by Victor Davis Hanson// Defining Ideas We know what the recent terrorist attack in Orlando was not. Forty-nine people were killed and fifty-three wounded not due to the violent outburst of a right-wing zealot. The shooter, Omar Mateen, was a second-generation Afghan-American, a registered Democrat, and a fierce critic of American politics and culture. Nor […]
When have voters faced a choice between two such unpalatable, unprincipled candidates? By Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online Before summer is over, we may see things now scarcely imagined that will make Brexit seem anticlimactic. Trump’s Attack Mode I think the following is an accurate statement: No major public figure has ever before
Opportunists are at least attuned to public opinion, unlike ideologues. By Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online Hillary Clinton is a seasoned liberal politician, but one with few core beliefs. Her positions on subjects such as gay marriage, free-trade agreements, the Keystone XL pipeline, the Iraq War, the Assad regime in Syria, and
Other public figures won’t admit they agree with him — but they often quietly adopt his ideas. By Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online Donald Trump has a frightening habit of uttering things that many people apparently think, but would never express. And he blusters in such an off-putting and sloppy fashion that he
By Victor Davis Hanson // Defining Ideas Before the Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC), where Philip II of Macedon prevailed over a common Greek alliance, the city-states had been weakened by years of social and economic turmoil. To read the classical speeches in the Athenian assembly is to learn of the democracy’s constant struggles
The candidates may be unconventional, but their political agendas fall along a conventional divide. By Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online At first glance, 2016 sizes up as no other election year in American history. For more than 30 years, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have been high-profile and controversial celebrities. Both have
We still have five more months of Trump vs. Hillary. Then four or eight years of — what? By Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online The Disaffected. Will stay-home so-called establishment Republicans outnumber renewed Reagan Democrats, Tea Partiers, and conservative independents, some of whom likely sat out 2008 and 2012, but who now are
The Orlando massacre brings up familiar lessons that we never quite learn. By Victor Davis Hanson // City Journal The aftermath of Islamist Afghan-American Omar Mateen’s murderous rampage against American gays seems disturbingly familiar, an echo of past themes that never stop playing—and lessons that never get learned. The post-911 debate over “why do they
In reacting to terrorism, Obama cannot bring himself to say the words ‘radical Islam.’ By Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online There are many threads to the horror in Orlando. Most disturbing is the serial inability of the Obama administration — in this case as after the attacks at Fort Hood and in Boston
We should seek to preserve the ideals that made America successful. By Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online The history of nations is mostly characterized by ethnic and racial uniformity, not diversity. Most national boundaries reflected linguistic, religious, and ethnic homogeneity. Until the late 20th century, diversity was considered a liability, not a strength.