← Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words
Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words
NATO’s Double Standard on Iran, Europe’s Drift, and the Fraud Crisis at Home | Victor Davis Hanson
01:31:32
Victor Davis Hanson and host Jack Fowler discuss why several NATO allies—especially France—restricted the United States from using bases and airspace during operations aimed at Iran, arguing Europe benefits from U.S. security while pursuing divergent domestic and foreign-policy agendas.
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- [00:00]
Jack Fowler
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Victor Davis Hanson
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Jack Fowler
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- [00:11]
Victor Davis Hanson
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- [00:15]
Jack Fowler
I think you want to discuss and address France's recent role in the Straits of Hormuz and just in general its participation in this effort against Iran.
- [00:25]
Victor Davis Hanson
We didn't expect Spain, Italy, Britain, France either to forbid the use of their NATO bases or their airspace or both. And we didn't expect two faced comments like the German president, you know that this is not a legitimate war. They have different agendas than we do. They don't have a first amendment, they don't believe in it. They don't believe in the nuclear family and reproduction, so they have a 1.3 fertility rate. They don't believe in the utility of nuclear power other than France and fossil fuels, so they have the highest electricity cost. They don't believe in defense until they're bullied and screamed at. They think they're Greek philosophers and were their Roman legions to enforce their utopian visions. And of course the most important, they have open borders and they have up to 10 to 15 to 16% of their populations are Muslims. So you put all that together and that was reflected in their foreign policy.
- [01:20]
Jack Fowler
Our letting NATO, most of these countries get away with not fulfilling their defense obligation is essentially underwriting their social policy.
- [01:28]
Victor Davis Hanson
Yes.
- [01:29]
Jack Fowler
To destroy Western civil.
- [01:32]
Victor Davis Hanson
Yes, it's even worse than that because then they make fun of us that we don't have the social policies that they do and we're greedy and we're capitalists. We don't in part because we're defending them and the west in general, people don't realize that when they get a problem in the Red Sea and they can't get in there through the Suez Canal, they call us. When they got a problem with the straight overruz when we had the Iran Iraq War, they called us. Do they have any problem? They call us. But that's not going to continue, I don't think.
- [02:12]
Jack Fowler
Well, hello ladies and hello gentlemen and welcome to Victor Davis Hanson in his own words. I'm Jack Fowler, I'm the host today I do two shows a week. The great Sammy Wink does two others with Victor. We're very blessed to be able to ask Victor questions that we think you would like him asked. We're recording on on Saturday, April 4, so the day before Easter for many Christians, not all Christians, some Orthodox or a little later in the year. But this episode is up on Tuesday, April 7. Victor is the Martin and Neely Anderson senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. And he is a senior contributor for the Daily Signal, which is the happy home of this podcast. Victor also does Victor Davis Hansen and A Few Words for the Daily Signal. Victor's website is the Blade of Perseus. Check it out. Victor writes exclusive articles, two a week. He does one exclusive video a week there. 650amonth if you want to subscribe or subscribe for the full year at $65. Tons of free stuff there. Tons of links to Victor Galore. Also, Victor, I want to add that this week Amazon listed your forthcoming book the Counter Revolution. So if people want to pre order. I don't know the difference between pre order and order. You want to order the book and it will come, I believe, in August or September.
- [03:35]
Victor Davis Hanson
Yes, it will.
- [03:36]
Jack Fowler
So that's called the Counter Revolution.
- [03:39]
Victor Davis Hanson
Yes. The Fall first, the Fall and Rise of Donald Trump and the Magnet Movement. The first page is January 6th and the last page is January 6th of 2026.
- [03:55]
Jack Fowler
I want to see if we can get this book to already be a bestseller. Victor, Six months, Four, five months out. Well, we got a lot to pick your brain about today. France and NATO. We haven't talked yet about the bimbo Kirstin Ome's husband and that, oh my gosh, Marono. And then there's Democrats are trying to concoct a new way to appeal to the white working class. Pam Bondi is gone. Chris Ruffo has done and some of his colleagues at City Journal have done some truly important investigative reporting on massive fraud in California. We've got some other issues, too, to address to you if we have time. We're going to get to all of that when we come back from these important messages.
- [04:41]
Victor Davis Hanson
Since the founding of America 250 years ago, many things have changed, but some things never do. The commitment of husband and wife, the importance of passing along our values to our children, the faithfulness of God. Some wonder how we can ensure America will continue to thrive as long as we keep first things first. We've only just begun. America the Beautiful.
- [05:11]
Jack Fowler
We are back with Victor Davis Hansen in his own words again. We're recording on Saturday, April 4th. This episode's up on Tuesday the 7th. Victor, let's just start out with you because you've talked at some length about you've written a couple important pieces recently about NATO. You've talked with Samy about this, but you want to add, I think you want to discuss and address France's role in recent role in the Straits of Hormuz and just in general Its participation in this effort against Iran.
- [05:44]
Victor Davis Hanson
Yeah, I think everybody is bewildered that while we didn't, this wasn't a joint NATO operation to bomb Iran, that it was in the general common interest of the West. Especially when we learned that they had, we didn't know that they had. After the first bombing they claimed they had enough for 11 bombs of enriched uranium and now we know they have a 2,500 mile range for their missiles. Which puts in theory, had we not acted all of the European capitals under nuclear blackmail. So this was in their interest. Not to mention all the terrorism that Iran has sponsored in Europe and the west in generals, particularly in the United States. But we didn't expect Spain, Italy, Britain, France either to forbid the use of their bases, their NATO bases or their airspace or both. And we didn't expect two faced comments like the German President, you know, that this is not a legitimate war and things like that. So very quickly we've discussed what is it? Well, they have different agendas than we do and it's time to admit it. They don't really believe in the first. They don't have a first amendment, they don't believe in it. They don't believe in the nuclear family and reproduction, so they have a 1.3 fertility rate. They don't believe in the utility of nuclear power other than France and fossil fuels, so they have the highest electricity cost in the West. They don't believe in defense. So until they're bullied and screamed at and they think they're Greek philosophers and were their Roman legions to enforce their utopia. And of course the most important, they have open borders and they have up to 10 to 15 to 16% of their populations are Muslims. And they're not integrating, they're not assimilating, they're not acculturating. So you put all that together and that was reflected in their foreign policy. So when they look at the Middle east, the first thing they say is we don't have any oil, we don't have any military to get it or to allow it. We don't have a stable population that would support us if we were to do it. We don't have many people, young people to go fight, so we're not going to participate. That's okay. But they shouldn't have denied us, as I said, the use of bases because they always want us to go in on their shenanigans. Would you please bomb Libya with us? Would you please bomb Milosevic with us? Would you come over to Ukraine? It's not a NATO country. But would you come over and defend it? We don't have enough resources. Would you please help us go into Chad? The French said, we need refueling, we need intelligence. Margaret Thatcher, would you please help us with the Falklands? Please, please. It's always the same old story. And the French, we mentioned that on Sammy's, that I don't know if there was cash money, but there was implicit leverage the Iranians had on the Strait of Hormuz with Europe. And it was basically, we're not to bother you unless you are antagonistic to our theocracy, and then we may hassle you. They would take those kind of like, PT boats and they would, you know, circle around ships and they would take hostages. But Iran was okay with countries that appease them. And that's just what's happening now. France just said, well, this is not our war, and we're not going to let you fly over our country. So we're going to get to go in and trade. It'll be better for us anyway, because now we can send stuff to the Middle East. Maybe we'll be the only exporter allowed to do it. And so Trump's attitude is, well, I did the dirty work, as the German president said, and now the Strait of Hormuz is yours. The problem he's having real quickly, Jack, is that he's hemorrhaging on the political aspect of the war, because there is a. The Europeans on the one hand says, and the left says, he's a taco. Trump always chickens out, and he won't finish the job. And as sure as the moon comes up, sun comes up, the natural world functions. I guarantee you that if he doesn't open the Strait of Hormuz or there is not a regime change, the left will flip on a dime and say, you didn't finish the job. We told you to do this. And if he wants to do what I just said, it will take two or three weeks, and they'll say, oh, this is another Vietnam. Why are you dragging out the war? So you can't win politically. But I think his rhetoric and the administration's narratives have to sharpen a little bit. You don't want to say, I want to get out of NATO. You want to present it in a tragic fashion. I don't know what happened to those people. We like them. They're Westerners. We have a common heritage. We're an expression of New World Western civilization. We've helped them in two wars, but they're drifting from us. We hope they come back. It's not us that's drifting from the ideals of Western civilization. We're right down the center on it. They're not. And that's expressed in their foreign policy. So we'll do all we can, but we cannot count on these countries and extremists and why we want to be reciprocal and symmetrical. It makes it almost impossible. So we want to tell you that we're going to be in NATO, but there's going to be new conditions of our membership. We're not going to carry, whether it's the direct budgeting, 16, 20% of it, or the indirect cost, patrolling the world for them and all of the overhead. We're not going to do it anymore unless they step up. And more importantly, we're not going to get involved in any individual European expeditionary gambit. So if you want to go into your former colony and Chad, forget it, we're not going to help you. Britain, if Argentina wants to take the Falklands or something like, forget it, we're not going to help you. Just not going to happen. That's the new terms. And then we might have to strengthen our bilateral relations with particular European nations. Portugal's been really good. They said, yeah, you can use the Azores anytime you want. That's key base. We've got good relations with you. Greece has said, oh, you want a carrier to come down to the Ceuta Bay near Chania, and you want to fix it and repair it to get it back in the action? No problem. We're here to help you. So there are European countries, Eastern European, more likely, that want to. We could just say we're still in NATO, but these are the eight or nine NATO nations that we have a special relationship with.
