‘Demonstrably Untrue’: Victor Davis Hanson Rebuts Tucker Carlson’s Israel, Qatar Claims

Summary

Podcast Summary:

Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words
Episode: ‘Demonstrably Untrue’: Victor Davis Hanson Rebuts Tucker Carlson’s Israel, Qatar Claims
Date: December 23, 2025
Host: Victor Davis Hanson (with Jack Fowler) | The Daily Signal

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Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into Victor Davis Hanson’s response to recent controversial comments by Tucker Carlson regarding Israel’s strategic significance compared to Gulf states like Qatar. Hanson systematically rebuts these claims with historical, economic, and moral arguments, and discusses associated rises in antisemitism, the dynamics of Middle Eastern politics, gun control failures, the problems of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), the proliferation of AI-generated impersonations, the legacy of Norman Podhoretz, and broader Western sociopolitical currents. The episode maintains Hanson's characteristic mix of historical context, personal anecdote, pointed critique, and conservative skepticism.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Rebutting Tucker Carlson’s Israel Critique

[03:39–15:33]

• Carlson’s Claims:

  • Israel is “a completely insignificant country” with “no resources.”
  • U.S. receives nothing of value from its support of Israel.
  • Gulf states, notably Qatar, offer “much more” to the U.S.
  • Only significance of Israel is from the U.S. security guarantee.

• Hanson’s Response:

  • Historical and Cultural Significance:
    • Israel is the home and protector of the Judeo-Christian tradition and Jerusalem.
      “Does Tucker really believe that Jerusalem in the hands of the Jordanians was better than under the Israelis?” [05:30]
  • Contrasting Political Systems:
    • Qatar is an autocracy with limited citizenship; Israel is a constitutional democracy where Arabs have rights and hold office.
    • “Not one constitutional government there... only about 20% are citizens. The rest are Helots... They don't have the civil rights that Arabs do inside Israel.” [06:01]
  • Economic and Scientific Contributions:
    • Israel is self-sufficient in fossil fuels, a net exporter of natural gas, and a pioneer in technological innovations (e.g., drip irrigation—anecdote about Hanson's own vineyard modernization) [07:00].
    • Highest per capita Nobel laureates; Israeli innovations significantly benefit the U.S.
    • “When we send over F-35s, it’s the only country in the world that makes adaptations to improve it and usually shares those completely with us.” [09:10]
  • Security and Defense Cooperation:
    • Israel provides key intelligence, military innovation, and acts as a deterrent to common threats (Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, Houthis).
    • “Who has deterred them? The Israelis have.” [10:50]
  • Moral and Strategic Reality:
    • The Gulf states are frequently sources of radicalization; Qatar funds some anti-Western activities and propaganda (citing Al Jazeera).
    • “Al Jazeera prints nothing but hate toward the United States every single day. The Israeli left and right do not do that.” [11:30]
  • Investment Perspective:
    • Support for Israel is proportionally a much better investment than NATO.
    • “It’s been as good as investment as the 16% of the NATO investment.” [14:30]
  • Timing and Context:
    • Critique of rising appeasement and reluctance to name radical Islamic violence in recent global attacks—contrasting Israeli and Muslim nations’ behaviors after recent events (e.g., Bondi Beach attack in Australia).
    • Criticism of consistent focus on perceived Jewish issues when far worse atrocities elsewhere (e.g., in Nigeria, Armenia) are ignored.

2. Analysis: Middle East, U.S. Policy, and Conservative Movement Change

[17:58–21:36]

• Satirical Commentary:
  • Mocking the idea that Israel was behind U.S. involvements in Kuwait or Iraq.
  • Critique of the notion U.S. is manipulated by Israel, highlighting the factual origins of terrorism, funding, and anti-American threats in other Middle Eastern countries.
• Conservative Leadership Vacuum:
  • A lament that conservative voices (Breitbart, Limbaugh, Charlie Kirk) are fading, with Carlson’s shift seen as part of this trend.
  • “Tucker is no longer with us. It's a new Tucker. And I don't know what happened…” [20:48]

3. Bondi Beach Attack & Gun Control Policy Failures

[21:36–27:05]

• Australian political response:
  • Criticizes Australian leaders’ focus on gun control instead of addressing radicalization and known threats.
• Gun Control Skepticism:
  • Argues that strict gun laws don't stop extremists from acquiring firearms; state ideological bias controls access—law-abiding Jews less likely to get weapons than those perceived as less of a threat.

4. DEI and Affirmative Action

[27:23–31:43]

• Problems with DEI-driven policies in hiring and culture:
  • Loss of meritocracy in U.S. institutions and awards undermines excellence.
• Rejection of Racial Preferences:
  • Personal account: “I've been about 12 [hiring committees]. I am not going to predetermine the... I want to hire the best person.” [28:47]
• Overuse of accusations of racism has “devalued the currency.”
  • “It's like a bucket of paper bills, German marks trying to buy something. Racist, racist, racist, racist, racist...” [31:43]

5. AI Abuse and Fake Victor Davis Hanson Content

[33:20–36:32]

• Proliferation of AI-imposter videos:
  • Widespread reposting of deepfake videos imitating Hanson.
  • Negative impacts on reputation and audience confusion.
  • Strategies: look for watermarks, note differences in voice/accent, legal action ongoing.

6. Remembering Norman Podhoretz

[37:17–46:03]

• Eulogy for Podhoretz:
  • Admiration for his courage, transparency, contrarianism, and ascent from poverty.
  • Role in shaping neoconservatism and U.S. Jewish intellectual life.
  • Comments on the Jewish immigrant experience and value for American society.
• Broader context of rising antisemitic incidents in New York and the U.S.:
  • Specific recent attacks and the emboldenment of antisemitic actors.
  • “If you continue with the antisemitism... and your criticism of this group does not apply to other groups... It's baffling.” [44:00]

7. Social Consequences & Police Failures in the West

[51:08–56:40]

• Western police and political unwillingness to confront radical Islamic threat head-on:
  • Use of petty enforcement as distraction from larger failures (the “Bloomberg Effect”).
  • Growing public anger and perception of government ineffectiveness.

8. U.S. Social Strain under Immigration and Welfare Pressures

[56:40–57:36]

• Healthcare and welfare systems overwhelmed by unregulated influx:
  • Citizens waiting longer for medical care while newcomers use entitlements more quickly.
  • Anecdotes showing frustration among all demographic groups, not just “old white males.”

