Victor Davis Hanson
American Greatness
In the months before the April 12, 1861, firing on Fort Sumter, there were lots of sharp divisions in the North about the proper reaction to the first seven Confederate states that had already left the Union.
Not all Unionists believed that war was inevitable. Some, in fact, were happy to be done with the departing South and thus see their stain of slavery gone from the Union. Similarly, others agreed that the emerging Confederacy was not worth the trouble and costs of war, and the secessionists could just form their own nation and stew in their own backward, servile juice.
But after Fort Sumter, Lincoln—who was hated as much by the Confederates as Trump is by the woke and socialist left—gained a consensus that the Constitution had no clauses about any lawful departure from the union. But it did operate under a clear supremacy clause that made state obstruction of federal law and occupation of federal property veritable sedition.
Lincoln and the preservationists felt that they easily had the moral high ground of abolition versus the continuance of slavery. Nor did they want a North America of fragmenting, warring nations in the manner of Europe.
Something similar is emerging over Minnesota, the South Carolina of our age.
Once sanctuary states, cities, and counties had established the precedent that, with impunity, they could nullify federal immigration law, then what followed was a logical and mounting descent into the current open defiance of the federal government. How odd that self-described progressives are now acting out the visions of prior kindred nullificationists and neo-Confederates from John C. Calhoun to George Wallace.
The reaction of the rest of the nation, especially its conservative half, to Minnesota resembles the 1861 disconnect in the North over the insurrectionary states.
Some believe that if Minnesota wants to protect its approximately 1,300 jailed illegal alien murderers, rapists, and assorted felons, so be it, and ICE should leave such a dysfunctional and dystopian state to its own self-destructive path.
In this way of “See ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya” thinking, Trump should stick to the red and purple states, clear them of criminal aliens with the help of local enforcement, but without the organized performance-art leftist resistance. Then he could contrast the nation with the difference between low crime, noncontroversial deportations, versus the blue-state model of protecting illegal alien criminals and their indifference to the mayhem they inflict on the innocent.
If Minnesota further wants to be a state like 1861 South Carolina that openly defies the federal government, then also so be it. But it should accordingly not expect federal funding for its pick-and-choose approach to federal law and property.
Has Minnesota forgotten that, like blue-state America, it cheered on Barack Obama’s DOJ when it successfully sued Arizona in 2010, insisting that it was Obama’s right as a federal custodian not to enforce federal immigration law at the border—and thus not legal for Governor Jan Brewer to use her state resources to enforce a federal law that derelict federal officers would not?
But on the other hand, contemporary Unionists objected that such live and let suffer is defeatist. Moreover, there are millions of Americans inside insurrectionary Minnesota who do not support their neo-Confederate leaders. Millions in Minnesota properly see themselves as Americans first and Minnesotans second.
In this line of argument, just as Lincoln refused to give up federal armories, property, and offices inside the South—most notably Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor—to insurrectionists, so too the Trump administration has an obligation to protect federal property and offices in Minnesota and to enforce federal law throughout the nation, at least if it is to continue as a nation.
Very soon, Trump will have to decide which strategy is preferable and politically viable before the midterms.
Meanwhile, Minnesota’s highest elected officials have ordered local and state police not to protect federal immigration officers from the very street violence that they fuel. Indeed. Governor Walz, Mayor Frey, and Attorney General Ellison are actively encouraging Minnesotans to obstruct federal officers from enforcing federal laws—despite the mounting violence that follows their collective prompts.
The three know that organized and well-funded groups organize the protests and incite the violence. And perhaps the trio even welcomes would-be martyrs to use their vehicles to ram ICE officers or to arrive at protests armed with military-grade, semi-automatic pistols with plenty of magazines and ammunition to spare.
Walz and company further quietly accept that they could easily mitigate the violence by simply turning over roughly 1,300 criminal illegal aliens in various Minnesota jails to federal authorities. To do so would lessen the chances of violence, make Minnesota a safer place, and expedite the rotation of ICE out of Minnesota.
But, of course, Walz, Frey, and Ellison have no such intentions, given their schemes are elsewhere.
