lot of them were not working. So it wasn't, it wasn't like we needed all these people to come in and do all these jobs. And then we have a 62% labor participation rate. So I don't know whether because of mechanization, robotics, AI, there's going to be fewer jobs or people are willing to work and they're not working, or it's going to be hard to find a job. We're going to expel all the illegal aliens. And then as the Democrats say, as Nancy Pelosi, nobody's going to pick our crops. Or that other congresswoman said quite pornographically, nobody's going to wipe our black. It was horrible anyway. It's very hard to figure out what is what. All I can say is somebody who lives on a farm and watches mechanization and drives to work through the Great San Joaquin Valley's west side. I cannot believe the level of mechanization when I look at olives or things that I thought could never be mechanized. Olives or raisins, not just almonds or walnuts or pistachios and agriculture.
Jack Fowler
Incredible machines that have lasers that somehow or other sense the weeds and just go over them and look, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. They're just, just it's, it's remarkable.
Victor Davis Hanson
I went and looked at a local. Well I mentioned it Fowler pack. And they've got the most sophisticated machinery that when you have the mandarin oranges, the cuties come down. These computer eyes can tell every imperfection. So and they can direct things. When I was in college that's what every day I was the guy in many packing houses that took the packed out box and palletized it then gave a fresh box to women. You know there would be of them, you know, trying to pick out the calls on the revolving belt. That's all over with. And so it's a very unsettled time that there's all of these theories and, and ideas that are antithetical to each other. They don't, they're not compatible. We have. We need more workers. We need more workers. How did you close the border? We're going to need more workers. No, we don't need more workers. We have a crisis that AI and robotics are going to put us all out of work. And I think the answer is that we need things that people that AI and robotics have not yet done. And those are plumbers, electricians, asphalt. And there is a social taboo for that. And I think that's good thing it's ending because the compensation on our supply and demand economy is such that those people are making a lot of money. You call up somebody to put a roof on or to do brickwork or to rewire or put. You can't get anybody. And when you do it's just astronomical. 30, 40, $50 an hour cash, sometimes they'll insist on. So everything is in flux right now and it's, I think that's why people are uncertain. It's not Trump. It's just that they don't know what's going on in the world. And.
Jack Fowler
Well they do know. They do know that the elitists have had it wrong.
Victor Davis Hanson
They know that. They do know that the post war progressive project. Everything they told us was a lie. Everything they told us was a lie. The laptop was a lie. Russian collusion we're learning. Just recently now John Radcliffe is releasing from the CIA that Comey, Brennan and to a lesser extent Clapper just basically dreamed up the whole Russian collusion and took that bogus dossier and put it in the Presidential daily briefing of intelligence even though they knew it was unsubstantiated. I think a lot of people just feel that Nobody's ever going to be held accountable. Not those people, not Fauci, none of them. Not Peter Stroke, not Lisa. None of these people are going to be held accountable.
Jack Fowler
You know, well, I like the ran East Germany and Romania. Well, Romania, Ceausescu got blown. He got, he got it. But the rest of these SOBs got away with it.
Victor Davis Hanson
So it's a time of flux and we don't have, we don't have disinterested, qualified arbiters of what's going on. So many people in the university, I mean, if you'd picked up the Wall Street Journal and you read it every day in March and April, you would have believed that Donald Trump had destroyed the US Economy, that it was dead, that we were going to be in a trade war, we were going to be in a stock collapse. We, we were going to, it was just the budget. Everything was going to be terrible. That's what that was. Pretty much the news division. And that didn't turn out to be true.
Jack Fowler
Well, Victor, I have to share some big news. All Family Pharmacy just launched their biggest 4th of July sale ever. And it's one you don't want to miss. Now through July 13th, that's coming up quick. It's buy one, get one free on the meds everyone's been asking for. Ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, amebendazole. Order 90 capsules, then they'll send you 90 more completely free. And yes, the doctor's prescription is included as well. You don't need insurance or extra steps. This is the kind of freedom and convenience most pharmacies stopped offering a long time ago. But not all Family Pharmacy. They're keeping it simple, affordable and available to everyone. So if you've been meaning to stock up, now's the time. Again, through July 13th, go to allfamilypharmacy.com Again, that's allfamilypharmacy.com Victor. We thank the good people from All Family Pharmacy for sponsoring the Victor Davis Hansen show. Victor, mentioning before the deportations, now that the big beautiful bill has passed, Tom Holman has said that the deportations, which I think we look at the numbers, like, wow, I thought, like doge, we thought there was going to be more deportations. We thought there was going to be a lot more already. But he says they are going to skyrocket. Why? Let's see. Speaking.
