Victor Davis Hanson
American Greatness
“Men at some time are masters of their fates: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves.” – William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
“They had learned nothing and forgotten nothing.” – Often attributed to Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand
The Democratic election postmortem immediately descended into public blame-gaming — as expected. When Joe Biden was forced off the ticket in late July, the conspirators issued a party line that he was to be praised as a veritable George Washington — in the spirit of Washington’s farewell address of 1796 about why it was a good thing for the first president not to run for a third term.
So, we were lied to that Joe, the sitting President of the United States, was not forced out by Nancy Pelosi, the Obamas, George Clooney and the celebs, and the billionaire class. We instead were lectured that Biden, magnanimously as the neo-father of our country, selflessly bowed out to ensure Kamala Harris’s elevation as the nominee and, with it, a sure Democratic victory.
But now? After the Democratic train wreck, half the party is suddenly damning George Washington Joe for sticking around too long, even though party grandees cooked up the scheme in the first place of nominating the cognitively challenged Biden in 2020 to shut out his radical (and supposedly unelectable) primary rivals.
Now that his successor Harris has bombed, in the leftist mind, Joe has gone from a Washingtonian Olympian to a veritable selfish Richard Nixon who clung to office far too long and supposedly ensured his party’s defeat.
Yet still, others now blame incumbent Vice President Kamala herself. The once “joyful” candidate, after the coup to remove Biden, was once praised to the skies as a “turn the page”/”move forward”/“change” candidate — only then to be damned as an insipid loser.
So, one postelection narrative was that Harris — we were told to recall — was always known as inept and thus originally picked as Joe Biden’s Spiro Agnew insurance policy, who would prevent his indictment, impeachment, or medical removal.
But never mind blaming either Biden or Harris or both. The left cannot fault either a lack of funds; they raised a billion dollars more than Trump. Leftists also cannot complain about 95 percent favorable media coverage, supposedly worth billions of dollars in free advertising.
They cannot regret that they did not do everything imaginable to destroy the Trump monster — given they had impeached him twice and tried him as a private citizen. They cooked up the Russian collusion and laptop disinformation hoaxes, raided his home with a SWAT team, and unleashed five criminal and civil suits designed to bankrupt, demonize, and jail him. They tried to remove him from at least 16 state ballots and daily smeared him as a fascist, dictator, and Hitler — even as two would-be assassins tried to shoot him.
So, we are witnessing the rich Democrat-media fusion blame and fault everything but themselves. In truth, whether Biden or Harris ran — it never really mattered.
Even an open convention with a “moderate” veneer nominee like a Josh Shapiro would not have saved them. The fault was in themselves: a radical Democratic agenda actualized by Joe Biden, who will leave office with an approval rate under 40 percent, and two-thirds of the country believing the country was headed in the wrong direction under his tenure.
So, what lost the election for the Democrats? Both substance and style.
The proverbial people may have agreed that Trump was sometimes crude, but they knew in his prior four-year tenure that food, gas, rent, power, and insurance were affordable. The border was finally secured. Trump did not welcome in 12 million unaudited illegal aliens. Nor did he oversee a disastrous flight from Afghanistan or watch two theater-wide wars blow up Ukraine and the Middle East as a derelict America became irrelevant.
Boys did not spike volleyballs down upon the heads of girls nor did male boxers pound the brains of women.
Nor did teenage biological males shower with young girls.
Nor did the Trump tenure witness institutionalized anti-Semitism spreading throughout the nation’s elite campuses and onto the streets. Nor did Republican party grandees obsess on race, promote reparations, demand unlimited abortions until the moment of birth, or trash fracking.
So, the message — not just the messengers — was toxic. But that said, the message was also delivered by a bicoastal elite, exuding hubris and superciliousness. This election, the left committed the two cardinal sins of American politics: one, never talk down to the American people as too stupid to appreciate the wisdom of their supposed elite betters; and two, never abandon the upwardly mobile aspirations and real struggles of the middle class.
Instead, during the campaign and after the election slaughter, Democratic grandees screamed against a supposedly racist, sexist, homophobic, nativist electorate — as if these critics were a mummified Hillary Clinton circa 2016 still pontificating about the deplorables and irredeemables or a calcified Obama lecturing on the pathologies of the clingers.