9. Electric Vehicle Market Realities

[58:40–62:16]

• Personal anecdote about EV ownership:
  • Praising practicality in daily use; long distances remain a challenge without infrastructure.
• Market vs. Mandate:
  • Ford’s $20B EV loss underscores that market—rather than ideological mandate—must drive adoption.
  • “If you destroy the market based on meritocracy and you do the same thing... DEI... It's a double whammy.” [61:01]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Tucker Carlson’s Critique of Israel:
  • “Everything he just said is demonstrably untrue... It's not an insignificant country... Israel is the home of the Judeo-Christian tradition... It has probably the highest per capita Nobel Prize winners... When we send over F-35s, it’s the only country in the world that makes adaptations to improve it and usually shares those completely with us.” — Victor Davis Hanson [05:15–09:00]
• On Terror and U.S. Policy:
  • “Does Tucker really believe that Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis are not enemies of the United States? We don’t have any soldiers fighting Hezbollah. They blew up our marines, they blew up our embassy...” — VDH [10:36]
• On Antisemitism and Western Response:
  • “If you keep doing that... and your criticism of this group of people does not apply to [others], why just pick on the Jews... when there’s all these other examples that would fit your criteria?” — VDH [44:00]
• On DEI and Loss of Meritocracy:
  • “Anytime for any reason you destroy meritocracy... it doesn't work. That’s why we distinguished ourselves in the West...” — VDH [27:23]
• On AI Imposters:
  • “I get people who write me every day and say, 'I can't believe you said this, or you talk much faster now'... we've put a watermark on my daily videos... If it doesn’t have that, it’s not me.” — VDH [36:04]
• On Conservative Movement:
  • “Conservative movement is really hemorrhaging spokespeople.” — VDH [21:26]
• On Problems with Gun Laws and Terror Response:
  • “No, you don't need more gun control. You needed a lot more cameras and you needed a rapid response team... and to be a lot better informed.” — VDH [27:00]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Rebuttal to Tucker Carlson on Israel – [03:39–15:33]
• U.S., Middle East & Terrorism Dynamics – [17:58–21:36]
• Bondi Beach Attack & Gun Control Policy – [21:36–27:05]
• DEI, Affirmative Action Rant – [27:23–31:43]
• AI Fake Videos Scandal – [33:20–36:32]
• Norman Podhoretz Remembrance – [37:17–46:03]
• Antisemitism & New York Incidents – [42:24–46:03]
• Western Police Failures & Social Strain – [51:08–57:36]
• Electric Vehicles & Market Realities – [58:40–62:16]

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Tone and Style

Victor Davis Hanson speaks with a blend of academic precision and passionate, sometimes sardonic, critique. The episode is dense with history, first-hand anecdotes, and moral argument delivered in a conversational yet intellectual tone.

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For First-Time Listeners

This episode gives a clear sense of Hanson's analytic style: grounded in historical context and focused on connecting contemporary events to larger civilizational trends. Those interested in U.S. foreign policy, the problems of antisemitism, conservative movement fractures, and debates over social engineering versus meritocracy will find this a valuable and thought-provoking listen.

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Note:
For convenience, ads, promotional announcements, repeated subscription reminders, and outro platitudes have been omitted from this summary.

Transcript

[Jack Fowler]

Well, folks, you've heard this before. Not yet. Not yet. And that's who's saying that, of course, is the great Victor Davis Hansen. And this is Victor Davis Hansen in his own words. We are recording. This is odd. Odd date. We got a little time, so we are recording on Wednesday the 17th. This particular episode will not till Tuesday the 23rd. So deal with the time delay, folks. I'm Jack Fowler. I'm the man lucky enough to get to ask Victor questions. And Victor is the Martin and Ely Anderson Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He's also a senior contributor at the Daily Signal, which is the happy home of this podcast. Victor also has a show called Victor Davis Hansen in a Few Words, which four times a week he does about a seven or eight minute video for the Daily Signal. You should check that out. Victor's got a website, the blade of Perseus. VictorHansen.com is the address. An eclectic material we've thrown together here, Victor. As we found out within the last half hour, we were going to record this, but I think what we should talk about first is again is Tucker Carlson and some truly serious and seriously disturbing comments he's made about Israel and gutter. And then Norman Podart, the great editor of Commentary magazine, has passed away. AI The AI abuse of Victor Davis Hansen on social media continues. Some of the initial actions by in response to what happened at Bondi beach in Australia is worthy of Victor's comments. So all those topics and more, and we'll get to all that when we return from these initial important messages.

[Tony Kennett]

Hey, folks, it's Tony Kennett, national correspondent for the Daily Signal and host of the Tony Kennett cast. I need to share something with you. Our goal at the Daily Signal is simple. To cut through the noise and give you the facts you need to stay informed. As engaged citizens, unlike so many liberal media outlets, we're honest about our conservative views and report the news with a commitment to telling you the truth. But I'll be straight with you. Running an independent news operation isn't easy. While big media companies have corporate sponsors and massive bloated budgets, we operate differently. We answer to you, our audience and supporters. That independence is exactly what allows us to tackle the stories others won't touch and ask the tough questions others often avoid. But our independence comes with a challenge. We need your help to ensure the Daily Signal can continue to counter the liberal media's lies with the truth. Every deep dive investigation, every exclusive interview, every fact check we publish requires time and investment. If you've found value in what we do. If the Daily Signal has helped you stay informed or given you insights you couldn't find elsewhere, would you consider supporting our work with a donation today? Even a small monthly contribution makes a real difference in our ability to bring you the journalism you deserve and expect. You can support our work by visiting dailysignal.com that's dailysignal.com donate. Every dollar goes directly into making sure we can continue serving you with the reporting you've come to count on. Please go to dailysignal.com donate and give your gift Today.

[Jack Fowler]

We are back with Victor Davis Hansen in his own words. Victor, I'm looking at an X post today and it's posted by someone open source intel and here's it. And there's a link in here to a video of Tucker Carlson giving an interview which I watched. It's a few minutes long, but here's the synopsis of it. He's in Gutter. I'm going to call it Gutter Question why the United States prioritize Israel over Gulf states such as Gutter? Arguing that the strategic value is one sided. He Tucker said Israel is quote, a completely insignificant country, end quote, with no resources and quote unquote, 9 million people, adding that quote, the only reason it has any significance is because we provide a security guarantee. Carlson added, do we have to defend Israel and claim there is no overriding strategic interest in Israel for the United States? Saying, what are we getting out of this? Nothing. It's only costs. I'm almost done here Victor. By contrast, he argued the Gulf states matter far more, saying the six GCC nations there are very obvious benefits to the United States. And he described those ties as much more important than the relationship with Israel, infinitely more important. He concluded that Gutter's relationship with the US Is so much more important than with Israel. Man oh man. Victor, your thoughts?