Victor Davis Hanson
More agents, more agents, more agents. They're not going to have much to do on the border. The wall is going to be completed. That's going to pull people off the border into the interior. They already had a million and a half people who have been adjudicated. They already have got their deportation orders. It's not controversial. They've got 500,000 people, they're making progress and then they have this self deportation that the experts told us would never work. You get $1,000, you get a free trip back to wherever you came from and you get to apply and you're not banned from re entering legally. But if you wait it out to the bitter end and you get deported, you're not going to be able to come back legally, at least for a long time. More important, they're going to get a lot more resources. The only thing I have, I wish, I hope that I don't wish because I'm not as capable as the people advising Trump. But they need to strategize how to deflect. And I don't mean deflect in the sense of, oh, we were so worried what they say. I mean like neuter, neuter the criticism so that the public understands and appreciates what they're doing. And by that I mean take illegal immigration. We Forget that the 12 million that Biden let in, that was on top of what a lot of studies said were 20 million. Right. And out of that 20 million there were estimates that was what Obama's dreamers. There were a large number of people who have now been here, you know, 10 years since Trump went down the escalator. So some of these people have been in the United States 10, 20 years, undocumented, number one. I know many people that surprise me in my community will tell me that they're illegal. I cannot believe it. They speak perfect English, they've got jobs, they've never committed a crime and they're not on public assistance. It seems to me if we, not that we ward them, but if we, if Trump said we're going to get all 12 million that just came out, we're going to get all the criminals out, we're going to get all the people who have deportation orders out, we're going to encourage self deportation, we're going to get all the people who have broken laws out, we're talking about DUI and all, we're going to get all the people who are able bodied who are on public assistance, we're going to get all the people who just arrived. I think We've got about 30 million people here illegally. I think the statistics, if you examine and break it down, would support that number given what Biden did Then if you said, Trump said, while he was going to do all that, he said, you know what, If a guy's here for more than five years, take an arbitrary number, no criminal arrest, fully employed, and he wants to stay here, he's not going to get a citizenship from me. He's going to get no amnesty. But he can apply for a green card if he pays a fine, $1,000, 2,000, I don't know. And I think that would deflate. That would make the left look really bad, because what would they do? They'd say, well, he's rounding up people. And he'd say, no, I'm only rounding up people who just jumped over the border, or they're, they're conning the social welfare system, or they're. And a lot of things Trump does, people don't, they don't think it through. Like, when you start deporting people, you don't just get rid of 500,000 people that commit crimes. As a lot of people pointed out, John Lott and others, there is a correlation between deporting hundreds of thousands of criminals and a drop in crime. And that's going to. And that has financial benefits for the economy, as does removing people who are sending part of the 63 billion in remittances, not just to Mexico, but another 60 billion to Central America. And people are talking about it might be 500 billion all over the world. When you remove those people, there's all sorts of these insidious advantages that accrue from that economically. And if he were to do that, I don't think the left could. I think it would really hurt them before the midterms, they'd say, wow, he's not. I have to defend people who either just came in under Biden, swarmed the border. I got to defend people who are not working and they're conning the system. I got to defend people who are criminals, and then these other people are getting a chance. And so I think you don't want to reward people who broke the law, but you can make them pay a fine and you can get them into the system, and that would, that would help them as well. And then the same thing on energy. He's doing such a great job with oil and natural gas and nuclear, and he, he can really make that case and say, we're not going to take valuable farmland and we're not going to take valuable shorefront property and put these ugly windmills out on the ocean or along the beach, and we're not going to do it. On mountain passes. We're not going to take Manning Avenue near me. We're not going to put on thousands of acres of farmland out of production for these sort when we're going to do clean, you know, small nuclear plants, decentralized. He can really talk about the environmental effects of environmentalism, you know what I mean? Yeah.
Jack Fowler
Well, that's what we're going to get to that a little later in today's episode. Victor because there is an emerging developing however you want to it call of conservative because of Trump or Trumpian, if you want to call that environmental policy. I think if you look back 15, 20 years ago, someone said what's conservative's environmental policy? It probably would have been we're against the left, you know, insanity with delta smelt or things like that. So it would be, would been antagonistic. But he's developing well, let's, let's, let's, let's take our break and we'll get to that when we come back from these important messages.
Victor Davis Hanson
Foreign.
Jack Fowler
We'Re back with the Victor Davis Hansen show recording on Sunday the 6th. This episode is up on Thursday the 10th. Victor's website, the Blade of Perseus. Go there. Victor Hansen.com subscribe six fifty a month, sixty five dollars discounted a year. And when you subscribe, you'll be able to read the twice weekly pieces, articles Victor writes exclusive for the website and his exclusive video. There's plenty more there. The blade of Perseus. Victorhansen.com Victor here's a headline from just the news. The mothership of this podcast. Trump leans into Conservation, makes Signs. Make America Beautiful Again Executive Order the story begins President Donald Trump signed and Make America Beautiful Again executive order establishing a commission tasked with conservation of natural resources, protecting wildlife and expanding access to to public lands. The order which the president signed on Thursday. So that would have been a little probably a week ago from when this podcast is up is aimed at outlining a conservative environmental policy for the administration that includes reducing bureaucratic restrictions on the enjoyment of public lands and preserving treasures like America's national parks for the next generation. Boy, Victor I am sure in California where they love to exclude people from public lands, natural lands, that's going to go over like a lead balloon.
Victor Davis Hanson
But no, they don't.
Jack Fowler
I like this. Oh, your thoughts?
Victor Davis Hanson
Yeah, it reminds me of when I was growing up, Pat Brown, he was Jerry Brown's dad, he was governor. And the whole idea was we're going to make all these beautiful lakes in the Sierra. We're going to have reservoirs they're going to stop flooding, they're going to provide irrigation, they're going to have recreation, they're going to create clean hydroelectric power. They're going to. And they're beautiful places. I was just that one today at Huntington Lake. It's one of the most beautiful places in the world that Henry Huntington, you know, envisioned that would power all of electric trolleys in Los Angeles. And it did for a number of years. But it didn't ruin the natural beauty. And that's what they're saying. And when you get down to it, when you think about the radical environmentalists, they don't want anybody going anywhere. They want to have exclusive access to wilderness areas. And as our. As their self appointed custodians. But, but they start have to look at environmentalism in a new moral matrix. And the new moral matrix is if I pass environmental, who gets hurt and what type of people get hurt? So if I'm in the California Air Resources Board and I say I'm going to go down the particulate matter almost to nothing, who has to pay for that with. We just had a California gas tax going into effect. A new one. I think it was already a cent and a half. It's going to go up to 65 cents. We're going to get up to $8 a gallon because the refineries are leaving. We lost two big refineries. Who gets hurt by that? Not Gavin Newsom, not Nancy Pelosi, not Barbara Boxer, not any of these people. It's going to be poor people and. But they never think environmentalism. They always start. We're for the. For we're worried about. No, you're not. You've made prices almost impossible to buy a house. Now Gavin Newsom is actually so many people have said this, Jack, that the freeways are starting to look normal here in California. You go down 41 in Fresno. There's no homeless. There's no caveme anymore. They were burrowing into the side of the hill above the freeways. Yeah, people living in underground kind of subterranean. And that's cleaned up. There's no trash. I see the graffiti is less common. He's getting ready for a presidential run and I guess he's forced through the legislature, a relaxation of coastal commission and resources boards. To the extent they can't build houses. They have things in California no one believe. You have to use certain types of building materials that don't impact the environment. Certain drywall, certain sheen, all this stuff. And a lot of developers, I know they film every house and when it's being built. They film it because they're afraid they're going to be sued by the government or the homeowner. And so they can show this is what we did. Here's the materials, here's the labor, here's how it was built. And it's, it's very important to really call these environmentalists out. They don't care about people, they don't like people. And you can really see it where I just went to Huntington Lake. We had the Aspen fire, I think four years ago. And they had these ancient leases by these wonderful people who were custodians of the forest. Modest little hundred year old cabins, 80 or 90 of them burned down. Did the government come in and said, we're going to give you the lease and we want you to rebuild? No. They almost encouraged people not to rebuild. About half of them didn't. And then they went and said, you're going to restore that to the pristine conditions of 1912. Take up the slab and they charge them 60 or 70 thousand dollars. They had to get environmental experts to come. But those people were great for the forest because every time you would go on these little back roads around the lake, you'd see people picking up garbage or they would, they would clean the fort. They were wonderful custodians. So this idea that people are somehow antithetical to the wilderness, that's not true at all.