- [12:25]
Jack Fowler
Yeah.
- [12:26]
Victor Davis Hanson
And the rest of them, it's pro forma.
- [12:29]
Jack Fowler
Our letting NATO, most of these countries get away with not fulfilling their defense obligation is essentially underwriting their social policy to destroy Western civilization.
- [12:42]
Victor Davis Hanson
And it's even worse than that because then they make fun of us that we don't have the social policies that they do. And we're greedy and we're capitalist, and yet we don't, thank God, but we don't, in part because we're defending them and the west in general. When they get a problem, people don't realize that when they get a problem in the Red Sea and they can't get in there through the Suez Canal, they call us. They can't do anything with the Houthis. When they got a problem with the straight over ruse, when we had the Iran Iraq War, they called us Jew Flag US tankers. When they have any problem, they call us. But that's not going to continue. I don't think. I would say just about the narrative. I think the administration has to put this context in kind of a sorrowful rather than angry term. They love anger. Just say, you know, we really want to help you. But you know, it's kind of like my kids used to go. They have a very wonderful aunt and she would go out of her way to help them, you know, and they'd take them up to a lake, all of them like 12. But they were disobedient. And so when it was time to go, the kids would get in rowboats right offshore and they said, it's time to go, we gotta get home. And they'd say, what? I can't hear you. And they'd go out a little bit further. Will you get in here? Well, we can't hear you. What do you say? We can stay longer. And it was that kind of inattention that we need to show to them. I think the other thing very quickly is I don't think we're a data obsessed nation, but we should not go into 93% of the missile launches. We're 93% treated or we got 68% fewer drone attacks. Don't do that. We don't know the denominator. We don't know how many drones, we don't know how many missiles. We just know a couple of things. It's 93 million people and it's almost double the size of Texas. And it's an enormous undertaking, but the military is so capable that the political dimension of it, it's like it's postmortem. It's all done. They're so great. And then this recent downing of an F15 and a Warthog, which are still amazing that We've only lost two. We've lost 50 to 60 aircraft in the first Gulf War. But the point I'm making is we need to remind people how difficult it is and how sneaky and clever the Iranians are in hiding all of these assets and why it's taking as long as it. I don't think it's long at all, but the people seem to do. And I think that would be far better. And then I think they should a little bit articulate people's, you know, just four or five topics. Regime change, ideal collateral dividend. It's coming. Probably this regime will have to spend a half a trillion, a trillion dollars to rearm. The people will be angry. They're almost starving. They don't want their money to go to Arab terrorists in the Middle East. And we've set the conditions for regime change. We've done all we can, and we hope it ensues. And if it happens under our bombing campaign, we will directly, tactically intervene to help them. But that's not our initial objective. We were preferring the Venezuela solution of finding someone we can speak to that can control the situation and maybe serve as a transitional figure. I think also we should say, you know, he needs to talk about Israel. He needs to say, this is absurd. Nobody tells Donald Trump what to do. And Netanyahu have an agenda as a proximate and vulnerable state. And we have an agenda as a distant and less vulnerable state. We're vulnerable, but less so. And we have other global responsibilities. And sometimes our agendas dovetail. And often they dovetail because we're best friends and that's what we're working on. And thank God we have the Israelis when these agendas dovetail and not some of our European partners. As we've seen, the contrast between tiny little Israel that helps the United States and has a larger air force than any other of the 31 nations in NATO is a blessing. That's not a curse. He can say that. I think that would be really good. Yeah. One thing I'm really upset about is, did you see these clips of Carney again? He's talking about that he was ready to defend Greenland against us if we were going to invade. And then there's a clip of him talking about the new middle group of nations.
- [17:22]
Jack Fowler
He's talking about the Prime Minister of Canada.
- [17:26]
Victor Davis Hanson
Yeah, go ahead. Yeah. And I would like to tell him Trump didn't create these tensions. There was a happy face. Scab. It was an ugly scab, but it was happy face between Canada and us. Trump came in and ripped it off. And underneath there, there was a putrid wound. And that wound consisted of. For 20 years, Canada would not carry its. Stephen Harper, the wonderful Prime Minister, tried to get them to do that and they refused. They would not pay a measly 2% of their GDP and they're not going to make 5%. They insidiously ran up the surplus to over 55, 50 to 60 billion dollars with us. They didn't need to do that. They could have come to us and say, we're running up a big surplus and let's find ways where we can get it down to 10 or 20 billion. They did not do that. They have certain parts policies in their health care system. They're not just antithetical to ours, but they're dangerous. 83,000 5% of all deaths in Canada are done by state sponsored or coerced euthanasia. That's contrary to the Judeo Christian tradition. It's also contrary to Western civilization. And yet they do that under the antiseptic shield of the government that's doing it. But the subtext is we're broke. We have an inefficient healthcare system. People are waiting two years for a simple operation and we have all these people that are over Victor's age and they have lung cancer and they have a 40% chance it's going to recur. So why don't you come in, Victor, and talk it to us and then. Well, you know, I'm kind of depressed lately and things are. Well, there's a way to get rid of it. You can get rid of the cancer, you might go with it, but it would save all of us. It would be the very generous to our fellow Canadians. That's how it's posed. Or at least maybe not so explicitly. So, so there's things about Canada. And then of course, if anything happens and China or Iran were to send a missile into British Columbia, the first thing that Carney would call up, he'd say, Mr. President, Mr. President, there's a missile aimed at British Columbia and it's coming from Iran and it's going to be here in 15 minutes. What is, what are you going to do about it? What is the United States missile shield going to do? We need that. And Trump could say, well, we'll try to, but we have a limited number of missiles and if there's one coming at you, they might come one at us. And so, you know, you might want to. You still have 15 minutes to arm yourself. Yeah, yeah. I would suggest that the next 15 minutes you spend 5% of your GDP on defense or you want to buy one of our patriots, we can, you know, truck it over from Seattle in 10 minutes.
- [20:29]
Jack Fowler
Victor, I'm glad you mentioned the healthcare. We've talked before about the maid program there, the euthanasia program in Canada, but the esteemed by American liberals Canadian healthcare system going back 40 years is all bogus. If you were mildly sick, fine. If you were on the fringes of or needed extra care, you were not going to get it in Canada. You were going to Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Seattle. Yeah. For tests they would put a dog in an MRI machine before they would let you go in an MRI machine.
- [21:06]
Victor Davis Hanson
I had a very good friend who owned imaging labs in Canada, and they had a strict quota on where you could put them and how many you could do it, under what conditions you could do it. The last thing they wanted was some entrepreneurial American like person who, for, you know, 4 or 5% profit on his operation, would put 100 MRIs all over Canada and they would be cheap and accessible. That would be the last thing the government wanted. Now they've gone full European and they're embarrassed of us. And, you know, it's a larger question, too. They have an insane immigration policy. It was similar to Joe Biden's, which was insane. And if you look at the news, I don't want to be too explicit, but we have this dei, racial and ethnic essentialism. And it serves as an exemption from an honest discussion of what's happening with immigration. Because when you look at three weeks ago, we had four serial attacks, individuals, though they were of naturalized citizens that had Hezbollah ties or they were followers of ISIS or whatever. Four separate terrorist incidents. We had the Somali community involved in one of the biggest frauds, we thought. And now when you look at the people who are coming forward with the FBI, they're either naturalized citizens for the most part, or they're green card holders. But what I'm getting at is. But it is racist not to talk about this, to just say, how dare you mention that we're a nation of immigrants. No, we're a nation of audited and legal immigrants.