[Victor Davis Hanson]

I would like to say it pains me to say this, but the Tucker that is talking is not the one that I had a seven to eight year relationship every Monday after the monologue. But to be frank, everything he just said is demonstrably untrue. It's not an insignificant country. Let me not just say platitudes but let me be precise and offer examples and data. First of all, Israel is the home of the Judeo Christian, half of the Judeo Christian and you can argue the whole home of the Judeo Christian tradition. It's the protector of Jerusalem. Does Tucker really believe that Jerusalem in the hands of the Jordanians was better than under the Israelis? Does he really believe that prior to the existence of Israel, the Middle east was a better place. So it's got historical and cultural value. Number two, when he says it doesn't have resources, it's completely self sufficient in fossil fuels, it is a net exporter of natural gas. It will be working with the Cypriots and the Greeks to tap offshore Mediterranean natural gas which will be sent to Europe if Turkey doesn't interfere. He's talking about Qatar, which is an autocracy. And I have always said that there was no strategic point in demonizing Saudi Arabia in the way that Joe Biden did. Said it was a rogue nation, then he turned around and begged it to pump oil. But Tucker, there's not one constitutional government there. When you say they have 3 million people in Qatar, there's only about 20% are citizens. The rest are Helots, that is, they are laborers with no civil rights. They don't have the civil rights that Arabs do inside Israel, which are full citizens. They don't vote on any legislation in Qatar, nobody votes on it. But in Israel, Arabs vote on their own government and they have error representatives throughout the Israeli bureaucracy and throughout the Knesset. That was wrong when he said it's insignificant. We don't get anything out of it. It has probably the highest per capita. It has 12 Nobel Prize winners. And if you look at 11 million people, it's pretty much the highest per capita Nobel Prize winners. And they have given us everything from flash drives to drip irrigation. I'll give you example, Tucker. I came home in 1980 from graduate school and we had 20 acres of sandy vineyard that was uphill almost. You could not irrigate it furrow. My grandfather almost had a heart attack. And then I came home and one day my brother was there, my twin brother, and he had this curious little black tubing and he was with a Israeli Dutch engineer, was unraveling it. And I said, what in the world is that? And he said it's called drip irrigation. I said, what? And he said, yeah, we're going to put this a high. We're going to have a high pressure blades on the pump. We'll change them and we'll put some filters on it. And we're going to send all this water uphill under enormous 60 pounds of pressure and we're going to have one gallon per hour emitters at every vine. I said, you don't have to do furrows. You don't have to. No. I said, well, who thought this up? He said, the Israelis did. And then the engineer said, Explained it to me, who was an Israeli. It was called Netafilm. It had just been invented. And that story could be replicated all through American life. When we send over F35s, it's the only country in the world that makes adaptations to it to improve its efficacy. And it usually shares those completely with us. When he said, what do we get out of it? Just forget Israel for a minute and ask yourself, what was the position of the United States government toward a nuclear Iran? I can tell you what it was. George Bush had an initiative that Barack Obama canceled to build a missile defense system on the request of Europe in the Czech Republic and perhaps in Poland, to protect the European continent from a missile which they now have to reach Europe. And they probably would have had a nuclear weapon and probably within a year a miniaturized one that would fit on an intercontinental ballistic missile. And Europe would be at the mercy of the Iranian theocracy because they would, you know what they would do every five minutes, they would say the. We want the 72 virgins. We. You love life, we love death. You're a one bomb continent. We can live with half our, that whole stuff that they do with Israel. And so when we decided, we, we, the United States decided to take that out. Who did we ask permission to get into Iranian airspace? The Israelis. There were no air defenses. We flew all the way from the United States. We were there for 28 minutes. We took them out and we returned in complete. That would have been impossible without the Israelis. And does Tucker really believe that Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis are not enemies of the United States? We don't have any soldiers fighting Hezbollah. They blew up our marines, they blew up our embassy. The Houthis attacked our ships. Hamas people have committed terrorists. Who has deterred them? The Israelis have. Then you get to his idea that we give them all this money and then they share all their intelligence with us. And he's in gutter and he's got a house there. And I think he's had funding from them from some sources. That's an allegation I can't confirm. But he's talking with the elite of gutter. He's not going out and talking with people on the street that are from Pakistan or India or Indonesia who are working there. I mean, they're not going to be able to say anything or they'll be deported. But he's talking about a veneer of an oil rich. Take the most left wing or right wing. Israeli newspapers, Jerusalem, Po, any of them. And Israeli Times and then compare it to Al Jazeera, which is based in Qatar. Al Jazeera prints nothing but hate toward the United States every single day. The Israeli left and right do not do that. They do not attack the United States. Where do you think the terrorists? Last I looked, Israeli Jews did not blow up anything here. I know there's a conspiracy that says they were behind 9 11, but there's no evidence for that. There's no evidence for any of these conspiracies that they floated. They didn't kill Charlie Kirk, they didn't try to force us to go into Venezuela. None of that. Israel is a humane, constitutional, consensual society. And it's in our interest as the only one in the Middle east to be a partner with it. And unlike many of our allies that are completely disarmed. I'm talking about you now, Europeans and some of the other allies. This ally is like Japan or Australia or South. They're starting. They're not even like that. They are starting to rearm. Israel is armed to the teeth. So are our interests exactly identical? No nation's interests are exactly identical. But it's been as good as investment as the 16% of the NATO investment. I can tell you that. Helping Israel out because we are the beneficiary of it. And so for cultural, economic, political, military, it's been a win win situation for that alliance. And I don't know where all of a sudden this was a particularly untimely statement, he said, because it comes on the heel of radical Islamicists in Australia, wounding 40 people and murdering 16 innocents from an appeasement policy similar to what he voiced from the Prime Minister of Australia. Basically afraid to say anything negative about the Islamic world. And I understand the Islamic Gulf states are more Westernized, but let's be honest, where did bin Laden come from? Where did the 19 hijackers come from that killed 3,000Americans? Where does the money come from that funds all these different groups? Where do you think gutter? Where do you think their money goes to? And where did they think the 50 million a year, Is that what it is? Subsidizing American Middle east departments on college campuses where we hear globalize the intifada? Well, we saw the globalization of the intifada. They had to cancel a Christmas celebration in Paris. Who did that? Were that the Jews that did that? Did they say, if you have Christmas and you're not Jewish, we're going to disrupt it? The Germans are afraid to do it. The Jews a problem there. I don't think that's true. We don't know who the brown shooter was, but there are reports that somebody yelled some type of Islamic statement. I don't want to rush to judgment, but I don't think the shooter is going to be found to be a Jewish nationalist. So every aspect of what he said is inaccurate. Yeah.

