It’s Still a Mad, Mad California
by Victor Davis Hanson// National Review Coastal elites set rules for others, exempt themselves, and tolerate rampant lawlessness from illegal aliens. One reason for the emergence of outsider Donald Trump is the old outrage that elites seldom experience the consequences of their own ideologically driven agendas. Hypocrisy, when coupled with sanctimoniousness, grates people like few […]
The Ancient Foreign Policy
by Victor Davis Hanson// National Review Nations are collections of human beings, and human nature has not changed, despite Obama’s pleadings. For the last eight years, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Samantha Power, Ben Rhodes, and Susan Rice have sought to rewrite the traditional approach to foreign policy. In various ways, they have warned […]
The Trump Nail in the Media Coffin
By Victor Davis Hanson// Town Hall | President-elect Donald Trump probably will not often communicate with the nation via traditional press conferences. Nor will Trump likely field many questions from New York/Washington journalists.What we know as “the media” never imagined a Trump victory. It has become unhinged at the reality of a Trump presidency.No wonder […]
The Animal Cunning and Instinct of Donald Trump
by Victor Davis Hanson// National Review He grasped that what voters cared about were the very issues politicos were disdainfully ignoring. The American middle classes, the Chinese, and Vladimir Putin have never been convinced that Ivy League degrees, vast Washington experience, and cultural sophistication necessarily translate into national wisdom. Trump instead relies more on instinct […]
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From An Angry Reader: Victor Your gloating and myopic column pillorying President Obama’s foreign policy legacy was simple minded and juvenile. Why write something so stupidly one sided????? When Obama came into office we were losing 100 service people per month in a stupid war and as he leaves office, this number is down to […]
Has Trump Nominated Too Many Military Leaders—Or Not Enough?
By Victor Davis Hanson// National Review Choosing military men for top cabinet spots is not unprecedented, nor is it foolish given how Washington insiders have performed. President-elect Donald Trump is being faulted for supposedly appointing too many retired generals to cabinet-level jobs and “militarizing” the government. Former lieutenant general Michael Flynn is slated to be […]
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From an Angry Reader: Re: Obama’s initiatives What a horrible president and yet, 57% approval rating! Wow! How is that possible! I think he did quite well considering that Republicans vowed on the first day not to work with him and never did! Connie Knapp Victor Davis Hanson’s Reply: Dear Angry Reader Connie Knapp, Irony […]
America as Animal Farm
By Victor Davis Hanson// National Review New commandments replace the old ones on the barn wall. The socialist essayist and novelist George Orwell by 1944 grew depressed that as a cost for the defeat of the Axis Powers the Allies had empowered an equally nightmarish monster in the Soviet Union. Since his days fighting for […]
Assessing the Obama Legacy—Against His Own Mileposts
by Victor Davis Hanson // National Review The president’s stated priorities have not turned out well. In his 2016 State of the Union address, President Obama summarized his achievements. That same night, the White House issued a press release touting Obama’s accomplishments. Now that he will be leaving, how well did these initiatives listed in […]
Trump’s Russia “Reset”?
by Victor Davis Hanson// Defining Ideas Throughout the 2016 election, the American Left venomously attacked Russian strongman Vladimir Putin. He was rightly accused of diminishing freedom both inside Russia and within neighboring nations, of gobbling up Crimea and Eastern Ukraine, and of eyeing the NATO member Baltic states for his next intervention. But Putin’s […]
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From an Angry Reader: I love the Angry Reader section of your website, particularly your responses. I want to be an Angry Reader and see what you have to say about my valid, thoughtful points so here goes. How can anyone support Donald Trump (I call him DT because he gives me the dt’s, heh, […]
The Twin Pillars of Progressive Prejudice
By Victor Davis Hanson// National Review Universities and the media: arrogant, ignorant, and ripe for reform In media land, Donald Trump is a reckless tweeter; Barack Obama’s outreach to GloZell and rapper Kendrick Lamar is just kicking back and having fun (Lamar’s latest album portrayed the corpse of a judge to the toasting merriment of […]
‘Clever Fox’ Mattis
By Victor Davis Hanson// National Review The Mattis appointment as defense secretary could prove to be Trump’s most inspired, even given the nightmarish mess brewing abroad. But the media blitz has overdone the idea that Jim “Mad Dog” Mattis is somehow a frenzied, “let me at ’em” gung-ho warrior. He may be certainly all that […]
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From an Angry Reader: Clinton lost because of Republican voter suppression, Comey and Russian hacking. Trump is the establishment. He Pence and his appointments will cripple America for years. You should remove your head from Trumps ass. People like you are the problem. Victor Davis Hanson’s Reply: Dear Repeat Angry Reader Raye Harper, You cite […]
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From an Angry Reader: Hello Mr Hanson. I read your articles on Townhall.com and have a question on something you wrote in Enemies Of Language. In your article you refer to Nazi Germany as having been “right wing.” This is a question that I have been wanting to pose so many times when reading articles […]
Beware the Law of Unintended Consequences
by Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Moderation and humility help politicians avoid results contrary to what they earnestly want. The mix of politics and culture is far too complex to be predictable. Even the best-laid political plans can lead to unintended consequences, both good and bad — what we sometimes call irony, nemesis, or […]
A Party of Teeth-Gnashers
By Victor Davis Hanson//National Review The broken record of racism/sexism/homophobia plays on and on and on. After the Democratic equality-of-opportunity agenda was largely realized (Social Security, Medicare, overtime, a 40-hour work week, disability insurance, civil rights, etc.), the next-generation equality-of-result effort has largely failed. What is left of Democratic ideology is identity politics and assorted […]
Enemies of Language
by Victor Davis Hanson// National Review What would happen if conservatives started to change the words we use for political ends? Throughout history, revolutionaries of all stripes have warped the meaning of words to subvert reality. And now here we go again, with another effort — spearheaded by the media and universities — to use […]
The Progressive Disintegration
The self-destruction of so many failed progressive gods. By Bruce Thornton // Front Page A month ago, progressives were having a conniption fit over Trump’s refusal to accept the outcome of the election. So of course, now that Trump has won, they are rioting, vandalizing, staging “cry-ins,” ditching class, group-hugging, tweeting threats, calling names, seeking […]
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From an Angry Reader: The new kind of Republican party is part 1930’s Nazi and 1950’s Dixiecrat. Raye Harper —————————— Victor Davis Hanson’s Reply: Dear Angry Reader Raye Harper, Since you assert rather than argue or explain, it is hard to fathom what you are getting at. But in the spirit of the Angry Reader, […]