Given the failure of an increasingly socialist Democratic Party in 2024 to offer a more popular and convincing agenda than Trump’s, they believe their future lies in an increasingly redistributionist America, fueled by unlimited, unaudited immigration from the former Third World. They view as a political asset millions of arriving poor in dire need of massive federal health, food, housing, and education subsidies and entitlements, imbued with DEI victimhood, and nursed on America as toxic at its birth and ever more pathological ever since.
So for the Minnesota state officials, screaming for ICE “to get the f**k out of Minnesota” is more than mere braggadocio. It is a reminder that the Democratic Party wants a safe place for illegal immigration, the fuel of a future dependent constituency—as the architecture of the recent massive Somali frauds attests.
They also believe that the more turmoil, the more violence, the more resistance, and the more a general sense of chaos and unrest swirl around the Trump administration, the more they can drive down its popularity before the midterms.
They still cherish the months of riot, violence, and arson in the George Floyd “summer of love” in 2020 as critical in defeating Donald Trump.
Now as then, the left believes they can create a lose/lose dilemma for Trump: send in the National Guard to restore order, and he confirms that he is a “Nazi” and using the “Gestapo” to quell “peaceful” protests. Stand down, and the left owns the street, exasperating the MAGA base that mysteriously Trump has allowed the criminal left to nullify the enforcement of federal law in near-secessionist fashion.
There are other Democratic agendas, both short- and long-term.
The Minnesota Democrat apparatus either knowingly turned a blind eye to, protected, or silently partnered with the architects of likely the largest theft of federal welfare and entitlement monies in U.S. history—largely by the Somali community, both immigrants and their second-generation apparatchiks. The Democratic elite counted on the prophylactic cry of “racist!” to exempt the Somali community from any legal accountability. And so far, they seem right in that assumption.
And the public?
Polls reveal its trademark ambiguity. A majority voted for Trump to enforce immigration law, close the border, end illegal immigration, and deport those who broke federal law. But that hope and the reality of implementing it are two different things—especially when a state like Minnesota has not just institutionalized illegal immigration but nearly canonized foreign nationals illegally residing in the U.S.
To sum up public opinion, the proverbial people want all criminal illegal aliens deported as soon as possible, and they may even support the deportations of all 10-12 million illegal aliens who came en masse, unaudited, and with the de facto blessing of the Biden administration.
But that said, they want the act of deportation of the non-criminal to be out of sight, out of mind—as if magically they can simply disappear and thus either self-deport or assemble at ICE stations eager to be sent at no cost home.
For now, Walz, Frey, and Ellison are upping the rhetoric, fanning the violence, and talking openly about how best to nullify federal law and impede federal enforcement. They are convinced that they have galvanized national opposition to the hated Trump, smothered the Somali fraud scandal, and stopped ICE deportations of their constituents.
In all of those assumptions, they have little idea they are following the Confederate script to the letter. And like their spiritual forefathers of 1861, they grow ever more cocky, boastful, and defiant as they create martyrs, spread narratives of victimhood, and daily slouch toward another Fort Sumter.
A few weeks ago I posited that the sanctuary states and cities were acting much as did South Carolina in 1861 at Ft. Sumpter—I posited this as a point of discussion with the AI entity ‘CoPilot’ and was pretty roundly ridiculed! Full disclosure: My lefty friends also thought I was WAYYyy off base!
I am with Prof. Hanson (WONDERFUL TO SEE YOU FUNCTIONING!!) and am delighted that someone of his stature agrees— with me!
It is more than a bit shameful that this has not (yet?) been articulated by POTUS and/or VPOTUS and/or Tulsi….
Dear Victor, every day I pray for you. I plead with the Lord not to allow the cancer to return and if you choose amuno and or chemo / I pray you will make the correct decision. You are so smart, Victor, maybe you could logic it out; and pray for God’s help .
We need you so much!! Until your writing today, I did not realize what a difficult decision you have to make. I loved your writing today. It was necessary. Love and respect.
Praying for you to have a full recovery
Look into Dr. William Makis, oncologist in alternative medicine in can we treatment on Substack. He has had great success with patients of Stg 3 & 4 as well as patients told their is nothing more that can be done to save them.
makismd@substack.com and he is on X
Check out his page and his success stories 🙏🏻
Best wishes and quick healing to you,❤️
Respectfully
Winnie9354@yahoo.com
Dear Sir,
Just read your article and am so happy to hear that you’re on the path to recovery. Good comparison of Minnesota to South Carolina, both extremes of bad situations. Are there any comparisons to the pre-civil war states of VA, NC, TN, and AR which didn’t want secession but a more constitutional nation?