[Jack Fowler]

Hey, Victor. I want to come back to this, but first for our listeners and viewers, if you've studied enough history, you start to see a pattern. Nations don't lose their way overnight. They drift through debt and division until one day you realize the foundations you thought were permanent were never permanent at all. Today, America is spending at levels once reserved for wartime, and we've normalized deficits that would stunned earlier generations. And policymakers now debate whether the only path forward is more intervention, more printing, more distortion. But here's the historical truth. Every society that pushed its currency beyond discipline eventually paid a price. The wise never waited for collapse. They prepared for the correction. And that's why so many thoughtful Americans, especially those nearing retirement or in retirement, are reallocating part of their wealth into something that has outlasted every paper experiment in human history. And I'm talking about physical gold, not as speculation but as insulation. Reputation matters, which is why we're partnering with Allegiance Gold, a company distinguished by integrity, reliability and an A rating with a Better Business Bureau. For years they've guided Americans through transparent education and long standing relationships built on trust. And right now they're extending, extending a special liberty offer for our listeners to help you get started with real gold, whether your funds are in a retirement account or sitting in a bank. If you believe the best time to reinforce your position is before the storm becomes obvious, call 8447-909191-84479, 09191 or visit protectwithvictor.com that's 8447-909191-84479-09191 or visit ProtectWithVictor.com History rewards those who take the long view. And we thank the good people from Allegiance Gold for sponsoring Victor Davis Hansen in his own words. Victor, any number of Americans, thousands actually have been killed soldiers in Kuwait, in Iraq, and I guess it was all.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Those Israeli shaped charges. Is that where they came from in Iraq?

[Jack Fowler]

Yeah. Wasn't. Was Kuwait really Israeli occupied territory? Is that why we went to war in 1991? That's.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Yeah, that was a pretty expensive war. I guess. Saddam Hussein was a pretty he was having Abu Nadal and now every terrorist in the world was living in Iraq under exemption before we went in there, not to mention the Taliban, not to mention Pakistan. I guess Tucker thinks that bin Laden had a compound hiding out in Israel. I thought last I heard it was in Pakistan. So I don't know what the key is. I mean, I don't know what's driving that. What makes a person say things that's an intelligent person that knows those are demonstrably demonstrating, demonstratively untrue. When he says it's an insignificant and it's of no benefit. And the relationship, da, da, da. And then he contrasts that with these dictatorships that are monolithic, autocratic, religiously intolerant countries, some of which have an active propaganda to try to destroy the United States and whose people from the Middle east are now trying to go into Europe and into the United States. And I'm talking about whether it's in Somalia or whether it is shooting Jews at a Holocaust museum or what. But they are going into these countries, and they're not assimilating, integrating, and acculturating. They're trying to create Islamic atoll. So I don't understand it. I'm just baffled. Other than somebody calls me up and say, hey, Victor, we love your podcast. We love them. You're so great. You know what? I'm from Qatar and I'm a U.S. i'm an envoy, and I'd like to fund you. You know what? I know you're struggling and you've had to change platforms and you're suffering a wave of AI attacks. So we'll just give you this big subsidy. Can you fly over and talk to us about it? And I fly over and say, hey, this home, do you want to buy one here? I don't know. I mean, that doesn't happen to me much. I get people who'll say, you know, if you advertise this, but it's minor and it's easy to refute. I don't know if I would have the moral authority to say, no, I don't want to do that, but I think I would. So I don't know it's going to affect Jack because we've had all of these icons. I mean, Andrew Breitbart died early. Rush Limbaugh, bless his soul, died early. Tragically, Charlie Kirk, more even more tragic because he was so young, died. And then we had people in the movement. Tucker, we had this conversation four years ago, was at a status with Charlie, Kirk and Rush, probably, and that Tucker is no longer with us. It's a new Tucker. And I don't know what happened, but I have a feeling maybe it was the. I think he was unfairly dismissed from Fox News. Not given enough warning and maybe not enough grounds, but I don't know, have all the access to that information. But something happened and the conservative movement is really hemorrhaging spokespeople. Right.

[Jack Fowler]

Well, Victor, a little more on the anti Semitic front before we take a break. And we're a few days out from the well again, we're recording on the 17th so from the Bondi Beach, Australia massacre and two days after that, it must have been yesterday, there were these rallies in Sydney of hardcore Islamists through the streets yelling Allah Akbar. You have the prime minister or the deputy prime minister of Australia who I think is also the defense minister with a really, really gutless, weak response of like who's to blame. We have the government trying to shift the focus immediately from their own essentially supportive efforts of the radical Islamists by. Let's focus on gun. This is really about, we need more gun control as opposed to stopping these, getting, kicking these people out of the, the island nation. And then the last thing is a really troubling video I saw earlier today on acts of one of a mother who was at the beach who was separated from her kid and she had actually was trying to get hold of a gun so she could shoot back at these people. And the cops who could have been shooting back were restraining her and they themselves were not shooting back with the.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Only one was yeah, there was just one guy and he had a revolver, automatic handgun and he semi automatic. And he was a very good shot. And he, he just, he got the guy. But it, I mean I don't want to use crude metaphors, but when you looked at those tapes and that guy and his expression and what they were doing, it was sort. And all the people running it was kind of like that Las Vegas horrible scene. But it was even worse because it was ethnic and racial and religious. And he was sort of like a hunter and he looked at them as game and he was just trying to pick them off and shoot them and kill them. And then this is what it really gets me angry because the prime minister, he comes out and says he's going to get gun control. And then this man has six weapons. He has six weapons. He's been investigated as a known ISIS relation with a known ISIS relation. He is in, he has traveled to the Philippines and he has put his assets in his wife's name. And we're supposed to believe that that family, the wife and everybody we'll see what happens. But is she really going to tell us? Oh, it's like Jack, Jack says to his wife, I'm going to the Philippines for three weeks. You know, I've got some political and I'll be gone for three months and I'm going to put all my assets in your name because something might happen. Why are you doing that, Jack? Well, so I don't think that the family was ignorant of what they were doing or who they were. I don't think the Australian government was fully ignorant of what they were capable of. I don't know how in a country that brags about how it has the strictest gun control in the world that it would allow a Islamicist and to have six automatic weapons. But I will say this. In gun controlled societies there are people who have guns because that determination is made by the government and that determination is always made on ideological grounds. So the guy who says, under my Second Amendment rights, I have an AR15 and I've got a couple of automatic handguns and an automatic and I've got a big chest of ammo, he's not nuts. He's not. He's saying, you know what? I'm going to be an armed American citizen because at some point somebody will try to control weapons and they won't control them. They will give them to people they know are dangerous because they're ideologically afraid of them or they're akin to them and they will go after other people. In other words, I don't think a Jewish citizen who has a lot more to worry about in Australia than these two characters would ever be allowed to buy six automatic weapons. I just don't think that government would let them do it. And if the answer is yes, then they should ask themselves why. And it's shameless for all of these excuses that they're offering. Same thing in Rhode island. They said gun control is always the excuse when you. It's a systems fail. As soon as this thing happened in Brown, all these senators representatives said, we need more gun control. No, you don't need more gun control. You needed a lot more cameras and you needed a rapid response team in your campus and city police and you needed a much more collaborative effort with the FBI to see if there were any people in your area with a history of extremism, especially Islamic extremism, and you needed to be a lot better informed.

