Podcast Summary

Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words

Episode Title: What Six Democrats Didn’t Say in Their Anti-Trump Message to US Soldiers
Release Date: November 25, 2025
Host: Jack Fowler
Guest/Commentator: Victor Davis Hanson

Episode Overview

This episode centers on Victor Davis Hanson’s analysis of current political events, including the meeting between NYC mayor-elect Mandami and Donald Trump, a controversial video from six Democrat lawmakers urging military disobedience to “illegal orders,” cultural tensions and media bias, and the fallout around Marjorie Taylor Greene and Jasmine Crockett. Hanson, with his typical incisiveness, explores the deep historical and cultural currents behind these headlines, provides context, and warns about the potential dangers of current trends.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Trump and NYC Mayor-Elect Mandami’s White House Meeting

Timestamps: [00:00], [04:19], [07:43]

• Hanson considers the motives and optics of Mandami, a left-leaning NYC mayor-elect, meeting with Trump:
  • Mandami may have hurt his standing with his own base by associating with Trump, “Satan incarnate” to his voters.
  • Trump “played him” for publicity and to create rifts among Democrats.
  • Potential for real conflict if Mandami attempts to follow through on promises like “arresting Netanyahu at the UN” or “blocking ICE”—such actions would pit him directly against federal authority and financial support.

“When you’re the city of New York mayor elect, you need the federal government much more than the federal government needs you...Mandami, by being with Trump, has a lot of problems with his base because Trump is Satan incarnate to the people who vote for Mandami...”
—Victor Davis Hanson [04:19]

• Theatrics of Oval Office photo ops with Trump are “weird,” but Hanson notes Trump maintains control, leaving the media in a pickle:

“He gives us so much access that we can't criticize him, even though the access is to his advantage. So he's got them in a pickle.”
—Victor Davis Hanson [08:01]

2. Cultural Coarsening and Double Standards

Timestamps: [10:22], [10:30]

• Hanson decries rising public crudity and religious intolerance—a university crowd chanting, "F the Mormons," goes largely unchecked, something unthinkable were it, “F the Muslims.”
• Criticizes political leaders (like Chicago’s Brandon Johnson) who fail to forcefully condemn clear-cut instances of violent crime or misbehavior.

“The left has conditioned or prepped the battlefield that certain things are regrettable, but they're tolerable. But certain things are career ending and one of them is Islamophobia. It's all right to make fun of Jews or Mormons, but not other people.”
—Victor Davis Hanson [10:30]

• Hanson expresses frustration that media, by sanitizing facts and stoking reactions in the comments, is driving a cycle of rage and polarization.
• No effective “tough love” or real solutions proposed for crime, education, or moral decay.

3. Racial Regulation and Media Manipulation

Timestamps: [17:46], [18:38]

• Hanson points out the selective suppression and spinning of news, noting that only some types of violence or bias are covered, while others are ignored.
• The result is public anger, as the disconnect between media narrative and lived reality grows.

“Nobody talks about it because to talk about it invites criticism that you're a racist and it's not fair. And yet the people who should be talking about it like a Jasmine Crockett, because she can't speak of anything other than race — all she comes out of her mouth is white this and black this — then people like that won't touch it.”
—Victor Davis Hanson [17:46]

4. Democrat Senators’ “Don’t Obey Illegal Orders” PSA

Timestamps: [20:58], [22:28], [24:35], [30:30]

• Six Democrat lawmakers issue a video urging soldiers not to obey “illegal orders,” clearly referencing Trump but not citing any actual incidents.
• Hanson sharply criticizes this, noting:
  • It undermines military discipline by encouraging every member to become a “lawyer” second-guessing commands.
  • There is no evidence of Trump issuing unlawful orders; historic context shows both Democratic and Republican presidents sending troops into domestic situations without Congressional approval.
  • The real dangerous precedent is senior retired generals publicly disparaging Trump during his presidency, which directly violates the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ Article 88).
  • Left only applies principles like “states’ rights” or “federal supremacy” opportunistically for political gain.

“They can't list one thing and then they say Uniform Code of Military Justice...it's almost impossible. You have to be absolutely sure that you are being told...what an unlawful order is, something like 'shoot the prisoner,' something like that. It's not what they're imagining.”
—Victor Davis Hanson [22:28]

“If the chairman of the Joint Chiefs says that, with my sophisticated background in psychiatry, I tele-diagnosed our commander in chief as unstable, then that gives me a right to disobey any order that he gives... The left keeps pushing the insurrection button.”
—Victor Davis Hanson [24:35]

• Hanson warns that this rhetoric could lead to a constitutional crisis, referencing “Bleeding Kansas” and historical precedents.