Jack Fowler
But they weren't people who were going to the French Laundry. They were kind of. Victor Davis.
Victor Davis Hanson
They want people who, they want people who have enough. They want, want a person with two types of characteristics. They have to have enough money that they can have their ideology implemented on us, the lab rats, with no effect on themselves because of their money or zip code. And then they have, because a lot of them are secularists. They have to believe that their credentials. I'm a state biologist. I did my forestry work at Berkeley. Or I'm working on the impact of large particulate matter and underserved communities. I did my environmental studies degree at Stanford. Those type of people with all the letters after their names that have a moral smugness, sanctimonious self righteousness and they don't care about people. They really don't. And that's what's so strange about Trump. The only thing, again I get back on the messaging if Trump can, if they can get the right messaging and point that out, that environmentalism is an elite attack on the middle classes. It's by people who are not subject to the consequences of their. If he can just Drill that in. And when he does things like executive orders, he can just say, listen, I want to know what the rules are, are. I didn't create the rules. Barack Obama is the one that said phone and pen executive orders. You guys are the ones that did with Joe Biden. I'm just following. I am not out for revenge. If I say a law firm. You were the people who went after Fox News and made them pay multi billion, not me going after cbs. You started it. I just want to know what the rules are because all I'm doing is following precedent. I'm not doing anything new. I'm just following. And I'm not doing a lot what you do. I don't want to go into Jill Biden's underwear, quote. I do not want Ash Patel to get a SWAT team and go into Hunter Biden's house. I'm not going to do that. That's what you people do and that's what he needs to do. And I think he needs to get that message across that he is not maga extremists. He's just following the precedents that he inherited. And he wants to know what the rules are because they created them and their extremism.
Jack Fowler
So I, you know, I've mentioned before this website, Unwon and there was a piece there the other day, they cover all that damn dam stuff going on out Washington State, California. But there was one damn. And I forget the name of it. And frankly I forget the name of the Congressman. Democrat. Congressman. This lie that's been out there that we have to knock this dam down because it's, it's going to go down.
Victor Davis Hanson
Because that one was on the Snake. Snake River. Yeah. It was crumbling.
Jack Fowler
Remember it was a California one. Yeah.
Victor Davis Hanson
Oh yeah, that was that on the Klamath. I don't know. They said it was crumbling, it was terrible. And it was not. It wasn't.
Jack Fowler
They freaking lied about it for the sake of it. And this is a, you know, creates natural beauty, whatever, recreation, etc. But also supplies, you know, I can tell you 650,000 people.
Victor Davis Hanson
It's crazy. This is the year of our Lord 2025. I went by the Huntington Lake Dam that was built roughly around 1912. Shaver Lake, about 1915. I've been up a few summers ago to Florence at the same time. The people who did these things, they were masters of construction, they were masters of engineering, they were masters of mathematics. They were like the people who built Santa Sophia in Istanbul or the Theodosian walls in Constantinople. They overbuilt things because it was for cost of benefit analysis. They were not pressed that way and labor was cheaper. So when you look at these dams that are 100 years old, yes, they need to have, you know, sometimes they put plastic veneers on them, but they are so overbuilt. And I'm speaking in a house that was built between 1870 and 1902 in various sections. And every time I've had somebody come through this house they said, oh my God. You have redwood siding, heart redwood with no knots. And then underneath it you have one by 12 redwood planks, one by 12 rough hone. And then on the other side you have sheetrock and then you've got got four by sixes Hart redwood Foundation. They don't do that anymore. And so what I'm getting is those people didn't have money, but they had labor and they overbuilt things. So when we see all these young people, these environments, oh, this is old, this is going to fall. It's not true. Some of these things are going to last forever because that generation, I mean they need upkeep. But every time I go into a new house, I feel like it's not well built compared to these older ones. I really do.
Jack Fowler
Teniments of tomorrow. Some of them are cool.
Victor Davis Hanson
I mean some of the ones in the 50s were not well built. I understand that after the war they had to put up houses, housing. But when you look at some of those homes built in the 20s or the late 19th century, it's amazing. You know, I don't like cast iron pipe. When I go into my house and I see these huge 4 inch things, this big made of cast iron. I know that there's lead in the joints and all that, but I've never had a problem with them. They've never. I've had problems with plastic pipes separating after a few years, but not cast iron.
Jack Fowler
Don't go into your house anymore, Victor. Okay, back to the.
Victor Davis Hanson
I haven't been there for a year. I feel like I need to go back and acquaint myself with my friends. I find certain things that people left their screwdrivers, hammers, tape measures, spiders, snakes.
Jack Fowler
One last thing on the environmental the environmentalists are about destruction again with these dams deprivation. Let's deprive you of enjoying beauty and it's really. Heartwarming is maybe the wrong word. But it's cool that Trump is taking this on and that conservatism is coming out of decades of.
Victor Davis Hanson
It's very strange, isn't it? Yeah, I'VE never seen anybody like this. When you look at the last Republican president W. It was more or less a political, you know, foreign policy, tax deregulation. And the same thing was true of George H.W. bush and even Reagan. Reagan was more holistic. But this is a counter revolution and it's everything. And it has two manifestations. One is we're going to look at the deleterious effects of progression. So if that's architecture, we're going to go back to neoclassical. We can't. If it's the universities, we're going to address that, that. And then the second half of it is we're not treating the symptoms. Why do you have an open border? Why do you have high crime rates? Why do you have something like the Afghan pullout? It's because of an ideology. And that ideology politically is called progressive social communism. And it is internally di woke radical. And we're going to address that. The roots. So we're going to go in and we're going to challenge the, these blue stocking, silk stocking law firms. We're going to go in and challenge the universities. We're going to go to the root causes that have done such damage. And that's what the left is really angry about because they're thinking, wow, we know we don't have the people. We can't win on the issues. There's 30, 70 issues. But we do control the media, the universities, K12 foundations, PBS, NPR, USAID. And he's going after our sources of power. This is nuts. How dare he do that? And that's what this is. This is a counter revolution that we've never seen before.