[Jack Fowler]

But Providence hired its police chief from Columbia, the country of not. Not Columbia University, which might have been worse, even dei.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Why not?

[Jack Fowler]

Well, that was his Priority too. We got DEI up. Too many Irishmen and Italians, I guess.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Oh yeah, that's, that's the problem. I think people are slowly, I keep saying this. I just think they're saying, you know, the DEI was destroying the United States as it destroyed Europe. And anytime for any reason, you destroy meritocracy, whether it's the ideological commissar system or it's the Islamic Muslim only system, it doesn't work. That's why we distinguish ourselves in the West. We have a meritocracy. And this idea that, you know, we talked, Sammy and I talked about this Jacob Savage story about screenwriters, journalists, movie production, all of that. Writers, academic. It wasn't just affirmative action. It wasn't just dei, it was just overt racism. So they wanted to get the numbers down to 10 or 12% white males.

[Jack Fowler]

Is this the compact magazine article?

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Yeah.

[Jack Fowler]

You know, a couple of people sent that to me and I.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Eight million views. Yeah.

[Jack Fowler]

Well, I did write back to some of my friends. I said, you know, Victor, as many times, many times on the podcast has talked about 30 plus years ago when he was on hiring committees for college and the. And no white men need apply, essentially.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

I always said, no. I said, no, I'm not going to do it. I always said that. I said, I am not going to do it. I've said that every hiring committee I have ever been on, I've been about 12. I am not going to predetermine the. And I have hired women and I've hired, in one case, minorities. But I have never, ever said, I'm going to predetermine. I want to hire the best person that wants the job. Sometimes I've had to go down to the eighth or ninth candidate, but I've never done that. Everybody should understand there is a reason why nobody watches. The Oscars, the Grammys, the Emmys, the Tonys, the Pulitzer Prizes don't mean anything. The Nobel Prize in Literature doesn't mean anything because they're all biased. They're all under the grip of DEI and they're looking to say that this person is trans, that we gave it to, or she's the first woman. And it's always used to replace meritocracy. There was a reason why Corinne Jean Pierre, when she was on her book tour and every time people ask her a direct question and she couldn't answer it, she fell back to, I was the first gay black immigrant woman. Every time Ilyan Omar is pressed, did your son really, really, really get pulled over by ICE because he was black and suspected of immigration? Did you really, really, really, really, really feel that you were not treated fairly when they ask you just to sign an affidavit or just to say you did not marry your brother and violate. And then in every case, racist, racist, racist, racist, racist, racist, racist, racist. And it is racist because if she were a white male and married her sister, if she was some guy named Victor Bob Smith from Fresno county and he wants to come in here and he married his sister, I don't think I would last one second. And so she used race. If she wasn't a victim of race, she was using it as a club. And that's what DEI does. And everybody's going to have to say the only way to end it is say, you know what? You can say whatever you want. You can call me a racist, a homophobe, a transphobe, a sexist. You just. I don't care. I know I'm not. I'm not going to listen to it. But you can go ahead and say it because it's empty. It's like inflation. The currency is worthless. You've used it. Joy Reid or what? Rachel Maddow or Joy Reid or any of these people voice. It doesn't mean anything anymore. Yeah, they have expended their currency. Weimar, Weimar.

[Jack Fowler]

Insults.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

It is. It's like a bucket of paper bills, German marks trying to buy something. Racist, racist, racist, racist, racist, racist, racist, racist. They all do it. Everybody does it. And it doesn't. There's too many victims and there's not enough victimizers.

[Jack Fowler]

Folks, you've been listening to the real Victor Davis Hansen. But when we come back from these breaks, we're going to talk about AI Victor and the late Norman Podaris and other topics when we come back from these important messages. We're back with Victor Davis Hansen in his own words on the Daily Signal. Victor's website. The Blade of Perseus is something you should be subscribing to. It's $65 a year. You just want to check it out. Well, try it on a monthly basis at 6:50 that way. And when you do subscribe, you will find every week two exclusive articles Victor's written for the Blade of Perseus and one exclusive video. Plus there's tons of free stuff. Links galore to Victor's various appearances, his other writings, his books, et cetera. So that's go to victorhansen.com. check that out if you're on X Victor's handle. Real Victor's hands at VD Hansen on Facebook there's VDH's Morning cup, and we have a great friendly group. Victor Davis Hansen Fan Club. You should check that out and maybe even join yourself. Victor the fake Victor. There are a couple of videos created of you and one in particular, you saying things about Mark Kelly and Pete.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

I never have, other than with you. And I was never ad hominem. Right.

[Jack Fowler]

Well, this has gotten replayed by people with sizable followings and then retweeted or whatever you want to call it. Reposted. But say, for example, Scott Adams, the Dilbert cartoonist who has got a huge following, he has reposted this. So people like me and others, we go around, please delete this. This is fake Victor.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

I tried to do the same thing. I get these emails, everybody, that I said, f JD Vance. I like JD Vance. I think he's a great vice president. I would never even use that word. I would never say anything about him. Senator Kelly, I think he violated the Uniform Code of Military justice that says that those are subject to recall, and he was subject to recall in a national emergency. That they're not to disparage the commander in chief or the major cabinet and vice president officers in the vice presidency, nor are they to advocate that people disrupt the chain of command. He violated that. I don't know what that means. I don't know if you want to court martial. I don't think they will court martial, but I do think they should have a reprimand. That's about all I've said on this. But I don't understand people that they have these ideas. Why don't they just voice them? It took us, Jack. I mean, when I started, I just did a small podcast for the Hoover Institution, and you and I started at National Abuse. So certain things developed so that we, you know, we went on and on.

