In this episode, Victor Davis Hanson and cohost Jack Fowler talk about artificial intelligence, Don Lemon’s remarks about Nikki Haley not being “in her prime”, lying James Clapper still lying, and how the American Graffiti generation was bad but not shoot, kill, smash-and-grab.
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The hostility to Nikki Haley is driven primarily by the Only-Trumpers, with some establishment Republicans joining in. The Only-Trumpers believe she crossed Trump, and they brook no disagreement with or contradiction to Trump.
Full disclosure-I’m a Sometimes-Trumper. I voted for him in 2016 and 2020. I read his 2012 book, which convinced me that I could support him for President (VDH’s “The Case For Trump” and Conrad Black’s “A Candidate Like No Other” confirmed me in my opinions). I agree with just about everything he did in office. But I don’t just automatically accept everything he says and does. He made poor personnel choices during his administration-though he learned. And he bungled in his responses to the 2020 election. But I’ll vote for him again, if he’s the candidate, though I’ll vote for DeSantis if they’re both still running when we have our primary here in PA.
To me, Trump is like a favorite ballplayer. I root for him, but I’m not happy when he makes an error, or strikes out.
Olympia beer is definitely piss water. 😂
What is the aqua vitae?
Whiskey.
Add dungeons and dragons, video games, and a penchant for quoting Shakespeare, and Victor’s teenage years might have been Southern CT in the 90s.
One of the criticisms I have read about Haley is that she is a bit of a flip-flopper. When pressed by Hannity, she and Vivek R., are hard pressed to say how their policies as president would be different from those of Trump. Trump is proven, whereas they are not. So, why switch?
If Trump were a general, he would be Patton-like. He’s a results man. He’s the real deal.
VDH, I love hearing of your formative years. Great that you are still able to enjoy those childhood friendships.
Oh, one more thing. When I attended Fresno State in the mid-60’s, the to wine was Gallo (yes, and the beer was Coors), both burgundy and white (Chablis?). We bought it in gallon jugs. It went for the ridiculously low price of $1.49 per gallon. So, it fit a “starving student’s” budget.
I am curious if you knew Dr. Ray E. Brewer during you time at Fresno State. Although, I was an Ag major, I became acquainted with Ray while I was there, which of course predates your tenure. Ray was with the Education Department, as I recall. He remained a faculty member for decades after I left. In any case, and I mean this quite literally, he was the finest person I have ever met. He’s passed now, but I include him by name in my evening prayers. I will do so for as long as I live.
Victor, both the Hippie and Selma culture you described sound pretty depressing. You were trying your best to defend your “friends”, but still sounding more like an observer, than a participant – “I did not do it.” “I had one beer, not 24.” America is such a big country, with such diverse regional culture. Surely there is a better place where you fit in. You should find it, and move there. I heard Dinesh D’Souza once said…in America you can be the architect of your own life. Unlike in other countries where your ancestry dictates what you do, and where you live. We should all exercise our freedom that we still have to live where it makes us happy.
To be honest, I struggled listening to this interview despite how captivating and instructive VDH interviews are typically. The reason: I couldn’t take listening to Jack Fowler with what I felt were extremely long questions and comments. That’s just me.
It’s cultural. In Jack’s part of the world, his style of speaking shows politeness and good will. If he cut it out and became more “efficient”, he’d sound rude and belligerent to non-New York ears.
“American Graffiti” is one of my favorite movies especially that scene where they wrap that chain around the differential of the cop car. Mischief not malice, those were the days. I graduated high school in 1965, so a tad young for that period of the fifties.