Jack Fowler
Made me think of a B17 or whatever. The B what? Because you've got bombs, you got turrets back, forth, top, bottom, front. You know, you take on your enemies wherever they are. 360 degrees.
Victor Davis Hanson
That was what was the whole strategy of the United States. They said, we're not just going to lose a lot of Marines fighting in places like Okinawa. Iwa, Jim, you gotta do that. Our army in the Philippines or the Bulge. We're gonna address the sources of what feeds that ma. And that's the Ruhr Valley, that's the oil fields in Romania, that's the Mitsubishi factories in Tokyo. And that's what they did. And we're going to mine the harbors. We're going. And it worked, as you know.
Jack Fowler
You know more than most. Your father was part of that. But so many men gave their lives for that.
Victor Davis Hanson
B17s were the worst. The thing about B29s was, it was tragic because they were such a beautiful plane and they were so ahead of its time that it was very hard to shoot them down if they got up that high. But there were so 25,000 individual parts, I think, and over half, about 65% of the lost B29s were for mechanical failure. Because it was crazy to take an experimental plane, make them go 1600 miles. That's longer than the radius, the range of a modern jet fighter. 1600 miles and then 1600 miles back with no computer navigation and then all these different parts and these new ideas about, you know, remote turret targeting and compression. And it was, it was something, it was very experimental and that a lot of people died. 40,000 died in B24s and B17.
Jack Fowler
I have a question to ask you, but first I want to say something. This is unconstitutional. Have you heard someone in the media, maybe on a podcast, not this one, or a YouTube show, say, say this? Probably. Do you just take their word for it? Have you ever taken the time to read and understand yourself the meaning of the United States Constitution? That's why I'm so excited that Hillsdale College is offering a brand new free online course called the Federalist to get I'm taking it Together they explain how the United States Constitution established a government strong enough to secure the rights of citizens and safe enough to wield that power. And today it's our responsibility to pay attention, to be vigilant, they might say, in order to preserve and protect Republican self government. Hillsdale's online course on The Federalist includes 10 lectures each about 30 minutes along. You can take the course at your own pace. There's no cost to sign up. And I have to admit, as much as I'm a conservative, I was the publisher and ash from you, but I really didn't read the Federalist papers and now I'm getting boned up in these things, as they say. So this is a great course. You can enroll yourself yourself at no cost. The call go right now or wait till this show's over. Go to Hillsdale Edu VDH to enroll. Again, there's no cost. It's easy to get started. That's Hillsdale Edu VDH to enroll for free Hillsdale Edu VDH we thank the good people from Hillsdale for sponsoring the Victor Davis Hansen show. Victor, you know, we've talked so many times. You talked about your father in a service we. We've talked about 12 o' clock highs movie. I'm just wondering when I flew back from From Fresno. When I saw you, whenever it was a week or two weeks ago, I watched that. I think it was Masters of the Sky. Have you. I only.
Victor Davis Hanson
I saw two Masters of the Air or maybe. Yeah. Did.
Jack Fowler
Did you see that series?
Victor Davis Hanson
I just saw some of it. Okay, I want to see it.
Jack Fowler
Okay. Just curious.
Victor Davis Hanson
I'm trying to. I saw a fascinating though off topic. I just watched a. A 1995 interview between Ben Johnson and Harry Carey Jr. Yeah, an hour, hour long. And they were talking about. Harry Carey was banned from westerns by Howard Hawks for 10 years because he just called him Howard instead of Mr. Hawks. And John Ford threw a rock at him once at his head. It was. It had great stories. Ben Johnson, I just loved that guy. He was dark and original.
Jack Fowler
Yeah, well, yesterday I was just watching the scene from Rio Grande where Harry Carey Jr. And Ben Johnson ride the horses Roman style with two horses.
Victor Davis Hanson
He was the only actor in history to be the National Rodeo champion and also an Academy Award winner. Didn't he win Academy Award for the Last Picture Show? I think supporting actor. I really liked him. Good thing about him, I always like when I like people, I like to see that they ended up. Well, he ended up. He was a master real estate investor. He ended up worth about $100 million dollars in LA real estate. So it's. Anyway, that was off topic.
Jack Fowler
Okay, I'm sorry. I just went a little blank there a second. You forgive me if I. But. Okay, Victor, what do we want to talk about? Oh, you know what? I do want to get to a couple of. Get your opinion on a couple of higher ed things. But you know, not unimportant. You know, the big beautiful bill, expanded school choice. I think this is one of the more dramatic things that is. That has happened. You talk about taking on all these important issues and freeing up philanthropic dollars and from businesses like dollar for dollar to bankroll educational choice. This is a big thing. It's big for Catholic schools, but it's big for all kind of private education. It's truly big for parents that they give. Their kids will have more. Many more kids will have affordable options. Anyway, Victor, any thoughts on this component of the big beautiful book?
Victor Davis Hanson
Bill? Yeah, one just general. There's so many things in there that that's what the left's is angry about that it's supposed to be mostly a budget bill. And there's so many things from the wall to remittance taxes to extension of the tax cuts to dealing with the universities and the public schools. You know, all of us went to public schools. And I insisted my children all go to public schools, even though they were kind of wild by the time they were of age. But the public schools are not the public schools anymore. So all of these I think most people believe now that private schools do a better job, especially in blue cities. But it's just it's when you have the teacher, when you have the teachers unions and you are using the public schools to indoctrinate people. And then why is that happening? Because they're all trained at these schools of education and they certify people you can be a math whiz, you can be a genius in Phi Beta Kappa in math, you can get a master's degree from Harvard in math, and you can't teach math in a California school unless you're credentialed. And if you go through those credentialing programs, they're not like they were 50 years ago. They're things like what color is this person? What's his sexual orientation? What's the new Green deal? That's what they're doing. And that comes as again, it's an act of commission, but it's an act of omission. They don't know anything. These teachers. Just think of a public schools with millions of Randy Weingarten so anything to help.