[Jack Fowler]

To the wilderness for a little while.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

We went into the wilderness and there was no money to be made. There was no. We grew this audience. So this is kind of parasitical, these people every day. I mean, I'm not. I don't have the audience of Candace Owens or Joe Rogan or any of these people. So why do they just pick on this one little podcast? And they keep. It's everywhere. It's like six or it's like. And we have a legal counsel who's tracking it down, but it's really taken away our subscribers. It's taken away our viewers. I get people who write me every day and say, I can't believe you said this, or you talk much faster now. I can Tell you one way that you can determine and that is a. We have kind of a watermark now that the Daily Signal is putting on my daily videos and we'll have them on ours so that you can that if it doesn't have that mark, maybe they'll try to copy that. It's not me and I've had some health issues. And you can hear my voice is a little gravelly and it's going to get a lot gravelier because I'm going to have to have some procedures done. One procedure. And if everything works out, which I hope it will, I'll have a gravelly voice. But these don't have a gravelly voice. They're smoother than I am and they're quicker, faster. And the lips don't quite match. I know you guys can all out there can tell the difference if you look at it.

[Jack Fowler]

I do beg that, folks. Not begging's the wrong word, Victor, but if you've been told this is bogus, take it down. And you're not too big in the britches to be above admitting you made a mistake or you were faked out. So if you're a conservative on X with a significant following and you've been asked to remove it, please remove it. Okay. All right, Victor, let us get your thoughts on Norman Podoretz who passed away yesterday. Now again, we're recording on December 17th, episodes up on the 23rd. And this has to do with.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Victor.

[Jack Fowler]

Just mentioned various reasons to be away. So we had a little opportunity here to create an episode. So we took it. But Norman died yesterday. I love Norman. His wife was Midge Dector who passed away a few years ago. Mitch was a great sociologist and cultural. A writer. Norman was the editor of Commentary magazine for many years. He was 95, I think he stopped writing about maybe four years or so ago. But a true force in conservative intellectual life in the last 50 years. You knew him well, Victor. What are your thoughts about Norman?

[Victor Davis Hanson]

I knew Norman not well because he was a little older than I was. But every time I was in an event in New York, we would speak and he would write me and send me stuff. We corresponded. He was a self described contrarian. So he was always skeptical of the majority opinion and he was completely unafraid. He was the person who said you should bomb the Iranian nuclear. Remember that nuclear plant? I think it was 15 years ago. So he was a New York intellectual, part of the Jewish diaspora, and he came with nothing and making it. I read that autobiography was quite controversial because he was always Completely transparent. He said he loved America, he wanted to make it, he wanted to get rich, he wanted to get famous. And he did what he did to do it. And he was happy that he did it. And you're not supposed to say that among sophisticates. And he did, and he was a Democrat. And then he became skeptical during the Reagan years. He voted for Reagan and then he became a neoconservative. And then he went beyond that just as a skeptical conservative. So I think he was a very brilliant guy. And he wrote, he was famous for his commentary, magazine articles. They were wonderful. He was part of that group of Irving Kristol, Donald Kagan, Norman Porthorotz. They were all grew up poor. They came to the United States or their parents came to the United States. They were mostly second generation. They had nothing. And by their intellect and devotion to education and their parents help and help and I mean the sense of encourage them to get educated and to be fully assimilated. And that's what they did. They were the model immigrant pattern. That's another thing that I don't think Tucker understands. It's not a Jewish lobby that's doing this stuff for Israel. It's a group of people who came here in the 19th and 20th century to escape death. And then after the Holocaust, some more came. And when you look at terms of education levels, criminal activity, anything negative or good, they have almost a perfect record of respect for the law and American traditions. And then they've been very successful. You don't find a lot of Jewish people on welfare, if any. I've never, I don't think I've ever met anybody on welfare who was Jewish. And so I don't know what more you could ask of an immigrant group. And they've contributed richly to the intellectual and academic life of the United States. And they're, they're, they are acculturating in the sense of intermarriage like the Greek Diaspora was. So I think partly the rise of antisemitism in a very strange way means that those who are Jewish and identify as Jewish are shrinking. And the people who don't like them, the Middle east student group or green card holder or immigrant, are increasing. And that's new for America. They'll never make a number gentlemen's agreement about anti Semitism. They just won't do it because, not just because it's rarer today, or it used to be until recently, but because the Jewish population, people are intermarrying out of faith, etc. And they're not going to get and that there's going to be reverse immigration going to Israel because people in the west are going to say the old ancient bane of the west antisemitism is now mirror imaging the antisemitism in the Middle East. In the Middle east and in Eastern Europe it was to kill people or World War II Western Europe kill them. And we were now it's make things so uncomfortable that they want to leave. That's what it is.

[Jack Fowler]

Now the three, three newsworthy incidents in New York City the other day. Which New York City had the largest Jewish population in the world outside of Israel. I'm New Yorker by birth, just in case you didn't notice from my accent. But on the subway to seeming Orthodox Jews were harassed by a couple of black dudes in Brooklyn. A Jewish guy was stabbed by a black guy who was yelling at him crazy Jew Blankety Blank. And then at a restaurant in New York City the other night, some guy came up U Jew B I T, C U et cetera. Just very people feel emboldened or open or permitted to just harass seeming Jews. I guess in all cases the people who were harassed were Jews. But if I see a guy with a yarmulke on now, is he fair game to get slapped upside the head by someone walking by because he's Jewish? This is what New York City becomes.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Everybody doesn't. I mean I don't like to say that when you say something you're responsible. A person who does the deed is responsible. But if you continue with the anti Semitism, if you're Candace Owens and you have millions of followers and you continue to say well there's this group of people and they're in Hollywood and they're not transparent and they're running everything. Or if you're Tucker and you say this group of people planned to blow up a tower and they escaped before the tower was blown up, they knew in advance and this group of people, this group of people are influencing our government to go into Venezuela. And this group of people and you keep doing that and you don't. And your criticism of this group of people does not apply to that group of people, that group of people. That group. So you say they commit. Tucker said and they're killing children. If you believe these inflated figures of 60,000 gallons and the retaliation by the way, the IDF waited for three and a half weeks for the people of Gaza to turn over the murders. But who were iconic heroes, they had no intention of doing that and they all thought they would be safe in their labyrinth of tunnels. But my point is, if you really believe that figure, they kill that many people in Nigeria in a month, they're just wiping out people. These are Islamic people wiping out Christians. I haven't seen Tucker say a word about it. Very few. If he's worried about genocide or occupation, why didn't he talk about what the Azerbaijanis just did to the Armenians? They ethnically cleansed 150,000 of them and kicked them out. Or how about Cyprus is not recognized by any Turkish. Cyprus, Northern Cyprus. That's not recognized by any country except Turkey. It's a completely illegitimate country. It took over Greek Cyprus. It ethnically cleansed the population. It slaughtered as many Greeks as it could, and it just sits there. Nobody says a word. And you know, why just pick on the Jews. And just this one example, when there's all these other examples that would fit your criteria, that you're worried about occupied land and genocide and settler colonialists, it just. It's baffling.