- [22:52]
Jack Fowler
Assimilating immigrants.
- [22:53]
Victor Davis Hanson
Assimilating immigrants. And somebody who comes over here from China or Mexico or Somalia or India, and one of the first things they do is engage in fraud against the US Government. And we're talking about in California, according to Chris, 250 billion, billion. And the left is always screaming, worry we're going to spend 40 or 50 billion in five weeks. Well, it's five operations to take out nuclear weapons in Iran. That's the cost of it in California alone. So it's very disturbing when you see any immigrants, because if you come over to a country, it's not that we ask you to follow our laws, but you're a guest. You were originally a guest and were the host. And when you. When we go to people's homes, we don't just prowl around and look in their bedroom or go in their backyard and jump in their pool. We show them a special deference until we become more acquainted. But the immigrant ideology, whether it's illegal immigrant or naturalized citizen, seems to be. Or green card holder. Well, I qualify for dei. And because you've got it on the brain. I'm part of your 30% victimized class. So how dare you suggest that I stole $9 million out of a hospice? We wouldn't do that. Or how dare you say that I got $4 million from COVID money I shouldn't. Or how dare you say that we didn't have a breakfast program in Minnesota. You're a racist. I don't think people are going to put up with that because that's racist. What they're doing, they're hiding behind a rubric. And as I said earlier in a podcast, very quickly, anytime you give any group an exemption for any reason and they're not accountable, you should expect human nature as it is to produce fraud and crime. Every small town in America, I can attest from growing up here, has one or two children of the local millionaire. You know what I mean? Sometimes they're in car dealers, sometimes trucking. And that kid, usually when he would come to school, everybody, if they ever skied, wore jeans and nobody could afford a ticket anyway. And he came with, you know, Ray Bans and nice scheme equipment. Everybody had a 56 or 57 Chevy that always broke down. We had a 1963 Volvo, used. And this guy would always come in with a Firebird or Camaro or a Charger, brand new. And he thought he was exempt. So if he went down and took a BB gun and shot out streetlights, the police would call his dad up first. You know what I mean? You know what I'm talking about?
- [25:35]
Jack Fowler
Yeah, absolutely.
- [25:36]
Victor Davis Hanson
Well, that same old boy, rich boy exemption, it was very toxic. Same thing about college admissions. They said this is one of the hardest places to get in as a stamp. Hi. I gave you $50 billion. 50 million. Remember me? And bam. I'm not saying it's not a bad system, but sometimes, if the person was qualified, but often they're not. So what I'm getting at, dei, is just the modernistic successor to that old boy network, only it's the old racial rubric. And when you do that and you give that message to people, they're going to get insolent. Just like those kids that were so wealthy and privileged were insolent. I remember I was with one guy and he pulled, I won't mention any names. He pulled us over for a cop. Pulled us over because we were going too fast. Next to a school zone, there's about five of us. And he said, what are you doing? What are you doing? You know who I am. What are you doing? That kind of attitude. And that's what we're creating. And then we should expect that fraud. Ilhan Omar has showed not one iota of remorse that she championed this entire federal pipeline and state pipeline to her community. It's all that the Somalis are the best people in the world. And I can refer to them as collectives and not individuals. Collectively, we are perfect. And then when something happens, it's a collective sin. How dare you collectivize and stereotype us. We're individuals. Well, it doesn't go both. It has to go both ways.
- [27:08]
Jack Fowler
So we marry our brothers every once in a while. What's the big deal?
- [27:12]
Victor Davis Hanson
Mussed up our hair. As George C. Scott said in Dr. Strangeloo. Not saying we're not going to get our hair messed up.
- [27:20]
Jack Fowler
All right, well, Victor, Utah and Florida just passed bills to ban fluoride in the water supply. Why are these states suddenly doing a massive U turn on fluoride when they've been adding it to our water for the last 80 years? Well, RFK Jr. Has been warning us about fluoride for a while, and the government now admits to the fact that fluoride is linked to lower iq. In a study done by the Journal of American Medical Association Pediatrics. That's one of the top medical journals in the country. In the world, even scientists found that fluoride levels over 2 milligrams per liter of water caused more than a 2 point drop in children's IQ scores. Well, as you can see, if you're watching this podcast, over my left shoulder you can see behind me. I use Cove Pure to get pure, clean water. You've heard me talk about COVP Pure before. It's a water filtration system that sits on your countertop. You don't have to drill any holes or call a plumber to set it up. You just fill it with tap water, plug it in, and it gets straight to work. Their Clearwave reverse osmosive technology is lab certified to remove up to 99.9% of impurities in your water. Anything that isn't water, meaning fluoride, arsenic, forever chemicals, these microplastics, all of that gets filtered out, leaving you with pure water. And let me tell you, once you try Cove pure water, you're never going back. It's the best tasting water I've ever had because it doesn't taste like anything but pure, clean water. Plus, it lets you have water exactly the way you want it. Whatever temperature you want, just push a button. Hot, cold, warm. You want 6 ounces, 8 ounces, 16 ounces. Whatever.
- [28:58]
Victor Davis Hanson
You could do it.
- [28:58]
Jack Fowler
If you happen to like fluoride, that's totally fine. There are tons of ways you can get that through toothpaste or mouthwash. But the government should never force you to ingest it. So take back your right to choose, click the link in the description box here at covpure.com v d h c o v e p u r e covure.com v d h for a limited time only. And you'll get a special discount of $200 off COVPure. We thank the good people of Covpure for sponsoring Victor Davis Hansen in his own words. And Victor, I'm going to drink to that.
- [29:34]
Victor Davis Hanson
Thank you.
- [29:35]
Jack Fowler
Ah, delicious without taste. Hey, Victor, you're in that car with those five guys. What if you had said, do you know I'm the son of Judge, Judge Hansen? I wonder what would have happened when you got home.
- [29:51]
Victor Davis Hanson
I can tell you exactly what happened. She gave us two when she was appoint superior court judge. I was in college. And she said, I'm not telling you how to behave, but just two rules in the family. Number one, under no circumstances. Under no circumstances do you mention that your mother is a superior court and then appellate court. You do not mention it. Not because I'm embarrassed or you just don't ever want to leverage that. Please don't do that. And the second thing is we all make mistakes and I'll be here for you, but I don't want. She said to me, I don't want marijuana use, drug use, excessive alcohol. If you're not 21, none at all. I don't want you to have one drop of alcohol and drive. I don't want to have to get a call from UC Santa Cruz that you're. And because you're shaming the family name. Basically, she said, I can't sentence people to severe penalties if I can't handle my own family. And I think one of us, I won't mention who said, that's not fair. You're asking us just because of your career? Well, she said, yes, I am. And if we all get in on this together and we all act like good American citizens, it will reflect well on us. And that includes me and your father. So once my dad was a big Swede. He liked to have a little bit, you know, too much to drink. And she'd call me and say, I am at a judicial conference. I was in Palo Alto in San Francisco, and I think your father's had three martinis and he insists he can drive. He cannot. And I'm. Would you. Are you going to be coming up here? I said, you can take a taxi. Yes, but I. So I would go up. I did that three or four times. Oh, wow. And he was perfectly fine. I saw him. I said, you know, I didn't know anything, 0.10 or something. I said, he's fine. He's six, three and a half. He weighs 210. He's solid muscle. He can handle it. He was in the flew missions over Tokyo, probably with more alcohol. So come on. And says, did you hear what I said? So it was. Yeah, that was what it was. But we didn't have. She was appointed late in life. We didn't have any money. And it was funny because it was. Every time I went to a small town, I'd see that there was one or two families. And I'm not making fun of them, they were very successful, upright citizens. But the children always felt they had an entitlement. Not always, but I should say often. And when I was in college, there was a big pharmaceutical company. I won't mention the name the daughter of one billionaire in today's money. And I was in, you know, I was in a lot of classes with her, but just her attitude, you know. And that attitude reflected the fact that they felt that they were going to be given exemption. And I think that's part of the problem why you would have two naturalized anchor children, Chinese whose parents were illegal aliens and been here for 27 years without being deported. And then they go plant bombs at a US military base. The two anchor children did because they were American citizens. Nobody audited them or why we had. When you're looking at some of the names the FBI and look at the that are finding with these frauds and they were just enter. They were interviewing a guy as they let him off and they said did you know what you were doing? Do you know how much money I've been investigated for five or six years. Like, you know, I'm exempt. I don't have to do that attitude. It's just that's what DEI encourages.