Jack Fowler
Yeah, the it's called the Educational Choice for Children Act. ECCA this was a big deal for conservatives for years. And the fact that it's in this bill is wonderful. 1, 1 One more topic before we head for the break. Victor and this is a total disconnect from what we were just talking about. But you know, America 250 is we're coming up. By the way. The day we're recording is the 200 250th anniversary of the Declaration of the of the causes and necessities of taking up arms. So it's kind of the pre Declaration of Independence a year ahead.
Victor Davis Hanson
It was two years before, wasn't it, by one year. Lee it was at the Lee memorandum.
Jack Fowler
Well, that might have been even I.
Victor Davis Hanson
Think it was first cousin it was Lighthorse, Harry Lee's first cousin and he passed something in Virginia two years before 1776. And the Continental Second Continental Congress about these are the reason these are we're going we're going to disassociate ourselves from Britain and then Jefferson and Adams gave all of those reasons, you know, in the Declaration why which remember Andrew Roberts in the was that in his Life of King George? Andrew's a wonderful historian, but he listed or he wrote an article about how all the founders there's was it 17 reasons I can't remember the number. Our educated listeners know better than I do, but he went through each one saying this is a lie, this is bogus, this is wrong.
Jack Fowler
What a jingoist he is. Yeah. Give him his due.
Victor Davis Hanson
These people. Yeah, yeah.
Jack Fowler
There's so many important, you know, well, let's call them political science things happening precursor to to next July 4th. And we're now 362 days out. But so this gets me though. I was a big bicentennial kid.
Victor Davis Hanson
I just was. I remember the ship rem, the ships on the harbor, the tall ships.
Jack Fowler
Yeah. It was so, it was wonderful. And we'll stand.
Victor Davis Hanson
Trump thinks I, I don't know. I don't think we'll ever be able to do that again.
Jack Fowler
No. Especially after that Mexican ship crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge a couple weeks back. But Donald Trump wants to have a UFC fight and the White House property as part of America 250. And I, I'm sorry, I just think.
Victor Davis Hanson
That is just like what I, I don't understand. When I read that he was, he wants to, does he want to make a temporary stadium on the White House ground?
Jack Fowler
Yeah, yeah. I mean, hopefully it's temporary.
Victor Davis Hanson
I don't know if he's doing that to troll people. It's like Greenland, right? I don't think he's going to invade Greenland. He doesn't want, I mean he wants a base there. He wants Denmark to spend more money, but he doesn't want to go invade Greenland. But I don't maybe he wants to have a such a match there, but I don't think it's going to happen.
Jack Fowler
Well, I hope not. I personally draw the line at that. Anyway, Victor, we've got some great high higher well, not great troubling higher ed stories to get your take on. And we'll get that when we come back from these final important messages. We are back with the Victor Davis Hansen Show.
Victor Davis Hanson
Victor.
Jack Fowler
Gosh, here's. I can't believe this. This is from the College Fix. I think both articles might be from the College Fix. So this is, this has to do with medical school. Top medical schools teach, quote, weight inclusivity, end quote, racial justice. This is a report. Top medical schools are enforcing beliefs such as weight inclusivity, racial justice and gender ideology on their staff and students through policies for statements and curricular mandates. A recent speech first report found. This is a report called Critical Condition. I'll just get to the end of the Last short sentence of this. Students also are instructed to avoid terms such as as overweight or obese. Okay, look, I don't want to make fun of fat people, but it's ridiculous that we. That this is.
Victor Davis Hanson
It's a health issue, though. Yeah, I could see the argument if they were arguing that obesity has no health ramifications, but it does. And it doesn't just affect the individual, affects society at all. It's a huge medical overhead. But again, I don't want to keep pounding that. It's. It's a sin of omission. Why wouldn't the new medical schools say things like this? We've had a recent uptake in things like tuberculosis, measles, and, you know, chlamydia. You read about that. Why don't they have a course that says resurgence of new epidemics, and here we're going to teach all of our young residents how to spot a tubercular patient, what to do about a patient that has measles, things like that. Why don't they do that? That would save so many more lives. Or why don't they say things like, these are. Let's get a new. Another double blind study about, about all of these new weight loss semi gluten medicines and see to which degree that they. You know, when you read about all these weight reduction shots, you get two different views. One day you read and says, oh my gosh, it causes this type of cancer or this type of. The next day you say, oh, no, man. This latest study says it helps lower blood sugar, it helps do this, it helps do all that lowers cholesterol. So we don't have any definitive answers. Why don't they just stick to what they do? You know what's happening in the medical schools and law schools, schools. It's like a guy you hire to put a roof on your home and he comes down and he says, before I put a roof on your home, I got to know the racial composition of your household and how many gay people are here because I have to adjust my schedule or my typer. That's the kind of stuff it is. No, you're supposed to put a roof on the house. I guess what I'm trying to strain to say is when you read about that, it's not just the courses there, it's the people who were admitted and hired to teach the course. So when you have that agenda, then you look at people who are doctors who are applying to be professors of medicine, and you pick people like that. And then when you have your huge pool and you have 100 people for every slot. You pick people like that. And it's not based on merit and people are going to die because of this.
Jack Fowler
That's. I didn't read this.
Victor Davis Hanson
As the left says about everything.
Jack Fowler
The University of Texas at Austin, they have the Dell Medical School and it offers a what they call a developing outstanding clinical skills program that teaches students to embrace, quote, weight and inclusivity, arguing that that weight loss strategies foster a culture of shame. So, yeah, it's all very food ideological. I wonder what Michael Dell thinks about that.
Victor Davis Hanson
I assume the school's named after him.
Jack Fowler
Victor, Another higher ed story comes out of where does it come out of UPenn, which we were where you and Sammy were talking about that on the last podcast. Some of the, you know, you know, concessions that University of Pennsylvania has made to the Trump administration over Leah Thomas and men masquerading as women in sports. A host of things, but here's you pen class to explore violence, quote, unquote, threatening the future of black food culture. This is again a college fixed story and it says a critical writing seminar offered in the fall. This coming fall at the University of Pennsylvania will study how racism affects, affects, quote, contemporary food justice movements, quote and quote, the unjust challenges it creates for black food. I won't read more, Victor, but to me, I mean, this seems a, it's lunacy and B, not even the racial stuff. It's a contrivance.