[Jack Fowler]

Well, Victor, we say that Norman will. Hopefully he will rest in peace with his beloved late wife, Midge Dector. And speaking of great Jewish Americans, you have been a close friend of Dennis Prager's for many years and have had the privilege of working with his remarkable team at Prageru. And you've appeared in several of PragerU's five minute videos. And they've reached. Those videos have reached tens of millions worldwide. I know you value that. Over 60% of PragerU's audience is under the age of 35, the very generation most in need of enduring American principles. At a time when education and media often erode confidence in our country, Prager U stands firm in defending truth, reason, and the legacy of western civilization. And that's why here at the Victor Davis Hansen, in his own words, we are proud to be part of this family. So please join [e-mail] VDH your tax deductible gift will be triple matched. I will repeat that. Triple matched through December 31st. So please give [e-mail] VDH and we thank the good people at Prageru for sponsoring Victor Davis Hansen in his own words. Victor, before we take a break, I just want to go back for a nanosecond and then we'll take a break and speak about electrical cars. But the young woman of the two people who were murdered at Brown University the other day, Ella Cook, and I.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Misspoke and Sammy corrected me about the last name. It's cooking.

[Jack Fowler]

Yeah, well, she seems clearly to have been targeted. And if, you know, we'll play the game, the shoes on the other foot game. Here's another young conservative voice targeted for death by seemingly someone on the left. I know there's still a lot of information to come out, but what, what, you know, my lying eyes, what they say. They say if Ella Cook was a young, a liberal activist and she was murdered, this would be, she would be on the news every night. So anyway, Rick Journey, they would, I.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Mean, you and I spoke about our disapproval of Donald Trump not sending an unqualified note of remembrance and sadness for the passing of Rob Reiner and his wife. The brutal murder. And there was no and Trump was right that Rob Reiner had sort of sacrificed his film career because he went completely political. And I think he was obsessed with Trump. But that, that's, that's no excuse not to commemorate his achievements and to lament his passing. But the left doesn't do that with Charlie Kirk. They didn't do it. Omar didn't do it, the squad didn't do it. Jasmine Crocker didn't do it. And they've created so much chaos and they've lowered the bar of the acceptance. We have Kathy Griffith talking, the woman who had the facsimile of Trump's head that she had decapitated. When you see her back to what she's doing and you hear Whoopi Goldworth every morning and these people pedal this hatred and you hear Rachel Maddow every single night pedal this complete fabrication of Russian collusion or laptop and then get the Walter Cronkite award. So the left is never accountable. And you're right and they have lowered the bar of the acceptable that I hate to say even think this, but I think there is a 50, 50 chance that somebody's going to shoot Donald Trump again because of the rhetoric. And I think there's a 50, 50 chance that prominent conservative voices are going to be targeted. And I think there's a 50, 50 chance that we're going to see in the next month or two more Islamic based terrorist, terrorist killing. And I say that because I feel that when they do that and they hear some weak kneed, meatly mouthed politicians say I'm going to have a task force about anti Semitism and Islamophobia. They think, ha, we're the moral equivalent of the Jews, so we can do that. And they never do anything. And they let us in the country, we don't have to have any, we do what we want. Globalize the intifada. Well, we did globalize it. We kill people in Australia, we wipe out people in Nigeria. We cancel Christmas parades and festivities in France and Germany. We kill people at the Holocaust Museum. We can firebomb the governor. You know what, they don't seem to get it, do they? I think they're scared of us. They're so scared of us. That's their attitude.

[Jack Fowler]

The impression that's being made to me, I think to many of our listeners and viewers and most people worldwide over the police forces of say the United Kingdom and Australia. And the police are supposed to be our front line, aren't they against these threats to us are scared, are weak. They're obsessed with locking up little old ladies because they tweeted something. I saw a story in the New York Post today of Sharon, I should say told me of it. The cops in the UK arrested a guy. Something blew in his mouth. He's an old man, Some leaf blew in his mouth. He spit it out. They arrested him for littering. Essentially this is what policing is in these countries. Why shouldn't they be emboldened? Islamofascism.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

I wrote an article once called the Bloomberg Effect. And I said when Michael Bloomberg couldn't clean the snow out of New York, he went after super sized Coke. And that's what police do often when they can't on governments and political. When they can't address an existential felony, they have to have some purpose for their existence. So they go after the misdemeanor. So if Fresno county has huge areas where everything is in violation. A single rural dwelling has five Winnebagos, six Lean ToS, 50 unlicensed dogs, 70 people living in a compound, no sewage, porta potties or outhouses. And they don't want to go in there because there's too. What would they do then? They come over to my place and say, you know what? Your solar panel plan looks really good on that shed. It meets all code. But it was built in 1980 and I don't know if you had a building permit. And I said it was ag exempt in 1980. Okay, can you hire an architect and redo the building? I said, no, I can get you a plan that we built ourselves. Well, that was six months. No, it was a year before they would approve it. And the guys, I said, why don't you just walk across the street, you'll get 500 red tag violations. You'll probably end up with, I don't know, 10 felons. And about a month later ice came and alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms came and they had about 10 people in Boxer shorts handcuffed on the side of the road and the agents had mask on just about a quarter mile from me.

[Jack Fowler]

Me.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Oh wow.

[Jack Fowler]

I've driven past that place.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Yeah, it was an interagency task force going after gang. So what I'm saying is the building inspectors or the solar panel would rather come to my place. Because I will say yes sir, I will do that. Yes sir, I will try to take that suggestion seriously. And they get respect out of it. Then they go back as well. I went out there and I, I followed the law and then that's how they psychologically manage. So you go after Jews and you say we're going to check for Islamophobia and anti Semitism and that justifies, you have no clue what to do because it's such an existential problem. Radical Islam in the west, you have no idea. You don't want to even mention that. But there are activities going on in communities in Michigan where they don't even allow people or they make fun of people who want to observe Christmas or celebrate it. I mean Dearborn is a completely different enclave and nobody wants to talk about that because what would you do? And this is what happened in Minnesota. How did that happen? A multi billion dollar fraud? Well, if we go in there we're going to be called a racist or chauvinist or anti immigrant, xenophobe nativist. So let's just. Maybe it's like Keith Ellison said, they give me money for my campaign and they buy houses and cars and then that emboldens the felon. They think, well they're not going to touch me and it makes them go after the misdemeanor and it's kind of sickening. And this builds up and there's no safety valve. It's like a steam boiler in the 19th century. They just keep putting heat on it and heat on it and heat on it and there's no safety valve and people are going to blow up. It's going to blow, it's going to blow. I can guarantee you. I talk to people and they are fed up. When I go to the supermarket and I see somebody who doesn't speak a word of English and she opens her purse and she pulls out five EBT cards and different names and then she walks out and gets into a brand new with the dealer's Honda Accord that people get very angry. And they're not white males like me, I'm the only white male. They're Hispanic, middle class, hardworking people who Play by the rules and count, tolerate that. Right?