- [33:48]
Jack Fowler
Well, let's talk about another attitude. Oh, no, that's the wrong segue. Well, we got two now former secretaries to with news stories. Maybe we'll take, we'll take. Let's take Pam Bondi first, then we'll take a break and get into the more salacious stuff. But. So Pam Bondi has been given the boot as attorney general. Do you have any thoughts on that, Victor?
- [34:12]
Victor Davis Hanson
Well, I don't know the intricacies. So I'm a very. She's very pleasant. She's very close. She's a very good, nice person. She had a good record in Florida, but she came in late because of the Matt Gaetz misadventure. And so they needed somebody. And I think Trump expected two major task force for her. One was fraud. Elon Musk said that from the very beginning when they were doing the Doge and the Doge, I thought there would be indictments left and right from what they found out and there haven't been. So the very idea that JD Vance, a non he's a lawyer, that's really good, but he's not an attorney in the sense of a prosecutor. Prosecutor. The fact that he's leading a commission and it's not a Senate like a Harry Truman investigation during World War II, but that shows you there hasn't been people at the doj. There should be a very high famous prosecutor who should be doing that. I'm going to have a federal task force on fraud. We give this money to the states and that hasn't happened. And then the other thing is all the left says, well, you can't, you can't, you can't conflict the AG and the present. They have to have a firewall. Come on. Who do you think Bobby Kennedy was? He was the attorney general when John Kennedy. Have you seen those pictures? About every five minutes they're walking together. He didn't do anything unless John Kennedy. Who do you think John Mitchell was? He was the bond lawyer for Richard Nixon. Who do you think Eric Holder was? Why do you think that he said he was the wingman, the wingman of Barack Obama. Why do you think he defiantly refused a congressional subpoena and he knew he had complete exemption in a way that Steve Bannon, for example, or Peter Navarro didn't because he knew what Obama would say, he would back him. So they needed somebody. What I'm getting at independently but to investigate the misuse of the federal government to go after people and people are getting frustrated. They didn't do anything with the IRS under Obama that went after on their political affiliations right before an election. They didn't do anything for Operation Crossfire Hurricane. They didn't do anything for Clapper and Brennan. Lying under oath. If anybody believes that James Comey for 245 times an FBI director said he didn't remember or didn't know while under oath. And that's not lying. And they didn't do anything. They should have indicted Joe Biden's ghostwriter, when he said to Robert her, I just erased that subpoenaed oral transcript. I was worried about hacking. So I just took it upon myself to destroy federal evidence. When they were doing the Mueller investigation, they were missing all sorts of FBI phones. Remember that? They turned them over and they said, oh, I don't know, somebody erased them. And when Andrew McCabe said, I can guarantee, don't worry, he's not going to be elected. We need an insurance policy, they had it all. Durham was a very good guy and he was very thorough, but it was just a nothing burger. And so people got really frustrated. They got really frustrated when Fanny Willis got up in that stand and lied her head off. That, oh, it's a black thing that I use cash. How dare you suggest they should have receipts? Or she used federal monies for at risk use to go after Trump or that crazy Alvin Bragg, shoehorning or bootstrapping or whatever you want to call it, a minor federal offense into a state mega felony. It wasn't even an offense. So what I'm getting at, there were all these indiscretions, and nobody in the Justice Department ever seriously did anything about them. And yet when the Democrats were in power, my gosh, I'm not asking the Republicans to appoint a Fanny Willis or an Alvin Bragg or a Jack Smith or Letitia James, but my gosh, I think people get very frustrated, Jack, because they saw all of that lawfare, get him off the ballot, raid his home. They're not asking for that. They're not saying we should be like that. But what they're saying is these Democrats did all that. It was all illegal. It was all politically inspired. We're not asking to go down to their level. We're just asking to hold the people who did something wrong accountable. And we're not doing that at this time. We're not doing that. The Democrats said, when we get back in power. Hello, I'm Susan Rice. We're gonna go after all of you. I'm James Carville, and I just say, you know, you better be careful, because as soon as you get back in there, you're gonna get the Trump family. We're gonna get the Trump family spouses,
- [39:11]
Jack Fowler
you know, and Victor, if I may, a backdrop to this, too. It's not Pam Bondi's fault, but you see these judges in Minnesota who are giving these pathetically tiny sentences to these terrible fraudsters. So you think, how come. How come these people are getting away with.
- [39:29]
Victor Davis Hanson
Yeah, And I think you're absolutely Right. I think sometimes the administration's not communicating well. There were two big issues. They weren't the biggest, but they were big issues when he got reelected. One was, are we going to finish the wall? And the second is why don't we, you know, Leonard Leo and he had a falling out with Trump and all that problems he's had. He's gone off in a strange direction, I guess. But he did get these people, people appointed. So why have we. I don't know. I have no idea whether we have the same amount, fewer amount. The Democratic opposition is more rabid than the first. I don't know. But it does seem like we're not getting all of these federal judge billets filled quickly with conservatives and time is running out because if they lose, they're never going to confirm them. They could be, I don't know, they could be Thomas Jefferson and they wouldn't confirm. So we need to get the judges appointed, audited, confirmed. And we need the wall all the way to the canyons of East Texas, the whole thing. It's 2,000 miles. I guess there's 4 or 500 miles. The terrain makes it impossible. But we should then cover that with sophisticated electronic surveillance, et cetera, et cetera, and then just build this wall all the way. And we're not doing it. At least we're not being told we're doing it. That would help people during the midterm to be apprised of that.
- [41:03]
Jack Fowler
Well, Victor, we're going to take a little break. When we come back, maybe we'll pick up on some of the politics as we look towards the midterms and some polls. And then the appeal, the attempt appeal, the stick that Democrats are going to put on to approach white lower middle class men and what else have we got? And the Chris you mentioned, Chris Rufo. We'll go a little deeper into that California fraud, all that when we come back from these important messages.
- [41:34]
Bradley Devlin
Hey, I'm Bradley Devlin and just like you, I'm a huge fan of Victor Davis Hansen, whether it's his long form podcast, Victor Davis Hansen in his own words or his short form content for the Daily Signal. Victor Davis Hansen in a few words. I, I always leave an episode learning something new.
- [41:49]
Victor Davis Hanson
I think they forgot the 1982 Falklands War.
- [41:51]
Bradley Devlin
And in the age of clickbait and rage bait, that's a really good feeling, right?
- [41:56]
Jack Fowler
The media. Thank you, you can leave now.
- [41:59]
Bradley Devlin
Well, if you agree, you might like my show, the Daily Signals long form interview podcast called the Signal. Sit down. Every week we take you behind the scenes of the biggest battles in Washington D.C. as they happen with some of the biggest names in politics. We explore big ideas ideas and we analyze the policy making process from an unabashedly and unapologetically conservative perspective. And that's important now more than ever with the Trump administration back in office. Because in 2024, you sent Washington a message it couldn't ignore. It's your government and together we're taking it back. So check us out on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, wherever you enjoy Victor Davis Hanssen or there too. And drop me a follow on X radleydevlin to stay updated with what's happening on the signals for Sit down.
- [42:44]
Jack Fowler
We are back with Victor Davis Hansen in his own words recording on Saturday, April 4th. This episode is up on Tuesday, April 7th, two days after Easter. Hope by the time we're talking hope everyone's had a happy Easter and had everyone others who are our brothers in Abraham, brothers and sisters in Abraham have had a blessed Passover. So Victoria, there's some polls you're going to forgive me here, I gotta recite a thing or two, but I wrote a note to you like if so many people find that Democrats are nuts, why aren't they at the brink of taking back Congress? And there's a survey done by YouGov which shows in every group except white men who are college graduates, but in every group people have been coming more Republican and less Democrat. This is since in the last 20 years. So for example, black women with no college degree in 2007-2009, 83% lean Democrat. But now it's plus 59% lean Democrat. Okay, that's still excessive but the movement is towards Republicans. Then there's a story about CNN poll that came out that shows real disappointment with the with both parties. But even it seems like a majority of Democrats are troubled by the Democrats. Let me just read this. The poll found that 74% of Americans believe congressional Democrats have the wrong priorities. That includes 55% of Democrats and Democrat leaning independents. So Victor, we have these issues. So why is the allure and is it really just hatred of Trump? And then if you talk to about this masquerading that Pete Buttigieg and others are going to attempt to appeal to white men, their bete noire in the last couple of elections?
