Listen to Victor Davis Hanson and cohost Sami Winc discuss Kevin McCarthy’s “pending” speakership, Russian and Ukrainian war objectives, and China’s economic power.
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Listen to Victor Davis Hanson and cohost Sami Winc discuss Kevin McCarthy’s “pending” speakership, Russian and Ukrainian war objectives, and China’s economic power.
Follow the Science/Ignore the Math
My rep, Clyde, did exactly what I wanted him to do. Namely, do not get steamrolled by the Uniparty and get written concessions from Frank Luntz’s boyfriend, aka Kevin Mccarthy. I hate to hear this kind of blanket endorsement of Con Inc, who gave the finger to the voters by nominating Kev in the 1st place. It’s only been a day but your take has already aged like a dirty diaper in a closed car in Nogales in August. But as always, thanks for the great content!
Thank you Victor (Prof Hanson) for your erudite explanation. Yes.
I am on board with Kevin McCarthy, thanks to you. Margaret Taylor Greene must have seen what you said in siding with Kevin. Thank you for your help in clearing the smoke and seeing what we have and need to do.
Now, as for the Ukraine war, if you were to watch any video by (ret) Col. Douglas Macreger you would be better informed on the efficacy of Russian troops, plus, Ukraine’s is completely destroyed. Done. All that Putin ever wanted was for the Russians living in Ukraine to have equality with others. That little request was rejected by the ultra-nationalists. Is this correct?
As for why “we” are in that war, may I refer you to the late Richard Kelly Hoskins, author of the book War Cycles, Peace Cycles.
We have a fractional debt monetary system. Money has to be created in order for the financial system to have the money to conduct business. Whenever someone pays back a loan, money is withdrawn from the economy. Hoskins explained this in his insightful book.
Notice that I haven’t used “!’ point? I remember one of your replies to a nasty letter addressed to you.
All the best.
ps. Yes, I am aware of Alexander the Great’s savage reprisals as well as his leniency. I try to keep things in context, and so I won’t be a armchair critique–nor, should you. As for Hitler, explain how you could, flippantly, say that if Hitler had won the war there would be few Jews left in the world? No data for that.
“All that Putin ever wanted was for the Russians living in Ukraine to have equality with others.”
Sorry, but that’s incorrect. All Putin ever wanted (and wants) is to return territories that were part of the Russian state at any time, whether under czar or commisar, to Russian control.
I followed up the reference to David Goldman and discovered that I had been following him under his pen name “Spengler”.
It’s “Ukraine”, Sami, no article.
I have to disagree with VDH on the point that Kevin McCarthy won the House. The nation was poised for a Red Tidal Wave and we barely got a trickle, likely based on the prospect of McCarthy as the Speaker. His Contract for America was full of mild assertions that left many conservative voters stay home. Six million more GOP votes than the democrats resulted in minimal 9 seat gain. Sixteen seats flipped from D to R but 7 flipped from R to D. We have yet to see what the Santos fallout will do to one of those GOP seats.
What could have happened if the GOP House had a solid conservative leader in place before the election?
IMO McCarthy was more effective in losing a strong GOP House majority than in ‘winning’ the House.
Most of the blame lies on McConnell! Also, Trump could have put more money into the close campaigns instead of sitting on his war chest for 2024.
I agree that Santos is a huge liability to Republicans. He will do more damage than good but people are sick and tired of compromised and lying politicians. It is up to his district to do something about it. Coming from New York a replacement will surely be a Democrat. The horror!
I’m looking forward to the upcoming book. I hope it is also available on audible soon. Ideally, it will be read by Bob Sour to have a pleasant continuity with the VDH’s other historical books such as “the second world wars” and “saviour generals”.
With my best wishes,
Doug
All people who pray need to pray for Cardinal Ratzinger. I doubt we will ever find out in this world what was truly in his heart and whether he voluntarily abdicated or was blackmailed in some way. Cardinals wear red because it signifies martyrdom which itself signifies the blood of the spotless lamb.
Pope Benedict neither satisfied the sheep nor the goats with his mind-bending “hermeneutics of continuity” and should not have “fled for fear of the wolves” as Bishop of Rome but should have fulfilled the Third Secret of Fatima — just as St. Peter died for the faith in imitation of Christ.
I have it from a reliable source that unlocking the 3rd Secret of Fatima would involve divulging the full biography of Sami Winc -that ain’t gonna happen.
I thought the week-long fight to select the Speaker was very good. I learn a ton. Very educational. The 20 Representatives get a chance to voice their concerns for 4 long grueling days. They were able to advance their causes, and the Speaker had to earn his job. They were very articulate. But I thought Matt Gaetz was very good. He addressed Victor’s criticism, and thanks to him I learned that Mr. Kevin is a fund raising machine to the tune of $500 million. With big money comes corruptions, and special interests. Gaetz pointed this out, and I thought he made excellent points.