[Jack Fowler]

You look in the mirror and you see a sucker looking back at you. And again, it's not your fault either.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

You know, I've had this medical problem and I get calls from people and they'll say the same thing. They'll say, or they'll email me. Be sure you get a timely PET scan, make sure you can get in on, you know, I needed a psa. I needed a biopsy, and it took me a year. I needed to go see the urologist. He was backed up for four months. My internist had always got me in in a week. It's six weeks. I needed an endoscopic exam. They put me down for six months. And then it's because our health system is just overwhelmed with. You know, when you put 12 million people with no healthcare and you unleash them in the United States and that adds to the 50 million people who were not born here, you've got to make arrangements for that. But if you don't make arrangements for that and expand medical access or restrict the border, then you just tell the.

[Jack Fowler]

Citizen, sorry, Yeah, I saw in Illinois some program that was. They were funding probably for over a billion bucks for 10,000. I think that's what they calculated. 10,000 illegals. Well, within short order. I think it's like 150,000 are using the program. Did anyone think. Who really thought that wasn't going to be the outcome? You know, you're here, you let in, you're given free housing. Why aren't you going to avail yourself of free health care? Free. You and me paying for it. Anyway, Victor, speaking of things that are overpaid electric vehicles. Not overpaid. Just like crazy economics. And we'll get your. We'll come back from this break and do a quick little segment on this right after these messages. We're back with Victor Davis Hansen in his own words. Victor Davis Hansen has an electric vehicle. That's okay. That's all right. He's got a. What's his name? Tesla. You have a Tesla, right? I think he does.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

I have. I was just looking at electric vehicles down when you said that to see what. How much the subsidy was. Yeah, we bought a Tesla Y when it was really expensive and it was like $70,000. We bought. It was very costly. We saved up for it and then we gave it to my son and we bought another one, the same one, three years later. It was. It was $20,000 cheaper.

[Jack Fowler]

Dang.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

And there was no. We weren't eligible for the the discount, the federal tax exempt. And it's a wonderful car. If you have a reliable car that's gas. We have a truck, a new Ram, it's a year old and it's a gasoline Hemi engine, that famous engine and it's got the oversized tank. It'll go 550 miles. So if you have something you can take a trip on, you don't have to worry about. So for driving less than 200 miles like, like to the mountains and back or do. It's wonderful.

[Jack Fowler]

Yeah.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

It's just that, you know, if you want to go on a long 500 mile trip, you better get your charging stations. And it's getting better the whole time. But my point is you have to let the market adjudicate that, let people decide on their own. And if these refineries close, as Gavin Newsom I guess hopes they will because he's driven them out de facto, then people may be buying more electric, but that'll be their decision, not the.

[Jack Fowler]

Well, the market does speak. So this is the point of this little segment is the headline was that Ford Motor Company has, has taken a $20 billion hit on EVs and said, you know what? This is not, it ain't going to happen. We've made all this investment, I guess in some degree a government gun at its head. Another gun at its head is California which has those mandates that kind of wag the tail, wags the rest of the nation's dog. But yeah, it's 20 billion dollar hit of a company who just says this is not working out for us. All this investment we put into it. I don't know that Ford is saying we're not going to make any electric vehicles. But a forced market is not for real.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Yeah, it's like dei when you destroy the market based on meritocracy and you do the same thing. It's a double whammy. So people want to drive. And if you say we're going to experiment with high speed rail and spend $300 billion on it, and I don't think they'll ever finish it, they've already spent 30 on it and there's not one foot of track. Lay it Merced to Bakersfield's not a high traffic corridor. But that was a ideological decision and all these companies that blew billions of dollars. Porsche was not going to make any more gas engines all electric and now they've just completely flipped and the United States is pumping almost 14 million barrels. I think Trump thinks he's going to be up to 16 million. The price of gas is cheaper than it's been in five years. It's a good transition. I'm sure that we will get maybe electric or hydrogen. We'll find another fuel that that will be much more economical. But until that happens in the next 20 years, we're going to rely on internal combustion engines and they can make them very clean and very efficient. And they're wonderful engines and they don't.

[Jack Fowler]

Kill bald eagles and spotted owls anyway. So, Victor, we've come to the end. I want to read one comment we get many, many, many. Here's this one's a little long, but I think it's worthwhile. It's from T. Valentine538 who writes, Victor, please take care of yourself. Help. I'm praying for your health and hope you recover quickly. The world, our nation, the west, and I need your wisdom, knowledge and common sense. Thank you for continuing on with your show. Not easy when dealing with health issues I can imagine. I pray the leaders of the west will do what is best to preserve Western values. I try to keep the hope while raising my three young children, but when I see places like the UK I can't help but fear for our future, even the insanity happening in our own country. That is why we need you. On a slightly different note, my husband recently became a US citizen and I was shocked that he didn't have to learn the Pledge of Allegiance. At the very least, you better believe I'm teaching him that the national anthem, America the Beautiful, et cetera. He is proud to be an American. God bless and Merry Christmas to you, Jack and Sammy. So that's a very nice note amongst the many, many, many. I appreciate that.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

And I know that my voice hasn't been as it is and ever since March I had some health issues. I probably was a little lax in going, but I had a major sinus operation that was not the problem. And I'm going to be off for a little while and I think there's a good chance that I'll be back very quickly. I hope I'll do my best.

[Jack Fowler]

Well, we are saying our prayers. Victor, you've been terrific folks. Thanks, thanks. Those of you especially who well, not especially, but thanks. For those who do, sign up and get Civil Thoughts, the free weekly email newsletter I write for the center for Civil society, go to civilthoughts.com, sign up. It's totally free. Victor, you've been terrific.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Thank you.

[Jack Fowler]

Everybody listening. We'll be back soon with another episode of Victor Davis Hansen In His Own.

[Victor Davis Hanson]

Words thank you for tuning in to the Daily Signal. Please like, share and subscribe. Subscribe to be notified for more content like this. You can also check out my own [e-mail] and subscribe for exclusive features. In addition.