5. Marjorie Taylor Greene: Resignation and Fallout

Timestamps: [44:42], [45:23], [52:32]

• Greene resigns from Congress, her relationship with Trump having frayed over the Epstein files and foreign policy disputes.
• Hanson contextualizes the Epstein files: most names are not guilty of felonies, but Democrats sat on the files for years, likely to avoid exposing their own.
• He sees Greene’s relentless calls for file release, and public criticism of Trump’s Middle East actions, as overzealous and ultimately self-defeating.

“The whole problem with the Epstein files was they were in the hands of the Democrats for four years...if they released it, there wasn't enough incriminating evidence other than Jeffrey Epstein happened to know Donald Trump. But...80 to 90% Democrat [names], so they suppressed it.”
—Victor Davis Hanson [44:42]

6. Jasmine Crockett, Outrage Tactics, and Demagogy

Timestamps: [55:21], [59:22]

• Criticism of Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s attempt to publicly tie Lee Zeldin to Jeffrey Epstein—using the excuse “a Jeffrey Epstein”—as reckless demagoguery.
• Hanson exposes a pattern: Crockett thrives on saying outrageous things, never apologizing, and manipulating identity and accent for effect.

“I'm going to get on here and say outrageous, crazy things and get publicity. And she's done it so many times, and then she says she doubles down on every one of them. She's never once said, I apologize, I don't mean that.”
—Victor Davis Hanson [55:21]

• Crockett’s code-switching is compared to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama performing dialects or popular culture references for effect, which Hanson decries as inauthentic.

7. Hamas-Israel Ceasefire Analysis

Timestamps: [68:09], [71:47], [73:38]

• The Gaza ceasefire is falling apart, which Hanson predicted would occur if Hamas wasn’t fully defeated.
• Western calls for peace outweigh the willingness to inflict the level of force historically necessary to truly end such conflicts.

“Hamas just went back to everybody and said ... we're here, and if you start to elect anybody else ... we're going to kill you. And the amount of violence needed to eliminate them is contrary to what the Western world will tolerate.”
—Victor Davis Hanson [68:09]

• Historical analogies: Versailles vs. WWII occupation; “you can’t put peace before victory.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “[Trump] gives us so much access that we can't criticize him, even though the access is to his advantage. So he's got them in a pickle.” [08:01]
• “The left has conditioned...certain things are regrettable, but they're tolerable. But certain things are career ending and one of them is Islamophobia. It's all right to make fun of Jews or Mormons, but not other people.” [10:30]
• “When you have Brandon Johnson saying...this is an isolated case...this girl was torched by a person who had been arrested 49 times...he didn't say, ‘I think something's wrong with her judicial [system]...’ It's amoral.” [10:30]
• “If the message is wink, nod. Donald Trump has been giving unlawful orders, but we don't want to specify which ones. There's a reason why that.” [20:58]
• “They don't have a position on states rights or federal superiority...That is just for the moment because it's conducive to their larger agenda of acquiring and expanding their power.” [30:30]

Timestamps for Major Segments

• 00:00 – 08:38: Trump & Mandami meeting: power dynamics and media manipulation
• 10:22 – 18:38: Cultural decline, crime, racial narratives, and selective outrage
• 20:58 – 30:14: Democrat senators’ “illegal orders” video, military discipline, and leftist double standards
• 44:00 – 52:32: Marjorie Taylor Greene’s retirement, Epstein files, Trump’s transactional nature
• 55:21 – 61:58: Rep. Jasmine Crockett, political slander, code-switching and authenticity
• 68:09 – 74:34: Hamas-Israel ceasefire, historical analogies regarding victory/peace
• 79:20 – 84:21: Listener comments, generational disputes, dangers of new “alt-right” ideologues

Episode Highlights & Takeaways

• Hanson’s analysis is steeped in historical example and warns of repeating past mistakes if current trajectories hold.
• Populist outrage is actively stoked—by both politicians and media—not just as an outcome but a strategy.
• America is at risk—culturally, politically, and strategically—of losing control through division, performative outrage, and an abdication of hard but necessary leadership decisions.
• Neither left nor right holds consistent principles when power is at stake; both are ultimately transactional.

Thematic Tone

• The conversation is sharp, sometimes caustic, peppered with historical parallels and a sense that the American public is being “played”—by leaders, protesters, and journalists alike.
• Hanson is characteristically unsparing—critical of leftwing demagoguery, but also skeptical of the right’s excesses.

This summary covers the core themes, major topics, memorable moments, and provides clear references for each major section of the discussion.