Welcome back, Victor!!! We are thrilled to see you, especially this native Minnesotan who hates the communists who’ve robbed us of our state! I wish Trump would order all Minnesota votes from the 2020 & 2024 federal elections to be audited. Paper ballots are still very common in MN’s small towns. The entire state needs to return to that method where voters can be present at the counting & see each ballot!
Fortunately, the rioting is confined to a very small area in Minneapolis. It’s not spreading, fewer & fewer people are showing up, & even our news sources are bored with it.
Welcome back, Victor!!! We are thrilled to see you, especially this native Minnesotan who hates the communists who’ve robbed us of our state! I wish Trump would order all Minnesota votes from the 2020 & 2024 federal elections to be audited. Paper ballots are still very common in MN’s small towns. The entire state needs to return to that method where voters can be present at the counting & see each ballot!
Fortunately, the rioting is confined to a very small area in Minneapolis. It’s not spreading, fewer & fewer people are showing up, & even our news sources are bored with it.
So glad you are back! I have greatly missed reading your words of wisdom. Praying for your continued recovery. I know I speak for many of your followers when I say that even though we have never met, we feel like you are a friend. God bless.
Glad to be reading you again, Victor. Prayers for a continued successful recovery.
Welcome Back! As good as writing as ever! It’s sad that we are still in this position of losing our constitutional republic if the “crying baby syndrome “ works once again for the left. Of course President Trump has to and will continue to enforce our laws. To state the obvious, the American people will choose their fate in the midterms.
Dear Victor,
How amazing, in only one month you’re back. But, not to worry, the last month was fairly dull – ha! I am so glad you are getting back in the game. Please go slow and heal. Our country needs you!
Rest easy and all the Best!
So happy you are feeling well enough to write an article.
Welcome back! We all missed you very much.
Welcome back! You were missed. So relieved to know you’re well enough to begin writing. Slouching toward Fort Sumpter is beautifully written, clear, concise and rational. A breath of fresh air in this era of journalistic pollution. It’s nice to be relieved of dodging the flotsam and jetsam floating about the media.
What do you surmise Mr. Trump will do?
Welcome back Prof. Hanson, we have need of your insights… If the Left were trying to solve the problem of illegal immigration then they would have trained more immigration attorneys, but when they want to yell instead of trying to solve problems, then they are adding to the problem for their own political gain. The Left seems proud of their Willful Ignorance. Nor do they seem to care that no family will remain intact after they start a New Civil War.
The rule of law needs to be upheld for America to stand. Immigration law is meant to protect the nation as a whole. Governors and mayors who fail to enforce the law shatter this protection and harm their own citizens not only financially but through the most vicious crimes that would not have occurred if the border was enforced. The moral failure to enforce immigration law sets a precedent for more lawlessness of all kinds and so the nation is destroyed from within.
It may be helpful if President Trump would communicate regularly, perhaps weekly, on the state of the nation and how his policies are upholding the Constitution and benefitting the American people. The everyday person needs to be reached and reasoned with in order to overcome popular opinion. Their support is necessary for the actions that he must take.
None of this would be happening without the full throated support of the corporate legacy media propaganda machine. Granted it is not the bullhorn it was even a couple of election cycles ago and its numbers are miniscule when put up against social media outlets and memes but it is still noise interfering with the MAGA signal. Hopefully as 26 unfolds real progress and prosecutions against the systemic fraud of the Democrat party voting scheme will convince those voters who claim Independence of party affiliation to support the MAGA midterm efforts and we have a House and Senate to support President Trump in draining the swamp, which to date is making the Augean Stables look like a quick feather dusting in comparison.
Good to hear from you, Victor. We have all been praying for you! God Bless 💙
Thank you Victor Davis Hanson for this clear and extremely informative article!
It would help educate many people if it could be published in every newspaper!
We are continuing to pray for your comfort and recovery. This country NEEDS you!
All the best.
Like Thomas Sowell, Victor Davis Hanson, is a national treasure. Ditto on the well wishes for your restored health.