- [44:50]
Victor Davis Hanson
Well, I think, I don't know. I'm 72 when I watch these elections. I think political scientists and pollsters might confirm that who have a lot more expertise than I do. It just seems that When a president is up at the midterms and it's these 435 congressional elections and 33 Senate elections, people don't really vote on the opposition party because, I mean, it's in the midterms and they vote on the status of the president at that time. And that becomes a reflection of it. When Joe Biden in 2000, 22 midterms, I thought he was going to get killed at first. And then I started to see things he was doing. He started forgiving student loans. Remember that he forgave marijuana convictions and pardoned them. And more importantly, he started draining at a million barrels plus a day, the strategic Petroleum. Everybody's whining about gas. It was much higher under Biden. Then he started draining it and just flooding the refineries with oil to get the all. And it worked. So the Republicans really didn't do that well. And they didn't take the house in 2018, excuse me, 22. And so I think that's a lot of it. And then I know that there's a lot of Democrats are disaffected, but I'm not sure that. But that I know those. Are their affection deliberately a result that they want to be Republicans and they want to be more conservative, or are they angry that the left doesn't be even crazier? I don't know what that is, but it does seem that there is a movement to reject Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer type of Democrats because they're not left enough. But I'm not sure if that's true or not. I don't see, in other words, Jack, a major Democratic, Democratic leader who would reflect the polls that are accurate that you just quoted. It would say look at the polls, 55% of Democrats and that means they want to go back to a Bill Clintonism. Remember that everybody, we're going to have balanced budgets, we're going to have 100,000 federally funded police officers, we're going to charge violent juveniles that are 17 as adults. We're going to have zero tolerance for illegal. I just don't see that. I don't. So I don't know what those polls mean, but you're absolutely right. That dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party that actually in a lot of all the polls, polls less favorable than the Democratic part Republican and less favorable than Donald Trump. So you would think that people would get up in the morning and they'd say, ah, Trump said that, you know, he's going to bomb this and do that. I'm tired of it. But on the other hand, I don't want women, my daughter dressing in a room with some male who's transitioning. I don't want my daughter being a long distance runner and have all that work for nothing because there's some guy who's biologically male winning. I don't want to see 10,000 people come across the border every day with no health audits, no background checks, no criminal audit. I don't want to see that. I don't want to. I'm tired of DEI and race, race, race, race, race. I'm tired of that. I don't want people getting special privileges based on their superficial appearance. I don't want any more Afghan humiliations. That was the worst thing I ever saw. People falling out of an airplane, 13Americans blown up, generals blabbering about, well, when they land, they're going to have ethnically selective food for the refugees. You know, after 13 Marines were, I think, you know, all of that you would think would have lost Biden, the midterms. It didn't. So my point is, yeah, it's a referendum on what. And the good news is that it's still, we've got all of, got all of basically, if you count it's in end of November, we have all the April, May, June, June, July, August, September, October. You still have seven months and people have a short memory. So if this is really going to be over, as the president and Secretary Rubio said, two to three weeks, that is, it's a seven to eight week campaign and they haven't taken the gloves off, believe me. They say that they talk about all the sorties they do. All the sorties they do. They never talk about what they haven't done. Yeah. Can I tell you, there's targets out there. I mean, they can hit every highway overpass that transfers military equipment. Just like they took out this key bridge, they can take out, I don't want to see that happen. But if they have to, they can take out the electrical generation, they can take out the oil, they can do a lot of stuff. And the tragedy, if they have to do that to stop this evil regime, once it's over, they're going to have trillions of dollars to rebuild that sophisticated country. And that's going to be money that can't be spent on arms. And if it is spent on arms, as I said earlier, the people are going to be really angry.
- [50:24]
Jack Fowler
Can I tell you, Victor, while we were, since we began recording today, Donald Trump posted, he just posted on Truth Social this has to do with Iran. So I wanted to bring this up. Remember what he writes? Remember when I gave IR 10 days to make a deal or open up the Hormuz Strait? Time is running out. 48 hours before all hell will rain down on them. Glory be to God. He just wrote that now.
- [50:52]
Victor Davis Hanson
Yeah, there's a pattern to that. And I think his critics, they have a point, but it's not the point. They say, well, he gets angry at two in the morning and he tweets and he's contradictory. He does that. I don't know if it's deliberate to confuse the enemy, but he can be contradicted. We're going to have negotiations. They're going great. They met all our demands. We're going to hit all. But he always gets to a point where he gets exasperated and then he gives an ominous last warning, like he did with the earlier bombing of the nuclear facilities last summer, or when he did with Soleimani, or when they kept hitting us and hitting us and hitting us in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS started beheading people and that guy held up heads by the hair and all that stuff. He finally said, you know, I'm going to bomb. This is terrible. These are monsters. And everybody said, aye, don't you? Just a blow. And then he. Dax. So when he says finally, and I think the two planes shot down and a missing pilot, I think he's reached the end of his tether. And I would say that this one is a little different than all of the others that were contradicted by the next day's events. There is a plan that you can dice the. An autopsy you can take of everything he's doing. I saw what Fareed Zakaria mentioned that the other day in Newsweek. He said, this is never had he seen a war that cost so much and obtained so little. But as we said earlier, you compare it to the Serbian campaign or the Libyan campaign, or the Afghanistan and Iraq wars or the first Gulf wars, you name it. And it's been far more successful in training the enemy. The enemy has been far more formidable than Saddam Hussein or the Taliban or Milosevic or Gaddafi. It's much harder to do. And the losses. We don't know if this pilot is dead or not. God forbid if he is. But we haven't had any fatalities in a month, almost.
- [53:04]
Jack Fowler
Yeah, but we would have had millions of fatalities. A nuclear Iran. So I don't know what Zakaria is.
- [53:10]
Victor Davis Hanson
We would. So I don't know what he meant. And then. So we've gained all these objectives, whatever. If the worst comes to worse, and Trump just says, tomorrow, I'm done, and leaves, he's leaving rubble. And they are going to have to spend, as I said, a trillion dollars to fix it. And it's going to take them years to get back. And we can watch that. It's not an ideal situation, but it's better than the pre war environment. And so this time I would take him seriously. But there is geostrategic for all of the rhetoric. People don't say, what is the status of Russia right now and China vis a vis, say, when Trump left office? Well, China has no footprint. It's been basically kicked out of Panama or it's been in the process of getting kicked out. There's a, a conservative reaction to the communism under Biden. Nations like Venezuela have now been liberated from Chinese influence. Argentina, Chile is now conservative. Bolivia I think is that way. Colombia may go that way. So there's a right wing conservative backlash in Latin America. The Chinese are not there, the Russians are not there, the Iranians are not there. They were really developing a profile in Latin America. And then how about Russia? It's not in the Middle east anymore. It lost Syria and Assad. It's lost a million people. It's got probably another million and a half casualties. It's bogged down. It's going to be hard to get drones to Russia from Iran or from. Maybe Russia can send things through the Caspian Sea, but we can stop that if we want to easily. Maybe they're going through a third party country, but probably they're sending things on the Caspian Sea right to the shores of Iran, but you can stop that. What I'm getting at is I don't know what Zarkarya means because our Chinese and Russian adversaries are in much weaker position. They've seen the display of American expertise. It's a deterrent factor. He says that Russians, it's a big beneficiary. Why? Because the price of oil, the only thing that was worrisome, I don't think he said much, was the Nord Stream pipeline, that the Europeans were buying natural gas and on the world market, Russian oil, until finally Trump sanctioned it and the Strait of Hormuz, this is a good development in a strange way because it's going to shock the Europeans and people who use it into manning up to their responsibilities. We'll see what happens.
