Victor Davis Hanson American Greatness The rare quick and total victory over an enemy at little cost often ensures unquestioned political support in modern consensual societies. In most cases, however, especially in the Western world, ongoing military success or failure is adjudicated through the lens of politics—in a way sometimes at odds with the reality… Continue reading The Two Wars for Iran: The War in a Historical Context
Is There a Trump Great Game?
Victor Davis Hanson American Greatness Critics of Trump’s second-term foreign policy—the usual Left and some on the neo-isolationist Right—claim it is recklessly herky jerky and guided by no consistent grand strategy. Yet, in both the first Trump administration’s National Security Strategy paper and its second-term update, he clearly disdained ground wars abroad, nation-building, and isolationism.… Continue reading Is There a Trump Great Game?
Pseudo-Recessions
Victor Davis Hanson American Greatness As the 1992 campaign approached, incumbent president George H.W. Bush was seen as a shoo-in for reelection. The First Gulf War ended in 1991 with a spectacular U.S. victory at the head of a coalition that had expelled Saddam Hussein from Kuwait with few losses. For much of 1991, Bush’s… Continue reading Pseudo-Recessions
Are Americans Better or Worse Off Since January?
Victor Davis Hanson American Greatness The left wing and media rage hysterically from one Trump psychodrama to the next, while Trump trolls both on social media. But all that is verbiage. What matters is the data and facts of Trump’s first nine months since January 20, 2025, in comparison to either Biden’s prior year or… Continue reading Are Americans Better or Worse Off Since January?
The Pieces of Trump’s Peace
Victor Davis Hanson American Greatness What did Donald Trump do differently to obtain at least temporary calm in the Middle East compared to the failed efforts of past administrations, foreign powers, and the United Nations? Let us count ten different approaches. Trump curtailed a considerable amount of Iranian oil income and its dispersal. He stopped,… Continue reading The Pieces of Trump’s Peace
From the League of Nations to the United Nations to Trump Global?
Victor Davis Hanson American Greatness Historians traditionally blame the failure of the League of Nations—the post-World War I, Versailles-era dream of President Woodrow Wilson—on many things. Its membership was small (58 nations). The League’s utopian rhetoric lacked commensurate force. The postwar ascendant United States refused to join. The winners of World War I, like France… Continue reading From the League of Nations to the United Nations to Trump Global?
Trump Astride at Seven Months
Victor Davis Hanson American Greatness Trump’s greatest achievement within six months was simply ending illegal immigration as we had once known it—without “comprehensive immigration reform” or any other rhetorical trickery. It remains difficult to find, much less deport, the 10 to 12 million illegal aliens who entered in the last four years. Those who helped… Continue reading Trump Astride at Seven Months
Trump’s Unknown Frontiers
Victor Davis Hanson American Greatness Donald Trump’s far-ranging counter-revolution, to quote the old Star Trek mission statement, seeks “To boldly go where no one has gone before.” Because no conservative president has dared to question the last 70 years of progressive cultural, social, economic, and political dominance, all traditional wisdom, all our renowned “experts,” and… Continue reading Trump’s Unknown Frontiers
Revenge or Justice?
Victor Davis Hanson American Greatness Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard just released a trove of apparently once-classified documents—with promises of much more to follow. The new material describes the role of the Obama administration’s intelligence and investigatory directors—purportedly along with President Obama himself—in undermining the 2016 Trump presidential campaign. In addition, their efforts extended… Continue reading Revenge or Justice?
The War Between Trump’s Chemotherapy and the Biden Cancer
Victor Davis Hanson American Greatness Chemotherapy can be a life-saving though sometimes toxic effort to eliminate lethal cancer cells before they kill the patient. As such, it can serve as a bitter metaphor for the often-controversial efforts of the Trump administration to undo the metastasizing damage caused by the Biden administration. The left and the… Continue reading The War Between Trump’s Chemotherapy and the Biden Cancer