I have read most of the books written by these 2 American intellectuals and I have a much better grasp of economics and history. How great it would be if their writings were required reading. I do my part to recommend their books to friends and family…especially my grandchildren.
God bless VDH and pray you have a speedy recovery. God bless America!
Yes, SO good to hear from VDH!! Have missed you, blessings on your recovery! Thank you for your insight and wisdom
Having sorely missed you and worried about you, I was so happy to see this post today. These are troubling times and I try to remain hopeful about our future. Please take good care of yourself but, if writing makes you feel better, keep it coming. Sending love and hugs. Grandma B
Best news of the week! Hope your recovery is already well past! Welcome back!
So thrilled to read your recent essay here. Really, incredibly thankful. Be gentle and tender with yourself in your recovery.
Thank you, VDH. I continue to pray for your full recovery.
So great that you are well enough to get back to writing! We have missed you! Just don’t overdo it! Your health comes first.
I’ve missed your clear, concise, specific, and – most importantly – historical vs emotional – reporting on what you see.
And I look forward to more as you regain your health.
Thank you Victor.
So happy to see your writings again, Professor Hanson. You have been sorely missed! I’ve especially missed your podcasts and have watched for updates on your progress to healing. I hope this writing is a sign that you are well on your way to that full recovery we all fervently pray for. In the words often quoted by VDH…”Not Yet” (very thankfully)! ❤️🙏
SO VERY HAPPY to read this! I hope your recovery is going very well and please know how many people worry about you, respect and adore you! The world is a better place with you in it! Would love for you to comment on Peter Schweizer’s new book.
I just want to “ditto” all the comments above- it’s SO good to have you back! Continued prayers for a full and speedy recovery. God Bless you, sir!
He’s the BEST! Hope he has recovered from recent illness!
It is obvious that VDH is back!
By the second paragraph, it was obvious that the clear and elegant language was being written by Victor Hanson, the commentator with the historical and political perspective to render this summation.
We need this more than ever in these strange times.
Here’s hoping that Victor will allow himself to recover and not hurry to the detriment of his health.
Cheers!
Ironic that the state that most emulates John C. Calhoun recently (several years ago)changed the name of Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis; because they didn’t want to be like him.
Victor is back! I hope your recovery is continuing to progress and that you’re feeling better. You have been dearly missed.
So GREAT to have you back! Not to mention this excellent historical contextualization of the horrific destruction of our Republic’s peace and stability once again by this rabid Democrat insurrection.
Back with us. Clear as a bell. God bless you Victor.
The mid-term elections appear to be the elephant in the room here. How many votes would the Republicans sacrifice if President Trump were to “send in the Marines?”
It remains to be seen if a diplomatic solution is possible considering the entrenched position of the Minnesota leaders.
We can only pray that the man who wrote THE ART OF THE DEAL can find a way out of this labyrinth.
I am so happy to read your thoughts again Dr. Hanson!
How amazing, in only a month you’re back. But, not to worry, the last month was fairly dull – ha! I am so glad you are getting back in the game. Please go slow and heal.
Rest easy and all the Best!
Thank you, Victor Davis Hansen for explaining this so clearly and relating what is going on in Minnesota to what happened in the 1861 with South Carolina. Your wisdom and your historical knowledge is greatly appreciated. I will continue to pray for your recovery and pray that you are completely healed by Almighty God. You are a treasure to our nation.
Spot on Mr. Hanson. I mourn for our country. I pray that we can institute term limits and get more Donald Trumps involved in government and get rid of the professional politicians who only care about power and the next election.
Wishing Victor a speedy and complete recovery. 🙏🏻
Where have you gone Victor Davis Hanson America turns its lonely heart to you.
You’re back, and we missed you!!
Your essay read like a movie script, I couldn’t put it down, what is going to happen next, I’m on the edge of my seat.
Unfortunately it is all too real.
Your mind is as clear and sharp as ever, but please take it easy, you are needed.
Let’s see what the Trump Administration’s course of action will be.
Many a prayer and with continued prayers for you kind sir! While I was so pleased to see this article from you I also know you all too well so of course I knew it would not be all good news! But the realities of history and what repeats itself, is your mastery of the truth that we have become accustomed to! Easy does it, please 🙏
How amazing, in only a month you’re back. But, not to worry, the last month was fairly dull – ha! I am so glad you are getting back in the game. Please go slow and heal. Rest easy and all the Best!