Victor Davis Hanson
Yeah, it is. It's. It works like this. I'm a graduate student getting a PhD. I'm a recent R. I'm a recently minted PhD and I need a job or I'm an assistant professor that needs tenure. And I got to get into to the diversity, equity, inclusion, race, race, race fixation. And it's been crowded the last 30 years. There's thousands of papers and worthless books and I got to get something. Hey, somebody hasn't done something about food like this. Hey, somebody hasn't done something about insects, racist insects. Somebody hasn't done something about racist doghouses. Whatever it is, I got to find a new object. It's like the commissariat, you know, in the 30s, 40s, 50s, in the Soviet Union Union, you've got to find a new target, a class enemy. You've got a class bourgeoisie sellout trend. I remember when the Soviet Union was going after us for having the hula hoop craze, and this was a bourgeoisie obsession and distraction from class struggle and all this stuff. These people are, they're funny. But they're also dangerous when they turn on people. There's a good story in Free Press by their investigative reporter about a young, young man who was at Los Altos, a Los Altos, very prestigious school. He lived in Los Altos, but I won't mention the school. It was parochial. And he and his friends put a green mask, you know, for, you know, some of those acne medicines. You put it on, like put a mask on and you leave it. And they thought it was funny. So they took pictures of their green mask and somebody said, of course this was not green face but blackface. They knew it was green, but they said that this was a. And they expelled him from the school. And the reason it was in that he had sued and he lost the defamation. But it's all about how people in Los Altos ruined his life. They had to move, they moved out. There were people on social media, the school, and there was one common theme. It was all cowardice. We were just looking for one brave man or woman who said, this is not going to stand at my school. One brave principal, one brave teacher that said, we are not going to expel some 17 year old kid who thinks it's funny to put an acne green mask on the Internet, Internet. Or somebody put it on or he did and he's not, we're not going to go railroad him and destroy his life. And they, that's what they did. It took them four years. They received a million dollar compensation, but that wasn't enough for what they did to them. But this stuff is not supportable by logic or reason. It's only by fear. And when people stand up to it, they're terrified. Academics are terrified, they're just, it's just amazing.
Jack Fowler
Well, let me get two quick last, last minute things here, Victor, as we close out. One is I had forgot to mention a few weeks back, and we were just talking about environmental stuff that Donald Trump also, he's issued a lot of executive orders. This one was from mid June. It was empowering common sense, wildfire prevention and response. And boy, oh boy, it was about time that somebody with common sense did this. And you know this better than anyone, you mentioned your house up in the mountains that almost was burned down a couple of years back that half the damn state seems to have burned down. But any, any thoughts on, on Trump's action here?
Victor Davis Hanson
I mean, in some ways the second Trump term is a referendum not just on the disaster about Joe Biden, but on the naivete of the first administration, what they were getting into. And they use this term common sense now, and I think that's called the soft spot. Really what they're thinking about is where are most people? Because most people are not in the university, they not broadcasters, they're not politicians, they're not bureaucrats, and they have a common sense that is right on most issues. And we're going to try to find what that is and we're going to reflect that. And one of the things we're going to do is stop environmentalism destroying people's lives, stop DEI destroying people's lives, stop open borders destroying people's lives. So it's part of this, it's humanitarian. If you think about it, it's what benefits most of the people. And that's why it appeals. That's why he won almost half the Hispanic vote, because he did win half the. Because people thought if you were a Mexican American guy and you were in a Latino community, and all of a sudden they dumped five busloads of people from Guatemala or Chiapas in your neighborhood and there were gang, you had no idea who they did. You have no idea their health, you had no idea their gang affiliations. They had no money, they had no skill, they needed parity. So they were in all of your social services, from dialysis to the ER room. And the people who did it were not members of your community. They were people like Jill Biden and Alejandro Mayorkas. So it's a humanitarian effort to just go back and try to address what most people.
Jack Fowler
Yeah. What an utter frustration as a citizen to think, how is this madness happening in the face of common sense? Like, who's going to stand up for common sense?
Victor Davis Hanson
Common sense.
Jack Fowler
And finally that's, it's, it's happening.
Victor Davis Hanson
It's, you know, it's a very amoral time we're living in because you'll read things like a story, It'll say, oh, 10 people shot tonight in Chicago. Or, you know, 100 people, fog bound motorcycle, motor accident, 100 cars pile up in the winter, dead. And it's a fleeting thing. And then we'll see a story that says so and so, suing for $30 million because he yelled and they took him off the airplane or went to McDonald's and the coffee was too hot. Or someone said that that guy put a green mask on acne and that means he's racist against me. Or a little girl was making nooses just trying to see how you make a noose. And all of a sudden I walked by and saw it. We obsess over the trivial and then we don't care about the catastrophic. Maybe that's why we do it. I don't know. But it's a really sick society that people are dying on highways and substandard infrastructure and all sorts of things, and we just kind of shrug, they're dead. And then we'll get some person who says he's a victim or she's a victim, and we're supposed to empathize, you know, and I don't know. It's. It's. It's a callousness in the whole society. It is.
Jack Fowler
You mentioned the coffee, the McDonald's coffee. The historic case. We had a National Review cruise. This is before you coming on. We were going from Warnermoon to port in Germany to Berlin, and we reserved this train. It was like 400 people and had food and had alcohol drinks, but the Germans would not serve coffee because it was a train full of. Full of Americans because they thought Americans. Someone might spill the coffee and they might sue. It's kind of crazy. But one last thing, Victor. We have a new law banning foreign ownership of Texas land, land that goes into effect on September 1st.
Victor Davis Hanson
So this is precluding subtext of that. No Chinese associated companies can buy land next to air force bases or military facilities.
Jack Fowler
China, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Russia. Prohibitions for real property include agricultural land, industrial property, water rights, rare earth materials, groundwater, timber, oil and natural gas for all you.
