Historian’s Corner

Victor Davis Hanson Mike Pence had initially condemned Trump without context for his flawed archives protocols (he seems to be backtracking now). So has Chris Christie and Nikki Haley (she too had second thoughts). They are right that everyone must obey the law. But there are two other issues in play here: one, equality under

Victor Davis Hanson Yes, we are told Trump is facing serious charges. Experts tell us he will be going to prison. Some of his legal team have quit. Yes, he was sloppy about communicating with the lawyers of the National Archives. Yet, read the 1978 Presidential Records Act (put into place after the typical sloppy

Victor Davis Hanson Myth #3: The Noble Illegal Immigrant Somehow from all the photos of the thousands swarming into across the border, we have constructed the would-be illegal alien into a nobility of sorts. But well aside from the hypocrisy—we fired military personnel who chose not to be vaccinated, but welcomed in illegal aliens who

Victor Davis Hanson Myth #1: Mexico is our “partner.” Joe Biden has recently praised President Andrés Manuel López Obrador as working hand-in-glove with him to alleviate the influx of illegal immigrants crossing into the U.S. from his country. In fact, Obrador is one of the main reasons there have been over seven million illegal entries

Victor Davis Hanson In any case, I forgot about the electric motor shop after I went away from the farm for a decade both overseas and at school over on the coast. After the death of my grandfather, when I had returned to farm myself, I noticed that the young guy whom I remembered years

Victor Davis Hanson Since antiquity farmers have been characterized as boorish (Greek agros, “farm/field,” English “agrarian”; Latin rus, “countryside,” English “rustic”), as if nature coarsened those who worked with it. My experience of more than six decades on the farm is that such impressions certainly can be true. I remember the old ditch tender, whom

Victor Davis Hanson The history of nations is a story of borders. Most wars break out over a nation’s private space, essential to create and maintain a unique culture. I once studied why Greek states fought three out of four years in the fifth century B.C. The answer was easy: disputed borderlands. Democratic Athens was