Trump, Miller, Homan, Noem, Patel and Gabbord have all read McPherson, Holzer and Goodwin on Lincoln. America is not entering our next civil war, we have been handed an opportunity to better settle the first one and President Trump is the one to do it. While the Civil War was won on the battlefield, many historians argue the Reconstruction was lost in the courtroom. Through a series of narrow interpretations, the post-war Court stripped the 14th Amendment of its power, allowing the rise of Jim Crow laws and state-sanctioned segregation that would last another century. President Trump sees his path to Making America Great Again is to lay to rest, once and for all, the unresolved issues of states rights, federal limits, and judicial equality so government of the people and by the people shall not vanish from this earth. What a time to be alive!
Minneapolis and other Leftist cities are going to turn into an American version of the Paris Commune of 1871- inasmuch, they will need to be put under siege
The scariest thing is that there are millions of citizens who have been duped into believing those who are working to enforce our laws are responsible for the violence directed at them.
One month and you’re back!! But, it was a very quiet month – ha! I am so glad you are slowly getting back in the game. All the Best!
Hip Hip Hooray that the pen of the poet laureate of the white, black, brown, yellow and red middle class is waxing elegant once again. We thank God He granted VDH to remain with us a while longer and encourage us with his vision and historical perspective.
Praying you are recovering well Mr. Hanson! I am thankful to see a new summation of current events from you. There have been some who consider what’s happening in Minneapolis as a “color revolution”. The description of such does mimic a lot of what we are seeing in videos.
It’s clear to me that the most recent person who died fighting with ICE wanted them to kill him. When the video of him kicking the headlight out of the ICE vehicle was shown he was trying to get them to fight him. As a Communist he believed that his way of defeating ICE and making them back down from federal immigration enforcement was to die a “martyr.” Even though it was basically “suicide by ICE” Alex Pretti made the calculation that he would be another George Floyd to the media and the late-night leftists. His death was an initimidation factor and in the short-term it appears to be effective.
You may think me reckless, but I think in the lose-lose situation you highlight, the only way out, is further in. So, declare an insurrection. Arrest the ringleaders. Declare Martial Law, curfew, and imprison any violators. Go harsh, go brash, make it hurt all Minnesota residents. Make the cost so high that no state would ever consider it again. That’s what’s needed.
The Frankfurt School Long March.
It does my heart great happiness to see this fresh article Professor Hanson. Great happiness. But please only push as far as the docs suggest you push.
As to this article, very well laid out in a way only you can. That last paragraph really nails the situation as laid out in the article. Thanks for all you do kind sir!
I love any and all input VDH offers us.
I must add that not hearing an update on his recovery has me worried. Sending prayers up for a full recovery.☺️🙏
I prefer to see the videos..it doesn’t have to be out of sight for me at all. Getting rid of entrenched illegals was always going to be a hard, messy thing to do but I’m here for it. So glad you are doing well post op.
Great to see you back. Hope you are getting stronger every day. If, as the title and your conclusion suggest Walz, Frey & Ellison et. al are ” slouching towards fort sumpter”‘what pray tell does walking fast or running or sprinting look like. I recently read Barbara Tuchman’s Guns of August. I see more than a couple of parallels first & foremost no one had an off ramp. Short of DJT surrendering i dont see an alternative to conflict. Be well. You are a treasure i
Good to hear from you and I hope you are recovering well. Your clear voice is very much needed in this very strange time.
When are people going to realize the democrat/republican thing is an illusion. The rejuvenated marxism of the bolshevik revolution is on our doorstep. Stand stron or get ran over while your laying down.
Mr. Hanson, how great it is to read your words again! I’m eagerly awaiting your return to the podcast as well. Please rest up and heal quickly.
The protest at Cities Church service in St. Paul is the nexis of BLM, Antifa, LGBTQ+ & Anti-Ice protestors. They want chaos to spread to other cities across the country prior to midterms and in general. They seem to be angry nihilists.
Welcome home! I believe some “crazy” leftists want total anarchy and are celebrating the martyrdom of the two protesters in Minneapolis. Some want Trump to lose support and the Dems to win the midterms. They are turning a blind eye or even cheering on the anti-ICE actions. Too bad more of the sane Left is not reading VDH.