Victor Davis Hanson
For you three or four hard leftists that are out there, ask yourself, how many American companies are allowed to buy a mine or, or a timber forest next to a Russian Air force base or by a Chinese rice farm next to a Chinese rocket launcher in base. None. Zero. So another thing is symmetry, symmetry, symmetry, symmetry. We're going to treat you like you treat us. That's what Trump is saying. You guys don't allow us to do that, we're not going to allow you to do it. Same thing with that. You mentioned the environmentalism. One of the aspects, as I understand that Trump's executive order, is he's not going to allow the same price for admittance for US people and foreign nationals. But when you go so many places, it'll say, if you're a EU member, you know what I mean? You can get in with your EU card, and if you're not, you pay. And it's the same thing when you land at an airport. EU people this. And it's a little bit. I mean, we have it too, to a certain extent, but they do prejudice things in Europe. If you're an EU Member, Member. And so Trump is just saying we're going to do the same thing. Same thing. And yeah, it's an effort to try to teach people that they're unique people and they have some unique attributes as Americans and a unique country, and they should be appreciative of that and they should be rewarded because they're American citizens. That's what he's trying to tell Teach.
Jack Fowler
Well, maybe it will restore the sense of patriotism. Now we're recording two days after the 4th of July. And maybe these are just too many anecdotes, but there seemed to be, there's more of a, a thread out there on the left of now denigrating the Fourth of July. This suppression and hatred of patriotism or anti patriotism is, is just becoming more.
Victor Davis Hanson
Well, those polls are very disturbing. 36% of Democrats feel that they're patriotic. And even when Obama was president and even when Biden was president, I think the lowest Republicans got it, like 80% percent said they were patriotic or 75. But it's the educational system, to be frank. When you have 50 million people who were not born in the United States, 55 million, and you have 16% of the population and you have no civic education to speak of, what do you expect? We have a, just to finish this, we have a certain. What's the word for it? Typeset of immigrant who come from very, very dangerous places, impoverished places. And they come and they come here with a largesse of the United States government and private institutions that give them fellowships. They go to college and they click in. Either they feel angry that this country works and theirs didn't, but. Or they feel that there are going to be career rewards if they are left and anti American. But how else do you explain, say, Barack Obama, his father comes from Kenya, he was an alcoholic. He got in what, two accidents, finally killed himself in an accident, comes over here on all these large scholarships, and then he's kind of an anti American. And he, his son is, you know, what do I need? You get the apology here. You get Kamala Harris's father comes from a very different place in the Caribbean. And he comes and next thing you know, he's a Marxist professor at Stanford. You get Mamdani there in Uganda, and they're driven out by this illiberal Ugandan racist government that doesn't like the 1% elite running the country, which the mercantile class of the Indian expatriate community. He goes to South Africa, they run him out, he comes to the United States and suddenly he's given this prestigious birth at what, Columbia and he's an endowed professor, his wife is a multi millionaire making these documentaries that critique American lifestyle. And then we get Mamdami who says that the United States is basically I could go on with the Ilian, OMAR and even AOCs. I think Father came. She was born in the United States, but he came from Puerto Rico. So that's what people are worried about when you all these people from godforsaken countries come over here and then the United States welcomes them. JFK had all those programs for scholars. That's what Obama's dad came over students. And they get all of these beneficia from us and then they either become very radically anti American or their kids become radical. And then you won. And then when somebody said why do we do do that? And everybody said you're a nativist, you're a racist, you're a xenophobe. No, why would it? Why would you? I guess it's because the left welcomes them in to universities or foundations and then encourage them to be anti American. I don't know. But we're all waiting for immigrants to come from failed states and say oh my God, thank you for coming.
Jack Fowler
Kiss the ground. Yeah, not happening. Well, Victor, I'm going to kiss the screen in a minute. Appreciation for all the wisdom you've shared today. Recorded two shows.
Victor Davis Hanson
You've been terrific.
Jack Fowler
I want to thank the folks that leave comments. Hundreds and hundreds of comments on Victor's website, on YouTube, on Rumble, on Apple. Thanks for taking the time to do that. I try to read most of them. I'm going to read one here in a second. I want to thank the folks that write me about Civil Thoughts, which is the free weekly email newsletter I write for the center for Civil Society. You can go to civilthoughts.com sign up every Friday. The newsletter provides 14 great article. Here's a clip, here's a link of great articles I've come across the previous week. I think you're going to like it. Again, it's free and we are not selling your name. Trust me, there's no risk. One comment and you know I mispronounced not called you Remember we talked about a couple of episodes ago I called you Victor. David Hansen's.
Victor Davis Hanson
Some more people say David than David.
Jack Fowler
So dan mar dan norris8478 writes. Hey Victor, you should dump your blue blood interviewer and hire me. I guaran t you. I will pronounce your name correctly. I didn't know I was I Didn't know I was blue blood.
Victor Davis Hanson
I would say without any exaggeration that If I'm introduced 40% of the time they say David. Yeah, well, and I'm reason I never used my name. It's all of a sudden I came home with my PhD thesis I was writing. It was 23 and I had a typewritten and my mother said, Victor Hansen, we named all three of you boys after these Swedes. And we have Hansen, Hansen, Hansen, Hansen. And my father had three daughters. And the Davis name is dead. And why don't you use your middle name? Your oldest brother was nails Swedish Swede Hansen. And you and your twin brother are going to have Davis. So I want you to. I said, what do you want me to do? I want you to put your name on your thesis. Victor Davis Hansen. So that's what I did.
Jack Fowler
You were good, obedient son. That's a good thing the name vdh. It resonates. So anyway, wow.
Victor Davis Hanson
I've had of a lot lot of flashback because everybody's. I've had people say actually introduce me in university settings of course. I'd like to introduce our next speaker, VD Hansen. As in venereal disease. So that's kind of funny, but not funny. Hey vd. Anyway, I think you froze.
Jack Fowler
I froze. I'm sorry. I don't know. I. I've got to get a different connection. Well, let's just say thanks everybody and we'll see you and next time with.
Victor Davis Hanson
A big thank you for listening everybody. We'll see you next time and thanks for watching and listening.
Jack Fowler
God bless.
Shopify Ad
Shopify helps you sell at every stage of your business. Like that. Let's put it online and see what happens.
Victor Davis Hanson
Stage and the site is live.
Shopify Ad
That reopened 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 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 trial@shopify.com. listen.
Summary of Podcast Episode: "There is No Safe Haven for ‘Trump-ugees’"
Podcast Information:
[01:46] Jack Fowler opens the episode by welcoming listeners and briefly introduces Victor Davis Hanson, highlighting his extensive background. The main topic for this episode revolves around the phenomenon dubbed "Trump-ugees," discussing their impact and the broader socio-political climate.