Observing the critics of this process, and their wrong predictions about the red waves made me realized they are very elitists. If you don’t go along, they call you names, and try to lecture you that the country is bigger than the 20 Representatives, or that it’s bigger than anyone individual like, Trump. Even in the discription of this podcast — Kevin McCarthy’s “pending” speakership — like as-if it is a forgone conclusion. He may be one, but he had to negotiate hard, and his speakership power is limited. That’s thanks to the brave 20 individuals. Did they do it to get famous? A better question is, were they effective?
We may soon come to find out what McCarthy’s motivation to stay in the fray for the Speakership was. A fight for the nation or was it for the title and power of being Speaker. The fact that he gave up, or at least has stated he would give up regarding the rules would indicate it was not for the power of the Speakership while reneging on even one of those would tell us otherwise.
I’m delighted to hear that Victor is beginning to doubt the efficacy of the Covid mRNA vaccines.
Consider the issue of triage in the initial distribution of the vaccine (in the Dec. 2020 to Feb. 2021 period.) Every elderly patient underwent such a sorting. Those who had a good prospect of living additional years were sure to get the vaccine (given the assumptions about the efficacy of the vaccine at the time.) Those who were basically in hospice would not be given the vaccine. Now 2 years later we look at the deaths from those who received the vaccine and conclude that those who received the vaccine lived longer. Well duh!!?? They were selected to receive the vaccine for exactly that reason. George Gilder has defined “information” as a surprise result. There is no information in the CDC death statistics given the absence of a logical experimental design.
The outcome of a war is not determined by the relative resources of the opponents. It should be, but incompetence has consequences can be surprising. Texas has its Alamo, and it is celebrated for a reason. In my hopeful moments (which have been few recently,) I like to think that the Ukraine is engaged in an Alamo enterprise. Remember, Sam Huston captured Santa Anna as he fled disguised as a private just seven weeks after the Alamo.
I learn a lot from Victor and almost always agree with his analysis. I also share his concern regarding the Russian Ukraine war. But I need to say that I don’t find in his discussion(s) of this quagmire any suggestion that can be realistically implemented. His whole current monologue sounds more like a wishful thinking. We don’t have a right (moral or any other) to reward this war criminal with an honorable peace treaty. That only encourages him to do it again. And more importantly, you can’t demand from Ukrainians to agree to a peace accord with a murderer in exchange for providing them with weapons.
After I gave wrote a comment and pushed the ‘Post Comment’ button nothing happened. No acknowledgement, nothing. Tried to push the button again and got a message that it was a duplicate comment and then the comment and the rest disappeared. Now waiting to see if it will be posted.
When I read Victor’s articles and listen to his podcast discussions I learn a lot and almost always agree with his analysis. But in his several takes on discussing the quagmire of the Russian Ukraine war though I share his concern unfortunately I didn’t find anything that could be implemented in reality. The latest monologue on the subject sounds like just a wishful thinking. We don’t have a moral or any other right to reward the war criminal with an honorable peace agreement. It is just a guarantee that soon he will do it again. And more importantly, we can’t demand from Ukrainian people to agree to a peace accord with a murderer as a condition for receiving our military aid.
I have come to the position that it really does not matter what the Republicans do. We are going down the Left path. Every institution is captured. Republicans woke up one day the found that they slept through the war. What will happen is every aspect of our society will continue to deteriorate until it is so bad that even the Elites see some serious suffering. And this time, there won’t be some beautiful, stable place they can go to avoid the pain. Why? Because it will be global. They wanted globalism. They are going to get it, but not in the form they expected. So, pick a Speaker. It won’t make any difference.
I don’t agree with the entirety of your comment.
Thank you Dr. Hanson. I thoroughly enjoy your podcast and look forward to your next book. On your comments on the epilogue, however, please consider that Armenia is the aggressor nation in their longstanding conflict with Azerbaijan. Armenia illegally seized Nagoya-Karabahk after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Since the liberation of this region, Azerbaijan rebuilt the infrastructure, Christian churches and Mosques, and declared religious and relative political toleration. Baku is flourishing while while Armenians and their impoverished country, much like the Arabs in Judea (aka Palestinians), simply nourish grievance.
Victor’s presentation of the Ukraine War is much more balanced and judicious in these last two podcasts. That said, I don’t know why he’s ignoring that Ukraine recently said it was open to talks. To me, that hints that there are a lot of back room conversations occurring of the type Victor would approve but that those involved think that it is not prudent to reveal their content at this time. If I were Ukraine, EU, NATO, and US, I would want to keep things ambiguous as Putin is obviously trying to wait out his opposition. Saying how much money or how many weapons or how much territory until we hit a red line will give him the comfort and strategic advantage of knowing how long he simply has to stay in the fight. I think Victor is spending too much time listening to Carlson, Gorka, and Ferguson and not enough time considering other views. Maybe Condi needs to stick Hanson and McMaster out on a plank for a while and have them whitewash the Hoover Tower… At least they’d be earning high marks in her book.
The tendency to make everything about winning makes rebellion like that of the 20 against the establishment a crime. They were the only congressional reps sine the 1st tea partiers to think they could vote their conscience and represent their constituents if it meant not beating the opposition. VH’s condemnation of them is admitting the Constitution and Republic are secondary to party power. He’s wrong. I admire the 20 even if I don’t agree.