- [55:54]
Jack Fowler
Well, we're gonna get you talking back on the domestic stuff about Pete Buttigieg first. Every day Americans make choices that shape our country's future right down to which cell phone provider we support. And here's what most people don't realize. Patriot Mobile isn't just a wireless provider. They're an activist organization funded by selling top tier cell phone service. They've been on the front lines defending our freedoms long before it was cool. Standing in the gap when others wouldn. Part is they deliver prioritized premium service on all three major US networks, giving you the same or even better coverage backed by 100% US based customer support. Get unlimited data plans, mobile hotspots, international roaming and more. And when you switch to Patriot Mobile, you'll help grow a movement that fuels the Christian conservative cause. Every bill you pay helps advance the values of faith, family and friends. Freedom. Switching is easier than ever. Activate in minutes. Keep your number, keep your phone or upgrade. Take a stand today. Go to patriotmobile.com VDH or call 972 Patriot and use the promo code VDH for a free month of service. Free month of service. That's patriotmobile.com VDH or call 972 Patriot and make the switch today. And we thank the good people from Patriot Mobile for sponsoring Victor Davis Hansen in his own words on the Daily Signal Network. Victor Pete Buttigieg. What do you want to say? Do you want to say he's a nice guy? Do you want to make fun of him?
- [57:34]
Victor Davis Hanson
He seems a nice guy, but he exudes. I don't know if he means to. He exudes sanctimonious self righteousness. I don't know much about him. He was an ineffective mayor of South Bend, Indiana. When he came on the national scene in 2020 people. He was loved by the academic lounge people and the media people because he spoke, I don't know. He claimed he spoke four or five languages. His dad was a professor. He went over to Afghanistan. He did go over there and he had a military. He was just the perfect candidate. I think he was a Rhodes scholar too. People can check me on that. But he came across as kind of, I don't want to be too mean, but kind of wimpy and out of touch. He had no common touch at all. When he went to East Palestine to see what that train leak had done, it was like a. It was like a catfish walking on shore. You know what I mean? He couldn't, he couldn't. He was so out of.
- [58:34]
Jack Fowler
At the cooties.
- [58:35]
Victor Davis Hanson
Yeah, he couldn't relate to anybody. He was just offended by everybody when he was transportation here, you know, you go to LA, well, the old LA. I don't know about the new LA. Everybody's fleeing. But the old LA, you get locked on the 405 or the 101. It's horrible. And what was he doing as transportation secretary? He was talking about racist cloverleafs and racist overpasses. He was just, you know, and he wanted to ride a bike for green energy. And then they had to let him off in a photo op. So somebody said to him, pete, we lost the 2024 election because the old lunch bucket union, white male, and indeed even the middle classes in general, Hispanics and black, did not come out, or they don't like us, us. And they had that audit, that famous audit, remember, they didn't release the full. We all knew what it was, that nobody cares about their boutique issues. So they had a message. And so Pete grew a beard. And remember he had, I think he tried once to have trucker, a trucker cap. You know, like he's. Well, he has flannel now and he wears caps and he's got a beard and it's like he's a good old boy. And somebody said, you remember Joe Biden, Pete? How'd he get elected? He didn't get elected by being a far left maniac, cognitively declined person. We saw when he actually got in there, a puppet for the old Obama crew that had the most radical four years in history since the Roosevelt. He got in there because he was old Joe Biden, the devout Catholic middle class working guy from Delaware. So we just put him in the basement and we told him to shut up. And we campaigned against horrible Donald Trump and good old Joe Biden. And every time we would leak a video that he said that he didn't want a racial jungle or he didn't remember all that stuff he did from the 70s. It was really crazy. And that got him elected. And then the veneer was over. So we need a better veneer. So then they told Tim Waltz that too, you know, after he lost. And so he gave some clips and you go, hey, you know, guys don't like me because, you know, here's a white guy and he's a very liberal guy. And you know, I drive a truck and I can change the oil. I don't think he can change his shoestrings, but. And I'm a hunter. And you know, there's a lot of guys don't like liberal guys that are good old, you know, good old boys. It was complete fake. And then we, so. And then they said, you know what, maybe we don't need these Old guys reboot, let's get some new ones and put veneers on them. So we get this James Telorico and he's in Texas and he's a white guy and he's supposed to be a middle class guy. But best of all, the handlers say. I think it was all these media outlets. Well, he's very devout, he's an evangelical and so he's Pastor Telo. And this is going to win those crazy people in Texas. And so then he's on the scene like two minutes and they find out, oh, God is non binary. The most dangerous people in the world, the most dangerous terrorists are white guys. And Texas should go easy on the trans and hard on the billionaires. And he's to the left of Bernie Sanders, but he's still speaking in pious tones and quoting scripture. That's not going to work.
- [62:12]
Jack Fowler
It worked with David French, but other
- [62:14]
Victor Davis Hanson
than that it didn't work with David French. He's the locus classicus of Wyatt fails. So then they said, well, we got a guy in Maine, oh my gosh, Graham Platner, remember him? Wow, he's got a beard. He wears flannel. He was an oysterman. I think he was a bartender. Wow. Now, he did go to the Hotchkiss prep school and his parents were very wealthy, but he went to the Marine. He was a veteran. He was a combat theater veteran. And he's going to be the new main and it may work. And they've repackaged this guy as a good old middle class guy. And then of course they did the Telarico audit on him and he said, you know, I'm a communist.
- [62:56]
Jack Fowler
Yeah.
- [62:57]
Victor Davis Hanson
And you see tattoo rural white people are, what do you say, the stupidest people there are. And he hates them, apparently. And then he gets a Totenkoff special. And I couldn't, I looked at it and it's either from the third Panzer division that killed people on site in Poland, or it's from the special Einsen group. And you know those special groups that were in charge of extermination at the camps and that was their insignia. And then he put it on and there were people said he knew what it was, that's why he put it on. And some anti Semitism resurfaced. So I don't know. I don't know if that great white middle hope will veneer facade, because they are facade. The problem, just to conclude, Jack, is that they can't get over they hate the white working class. It represents everything they hate. They don't like people who are smarter than they are. And that intelligence is expressed through muscularity. They don't like a guy that comes to their house and he looks at their electrical panel and he says, hmm, 220app. You need 400 and let me go walk around your house. You need 15 circuits of 110. You need about 5, 220s. It'll be about 5,000 bucks. I can do it in one day. And then this Einsteinian brain of this electrician fixes it and they think, wow, what a peculiar thing is that they don't like these people and that's why they can't stop it. So when Gavin Newsom's wife says this, that she took her kids, that the males have female. We have the males. Our boys have girl dolls and our girls have males things. But I thought I should take them to show our despicable history of these red states like Alabama and Mississippi. So it was like going, I'm just kidding, but caricature. But it was like a safari. We got our cars, we rolled down the windows and like the giraffes and tigers and elephants that might hurt us, we just looked at them, these creepy people, and that was really good. So our kids can be guilty and hate their country and hate themselves as white people. But it's good to see. And that's what we did. I took them on a tour. She literally did that. Or that's Peter Strzok. I mean, how incidental is that to Lisa Page? I went to Walmart and I could smell Trump supporters at Walmart or that reporter for I'm Taxing my Brain, Mark Caputo for cnn. And he said he went to a Trump rally and he said, I've got more teeth than the whole people in the rally. And it goes on and on and it's how can they reform that when it's Obama? Obama deplorables. Hillary irredeemables deplorables. It's Biden dregs, chumps, ultra maga garbage, semi fascist. They can't. So they're going to try and they're going to dress up all. And the locusts, I mean the target that proves the point was Sarah Palin. I remember David Letterman said that she, she's going to put on her lipstick like some slutty airline hostess. And then he said, remember her daughter Willow, 14? Oh, he was stand up comic. She's running for the vice president. Oh, Willow. He didn't say Willow, but Sarah Palin discovered that her daughter was impregnated by Alex Rodriguez in the dugout talking about a 14 year old.
- [66:31]
Jack Fowler
That was David Letterman.
- [66:32]
Victor Davis Hanson
David Letterman, yeah, absolutely. He'd said both of those and it was just like Jimmy Kimmel. Oh, Mark, we got a plumber at Homeland. No, you have a guy who is a brilliant guy who could plumb your house and created a very successful plumbing services with a 10 year congressman, a US senator. And he's, you know, so they can't help it because you can see it. It just oozes out of them that they hate people like that.
- [66:58]
Jack Fowler
Yeah, we're not the point where England is on this, I don't think, Victor, because they, you have all the, you know, the relentless rapes of these women and I think the similar, the British elite, you know, equivalent, same thing.
- [67:13]
Victor Davis Hanson
They hate the poor.
- [67:14]
Jack Fowler
Yeah. But they think they have it coming to them too. They do. They deserve it.