[05:03] Victor Davis Hanson cautions against the notion that Trump supporters fleeing the United States have found safe havens abroad, specifically mentioning the Netherlands. He argues that Trumpism is not confined to the U.S. but is a global reaction against progressive policies:
"Trumpism is not unique to the United States or any particular state. It's a representation of the failure of the post-war progressive project..."
— Victor Davis Hanson [05:10]
Hanson emphasizes that similar movements are emerging in countries like Hungary, Romania, Italy, and the UK, reflecting a universal backlash against elite-driven, socialist-leaning policies.
[09:14] Hanson critiques recent economic forecasts and media narratives, pointing out discrepancies between predictions of economic downturns and the actual performance:
"The Wall Street Journal told us in March was not true. We didn't have a recession, we didn't have a market collapse. The stock market's the highest it has ever been."
— Victor Davis Hanson [08:50]
He highlights the resilience of the U.S. economy, noting strong job growth and a robust stock market despite challenges like AI advancements and global economic shifts.
[09:24] Jack Fowler raises concerns about unfilled manufacturing and trade jobs, referencing a report by Jeffrey Tucker in the Epoch Times about 400,000 high-end trade jobs remaining vacant.
[10:36] Hanson addresses these labor shortages by discussing the impact of AI and mechanization:
"On the one hand, you're getting this message that there's going to be fewer and fewer jobs... On the other, we're starting to see that a lot of them were not working."
— Victor Davis Hanson [10:45]
He observes significant advancements in agricultural mechanization, noting the efficiency of modern machinery in tasks previously thought impossible to automate, such as olive and raisin harvesting.
[23:51] Jack Fowler introduces a discussion on President Trump's recent "Make America Beautiful Again" executive order, aimed at establishing a commission for conservation and expanding public land access.
[23:54] Hanson responds by reflecting on historical environmental initiatives, emphasizing that responsible development can coexist with natural preservation:
"We were going to make all these beautiful lakes in the Sierra... They're beautiful places."
— Victor Davis Hanson [24:05]
He criticizes radical environmentalists for their elitist approach, arguing that their policies often harm middle and lower-income individuals rather than the affluent:
"Environmentalism is an elite attack on the middle classes... It's an amoral time we're living in."
— Victor Davis Hanson [34:37]
[44:50] Jack Fowler brings up recent reports from College Fix regarding top medical schools enforcing beliefs like weight inclusivity and racial justice, which Hanson criticizes as ideological overreach.
[47:41] Hanson discusses the pressures within academia to conform to diversity and inclusion mandates, suggesting that it leads to the promotion of non-merit-based appointments:
"When you have that agenda, then you look at people who are doctors who are applying to be professors of medicine... It's not based on merit."
— Victor Davis Hanson [48:07]
He argues that such practices undermine the quality of education and professional standards, leading to detrimental outcomes for society.
[51:36] Jack Fowler mentions President Trump's executive order on common-sense wildfire prevention and response, seeking Hanson's perspective.
[52:18] Hanson views Trump's actions as a referendum against the current administration's policies, emphasizing a return to common sense and pragmatic solutions:
"We're going to reflect that. And one of the things we're going to do is stop environmentalism destroying people's lives..."
— Victor Davis Hanson [52:25]
He praises the focus on practical measures that benefit the majority, contrasting them with what he sees as the impractical policies of the previous administration.
[56:02] Jack Fowler discusses the new Texas law banning foreign ownership of land, particularly targeting nations like China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia.
[56:10] Hanson responds by highlighting the importance of national security and reciprocal policies:
"We're going to treat you like you treat us. That's what Trump is saying."
— Victor Davis Hanson [56:24]
He underscores the need for symmetry in foreign investment restrictions and the protection of sensitive areas adjacent to military installations.
[57:47] Jack Fowler touches upon the declining sense of patriotism, especially among Democrats, citing polls where only 36% consider themselves patriotic.
[58:11] Hanson attributes this decline to inadequate civic education and the impact of immigration policies that he believes dilute national identity:
"When you have 50 million people who were not born in the United States... What do you expect?"
— Victor Davis Hanson [58:07]
He criticizes the assimilation process, arguing that many immigrants become anti-American due to their experiences and influences within academic and governmental institutions.
[63:07] Fowler concludes the episode by acknowledging listener comments and promoting the "Civil Thoughts" newsletter. He shares a humorous exchange about pronunciation mishaps regarding Hanson's name, adding a personal touch to the episode.
[63:39] Hanson signs off with a call for continued vigilance and appreciation for common sense in societal policies.
Victor Davis Hanson [05:10]:
"Trumpism is not unique to the United States or any particular state. It's a representation of the failure of the post-war progressive project..."
Hansons [08:50]:
"The Wall Street Journal told us in March was not true. We didn't have a recession, we didn't have a market collapse. The stock market's the highest it has ever been."
Hanson [24:05]:
"We're going to make all these beautiful lakes in the Sierra... They're beautiful places."
Hanson [34:37]:
"Environmentalism is an elite attack on the middle classes... It's an amoral time we're living in."
Hanson [52:25]:
"We're going to reflect that. And one of the things we're going to do is stop environmentalism destroying people's lives..."
In this episode, Victor Davis Hanson and Jack Fowler delve deep into the socio-political landscape shaped by Trump's influence and the countercurrents it has ignited. Hanson provides a robust defense of Trump's policies, particularly in areas like immigration, environmental reform, and education. He critiques the progressive post-war projects, arguing that they have led to unintended consequences such as increased government intervention, job automation, and ideological overreach in higher education.
Hanson underscores the importance of returning to common-sense policies that prioritize the majority's well-being over elite-driven agendas. He highlights the resilience of the American economy despite predictions of downturns and emphasizes the need for infrastructure that stands the test of time, drawing comparisons between modern and historical construction practices.
The discussion also addresses the erosion of patriotism, attributing it to flawed immigration policies and inadequate civic education. Hanson calls for a reinvigoration of national values and a rejection of policies that, in his view, undermine the fabric of American society.
Overall, the episode presents a critical perspective on contemporary progressive policies, advocating for a return to traditional values and pragmatic governance.