- [67:19]
Victor Davis Hanson
No, they hate them. They hate them. They think the British elite, the left wing aristocracy really does hate the average working class Brit. Their accent is wrong, they have the wrong views. They're an embarrassment. They need them during wars. That's all they need them for. And then they love the Pakistani and other Muslim groups because they feel that the more we let in, the more those people will be beholden to us for our moral smug superiority and we will have a new constituency and we won't have to appeal to these horrible working class people. And that's pretty much what the left believes too. That's what the whole. I think everybody should realize that. But don't fall for these fake news left. Oh, you people. The great replacement theory. Oh, you're all racist. No, no, no. They believe in it. They open the Borders. They let 10,000 people in. They say this is our constituency and if you don't let us have mail in ballots and you don't let us just vote without an id, then you're a racist and you're a nativist. And that's. And I think that's what they're doing. And that's aimed at. They hate the deplorables. They don't like them.
- [68:34]
Jack Fowler
Well, the deplorables are paying lots of taxes in your state, Victor. So let's close out with your thought on this story mentioned before, Chris Ruffo, and he's written this with some others at City Journal. So if you go to City journal, I think cityjournal.com or.org, this is the quarterly publication of the Manhattan Institute. But it also has a lot of news every, every day. Victor's actually a contributing Editor, too.
- [68:57]
Victor Davis Hanson
Yeah, it's a city check. Brian Anderson's a wonderful guy. Myron Magna was a wonderful guy. All of them are wonderful. I think James Pearson, isn't he.
- [69:10]
Jack Fowler
He's on the board.
- [69:12]
Victor Davis Hanson
I think he's a fellow, too, though.
- [69:14]
Jack Fowler
Yeah, he might be.
- [69:15]
Victor Davis Hanson
He's a wonderful writer.
- [69:16]
Jack Fowler
Yeah, well, he. Well, Ruffo and his team have written a piece, Gavin Newsom's Empire of Fraud. And it starts out saying the state collects California highest income business fuel taxes. It now spends more than $300 billion a year. And everywhere you look, as Richter knows, he just has to go out his front door. It's falling apart. So from unemployment insurance and Medicaid, to failed homeless initiatives and welfare programs, seemingly every state program has been compromised by criminals. The best estimate suggests that on the governor's watch watch, fraudsters, scammers and organized crime rings have stolen at least $180 billion from taxes. You said 250 before. Maybe this number's been updated since it's first reported. But, Victor, that's just like a. I mean, it's almost an incomprehensible amount of money.
- [70:09]
Victor Davis Hanson
Yeah, it is. I was looking at payroll taxes I paid and Medicare taxes, and. And the state rate hits Everybody at about 10% at 70,000 a year, and it goes up to 13.3 state. And then there's sales tax that should be about 8%. But all these local places, because of what you're talking about, are broke. So they add on a municipal or a local on the sales tax, add on. It's about 10 or 11% in reality. And then you look at the federal 37%, and I figure I paid 55% of my income, at least in California. And so you're working, I don't know, from January to, I don't know, end of July for the government, for the governments. And then you get Javin Newsom and you try to confront him with that, and he said, it's Trump. He did it. It's federal money. Yeah, Gavin, he gave you. He inherited programs that he tried to cut because of people like you. And you demonized Doge and you said he was a racist and he was cruel. So you take the federal money and they trust that you'll spend it. They're the purse. You're the bursar that pays out, but you are corrupt. He was blamed. He was like Pitzer. He blamed Trump for the crime in Chicago when Trump begged him to go in there. And every time he's gone in somewhere, you know, there's a whole. Have you seen this phenomenon now if you go on the Internet or people, people send me clips, but it's really taken off. It started with San Francisco and we mentioned it Jack about what San Francisco looked like during vertig. There's all these people who will take San Francisco between 1950 and 1965 or Detroit in 1948 or Boston. I saw a picture of Boston 1960, something compared to. And they show you the same street, the same buildings, everybody was downtown, they were well dressed, dust, there was no litter and there were no homeless. And the left then jumps in on these sites and always said, well, there's racism and you don't count on that. And there was income. No, California didn't have as much income inequality as it does now. And California had a wonderful fire protection policy. And it was, it was the fifth largest producer of oil and gas in the country. I think it was number three in timber production, mineral production. It had the most sophisticated water program in the world. The highest lift over the grapevine into LA from the valley of Penstock. Everything was number one. The uc, the tripartite Community College, State College. UC was a model for the country and it always was. It was very, very hard to get into a UC campus. It was considered very prestigious. And he came in Jerry Brown. The first time was he was not so ideological, but more frugal. He slept on the ground. He didn't, you know what I mean? He didn't. He wanted to save money, he wanted to balance the budget. He was a liberal, but he wasn't like Gavin Newsom. But the second time around, I don't think he had a choice. He had to deal with the most radical super majorities in the legislature and the courts are completely crazy in California and look at it. And it just declined, decline, decline. Every place I can drive a half mile, I don't want to be too specific in which direction. And I can tell you as a 72 year old person that I used to walk down this road and I would make a left and buy eggs from one of the farmers, from my parents. I was six years old by myself along the side of the road. And then I would go on the other side of the road and there had been a little house that had been a market and then I would cross the street and there was an Italian guy. These were all, by the way, what we would call either Italian Americans or Portuguese Americans or Mexican America. And then I would walk across the street and the guy had a 5 acre orange orchard and the most Tidy, neat house in the world. And he was a welder. So When I was 12 or 13, 14, my grandfather would say, take the Oliver tractor and drive down there. And if I was too young, he said, go around the back way and drop that outfit. And he would fix it. Okay, if you go there now, I would say each of those places that I talked about, there must be anywhere from 15 to 30 people living. There are dogs out in the middle of the road that are unlicensed. No callers all the time. There has been about three gang raids, Federal joint task forces to go in for raiding. There must be, I would say on average at least four in one case, eight or nine Winnebago shacks, you know, separate things dotting their little one or two acres. And there must be three or 400 people living where these three families are. And when you talk to people, anytime a person comes to my place from the government and sometimes it would be a mosquito abatement official, sometimes it would be a building inspector. I mentioned about solar panels, sometimes it would be about PGE cutting trees, sometimes it'd be the county about widening the road. I'd always say, would you please go down there first? These are the problems that you're trying to address. And if I'm in violation, it's a minor misdemeanor and you know that I will comply. And they've all said this is same thing. I can sum up. Are you crazy? Are you crazy? And what they're saying is that if they went in there, there are gangs and it would be dangerous. And they're saying even if there weren't gangs and I don't have a red tag booklet enough to put red tags on everything, everything is illegal. And even if I did, these transgressors are a protected group of people. And nobody would want the Fresno B to publicize it because they would say something to the effect a poor disadvantaged person was harassed by the government. Meanwhile, you know, Mark Zuckerberg or somebody has billions. That's what they would say. And of course, when I have friends that visit and that's the way you come to my house, they can't believe it. They said, wow. In fact, I think I mentioned I had a Fox crew. I don't want to mention the host. I really like her. She was a wonderful person. And she came here and she was doing high speed rail and the decline of California. And we drove over there and finally and around the block on the other side, it's even the next road over is even scarier. And she said, I've been all over the Middle east, in places. This is really a much scary, scarier, much scarier.
- [77:42]
Jack Fowler
I've been there, as you know, several times. I was, I say mad Max.
- [77:46]
Victor Davis Hanson
Yeah. And I, as I said right before I had surgery, I walked and a guy was driving there. He saw me, he opened the door and he kicked out two German shepherds that charged me. And luckily I started screaming at him. And then they turned around to their massacre and he took off and he left them. And I'd say In the last 60 days, oh, maybe 120 days, there's been at least four starving dogs that come in. They just pull up. Oh, that house looks pretty well kept. Open the door. Bing. Get out. No one talks about that. And Gavin Newsom can talk all he wants, but you know, he just bought a $9 million home. And Karen Bass can talk about it, but she lives in the mayor's mansion with a big wall around it. And everybody knows that about the left. Bernie Sanders can talk. He's got three homes. Barack Obama, we never know where he's flying from. Martha's Vineyard, Kalorama or the beach house in Hawaii. End of story. So I'm glad they're going to uncover it, but I've already seen the coverage, Jack, here in California, and it is Trump. It's either Trump tries to distract from the war or right wingers are now going after the poor or Trump's new defense budget is higher than what he cutting. 76 billion, billion. And it's going to be very hard, especially because people are leaving California. 50,000 people left Los Angeles last year. It's not the same Los Angeles. So the people, the only thing that I can see is there are not going to be enough people to pay for it. Exactly.
- [79:25]
Jack Fowler
By the way, you mentioned on la, and we'll close on this, just to make a note that we talked about him on the last episode. You and I did that. Spencer Pratt, it's a headline of the Daily Mail. He's gaining in the polls after he launched a long shot campaign to replace Bass as the mayor of Los Angeles. So, well, whatever, it seems to be noticeable.
- [79:45]
Victor Davis Hanson
I think he has a chance if there's enough voters left. He's very bright. I had an hour talk with him. He's very quick. He's got a lot of, he's got a sense of humor and he's not really political in the sense that he's a physical conservative. He wants to, to clean up Los Angeles and bring it back to the glory. Days. And I think the whole Karen Bass, I mean, you can say so many things about. She was in Uganda. They haven't built any houses really in Pacific Palace. You can say whatever you want. But it all goes down to one thing about la. The vice mayor during the whole crisis was arrested for phoning in a phony bomb threat, blaming Jews and Israel. Israel. And now he's in prison. He was the vice mayor and supposedly in charge of the city when she was on a junket to Uganda while her city was up in flames. And then the city water and power woman was making 700,000. She's gone now. And the main reservoir that could have saved Pacific Palisades had been dry for months on end. And then the fire chief was cutting commercials about dei. That other woman said, the African American person who was I think third or fourth in charge said when she goes into what she say, if I go into a house, I'm not going to really worry about if he. They said, can you. I think people said, can you pick up a man? She. I don't really. If I can't pick him up, it's his problem.
- [81:21]
Jack Fowler
Yeah. So I'm going to drag him down the stairs by his feet, I guess.
- [81:24]
Victor Davis Hanson
Yeah. Let him run roast.
- [81:25]
Jack Fowler
Yeah. So. Well, Victor, you've been.
- [81:29]
Victor Davis Hanson
I mean, that's what she said.
- [81:30]
Jack Fowler
I know, essentially. Yeah.
- [81:32]
Victor Davis Hanson
Right.
- [81:33]
Jack Fowler
Okay, I got three comments I want to read, Victor, from the many, many people who comment on YouTube and your blade of Perseus. So here's from Republican Forever 25 OMG Victor, you are a true believer in America and you put your medical issue issues behind you. I love you so much.
- [81:55]
Victor Davis Hanson
Thank you people.
- [81:56]
Jack Fowler
Loving Victor DKMark719 writes, Dr. Hansen is such an admirable man and so blessed. He so graciously shares his knowledge and talents with those of us less talented. He is such a breath of fresh air and makes me feel so much more knowledgeable after each of his presentations, which I rarely miss. Thank you, Dr. Hansen, for keeping my mind active and alive. God bless. Bless. And finally, HS Black Widow writes no Kings rally in Montgomery County, Maryland. The county borders Washington, dc. While driving home, I was stopped at a red light. I ended up alongside a rally. I was able to ask three questions. First, I asked if it was a white supremacist rally. I said, it sure looks like it. As they were zero minor. One man said that it kind of looked that way. After pulling up a bit, I asked, since the country, the county, excuse me, is 60% minority, why didn't you invite Any of them. Their reaction was that of dismay, with heads dropping. Finally, asked another group, can anyone participate, or do you have to be white and retired? Once again, you could see that my question hit home to the reality of their rally and the stark lack of diversity in an overly diverse community going against everything they preach. So, anyway, that's more.
- [83:19]
Victor Davis Hanson
That was good. I saw Robert De Niro. They actually were talking to him as he was snarling, you know, oh, he was terrible. I can call him a snarlpuss rather than snagglepuss, but he was snarling. I thought he was talking about no kings. And I thought, how long has Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi been in office year after year? 50 years. Donald Trump has only been in office six years of his entire life. Lawfare, raiding his home, trying to take him off the ballot. That's what kings do, try to destroy somebody personally, and then they give exemptions to the rest. So, I mean, it's sad because he's just full. He's so full of hatred. And I, I saw a clip from the View where Joy Behar said that getting back to the white working class, the last comment, she said, well, they all said it's so bewildering that Trump basically is so awful. And then who votes for him? And they said, well, half the name. And then Joe Bahar says, and they're poorly educated. And I'm thinking two things. Yeah, a psych degree over nine years at a university, that it's great inflation means anything compared to a crack sheet rocker or roofer. I know a guy, I'll call him Chad. He's a roofer. He owns a roofing company. He reminds me of a surgeon when he comes up to my house, you know, he surveys everything and then he tells me exactly what type of roof and what the conditions of the rafters are. And then in his head, he gives me a very competitive. It's like a genius, right? And what's her name was looking at this in this clip, Whoopi Goldberg. And I may be mistaken. I haven't checked this one. Joy Behor goes, well, the front people are just poorly educated. I'm thinking, Joy Whoopi's next to you, and she dropped out of high school and she's as liberal as you are with your college degree.
- [85:21]
Jack Fowler
The advanced degree, psych major will have a debt of six figures, and the sheetrocker will own two houses and have seven figures.
- [85:30]
Victor Davis Hanson
Absolutely. As it should be. As it should should be. Yeah, I know it. It's too bad because what made America different? I'm writing an essay for a Swiss newspaper and they asked me what makes America different. And I'm going to say it was a traditional meritocracy. And we never had a landed aristocracy, a class system, plutocracy. Yes, but money is easier to get than titles. Nobody, unless you're a baron or you have land and you can be. What I like about the United States is I know people who've come. I know a guy who came up from Mexico legally, he's a US citizen, he has a tree trimming service and the amount of money he makes is just staggering. And he's got prestige, social prestige, and only in America can you do that. And when I look today and see what this disdain for these working people, they always talk about being Trump is un American. No, you guys are un American. American. That's the great strength of this country, that we allow people to get practical knowledge and do very useful things for society and then compensate them accordingly. At least we used to. And we shouldn't compensate. I mean a guy who's living in the basement and he's six or seven years, so he can say he gets a BA and he runs up 150,000, then he welches on his student loans and he's got a psych degree or community studies degree or what good is that to society?
- [87:05]
Jack Fowler
He deserves an income.
- [87:09]
Victor Davis Hanson
You also said, why aren't these people like, why aren't there more Mexican American guys out protesting? They're at work. Most of these retired white people are on California purrs or big Seid pensions. So that's. I'm serious.
- [87:28]
Jack Fowler
Well, Victor, we've gone coming up against the wall here. I just want to thank folks who do sign up and subscribe to Civil Thoughts. That's one of the things I do for the center for Civil Society. If you go to civilthoughts.com sign up you'll get the free weekly every comes out every Friday. We email newsletter and it's just 14 recommended readings. Great articles I've come across the previous week. I know you're going to like it. We don't sell your name so check it out please. Again go to Victor's website, the Blade of Perseus. That's VictorHansen.com and subscribe and go to Amazon. Get the Counter Revolution. Sign up for it now. Yes, and I even I signed Victor. I didn't. No free. Every Victor has so many friends and friends. What do they want from authors? They want free copies of his latest book. I always buy Victor's books. And you should, too.
- [88:25]
Victor Davis Hanson
I think you'll like it. It's a little different. It's not a rah rah. It's just trying to analyze the most amazing comeback in political history starting on January 1st. I just quoted all what they said about him. They said he was completely Mitch McConnell said something that finally this SOB got what he deserved and now he's how did that happen? How did he become from that point? It's a fascinating story, I think.
- [88:55]
Jack Fowler
Look forward to it. All right, Victor, I know real time. It's Easter's tomorrow, so I'm going to wish you. In hindsight, though, I hope everyone has had a happy Easter.
- [89:05]
Victor Davis Hanson
Victor.
- [89:06]
Jack Fowler
Have a happy Easter, though.
- [89:07]
Victor Davis Hanson
Thank you.
- [89:07]
Jack Fowler
Thanks folks for watching. Thanks for listening. Thank you Daily Signal, for carrying this podcast. And we'll be back soon with another episode of Victor Davis, Hands in His Own Words. Bye Bye.
- [89:17]
Victor Davis Hanson
Thank you. Thanks everyone for watching and listening. Thank you for tuning in to the Daily Signal. Please like share and subscribe to be notified for more content like this. You can also check out my own website@victorhansen.com and subscribe for exclusive features. In addition.