Indeed, the epitome of such hypocrisy was the late entrance of the now-plutocratic Obamas. The pair variously private jetted in from one of their four mansions to “save” Harris from her incompetent self by diagnosing the skeptics of her hard-left message as ignorant, illiberal, and suffering from Marxist false consciousness.
Thus, a week after the election, Democrats are still trapped in La La Land.
Blue-state governors now posture and brag that they will stop the newly elected Trump — but from what exactly? Will they refuse his tainted federal funds? Spit at him when they ask for disaster relief help? Declare blue America “sanctuary states” that will nullify federal law and not pay federal taxes?
What does California governor Gavin Newsom mean by calling to session the California legislature to “resist” Trump? Will he order another Steele dossier pee-pee tape? Another Hillary Clinton 2016 call to join La Résistance?
What does Illinois Governor Pritzker mean by warning Trump he will have to go through the ample governor to get to “his people?”
Coordinate more local and state prosecutors to resume where Fani Willis, Alvin Bragg, and Letitia James left off?
Mimic Madonna and threaten to blow up the White House?
Emulate Kamala Harris and warn weeks of violent protests that won’t and should not stop?
So how exactly is the elected president actually stripping away the rights of their liberal residents — three months before he even sets foot in office? And what might such illiberal or extralegal Trump efforts entail?
Find another Andrew McCabe to weaponize the FBI to go after his enemies?
Discover another Anthony Fauci to stealthily send American cash to a leaky Chinese virology lab run by the People’s Liberation Army?
Draft another Lois Lerner to politicize the IRS to deny left-wing groups nonprofit status?
Rehire James Comey to get the FBI and social media together to censor the news?
Maybe rehire Loretta Lynch or Merrick Garland to sic the Department of Justice on political enemies at school board meetings?
Bring back Confederate-style nullification of federal law and open the border?
Or are Trump’s threats likely to be more existential and cosmic — like packing the court to ensure another six conservative justices?
Or, as the right takes control of the Senate, will the damnable new conservative majority abolish the ancient filibuster?
Perhaps the left is worried that now that a vengeful Trump has handily won the popular vote, he will most likely remove the 237-year-old Electoral College by sidestepping the constitutional amendment process?
Or will a dastardly Trump bifurcate some blue states to ensure their red halves become two new states and with them four conservative senators?
In sum, the left will not recover by blaming the American people and the voters for their loss. Nor will they regain power by caricaturing the supposedly illiberal and unappreciative middle class.
Nor will they reboot by blustering that they are at war with a president before he takes office as if he was not just elected by a clear majority and an overwhelming electoral college vote.
Nor will they find salvation today by blaming the “messaging,” or tomorrow Kamala Harris, or next week Joe Biden — rather than looking in the mirror and acknowledging the fault, Dear Democrats, is “in ourselves.”
I can understand attraction to power and wealth;
but I cannot understand basing it on unworkable ideas – why not base it workable ideas?
I feel the same way. Many European countries are run by political parties that I don’t agree with, but the Democratic Party makes them look like conservatives. Take Ireland’s Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, for instance. I’m glad that the US isn’t run by those two parties, but they do seem better than the Democratic Party.
Why not base it on workable ideas?
Because at bottom, these people are ideologues. They belief so much that is wrong, as Ronald Reagan put it. They cannot be convinced of the fallacy of their ideas, no matter how many concrete examples you show them.
When confronted with their failure, they are incapable of the reflection necessary to learn the lesson and change their ideas. It’s not the idea that failed, it’s the tactics.
That’s why.
And that’s why they will never quit. They will keep coming back, over and over. Like the Terminator.
There has to be a way to stop the oppressive media discrimination by the major networks. I think it would help if an organization would keep an up to date registry of the companies advertising along with their contact information. If the people advertising on these network news heard from enough people I think they would consider pulling their ads. If not, we could and should boycott them.
The media is so bad and never will get better, it is best to pull their FCC licenses. Let them scream into the wind but they are a menace to our country and deserve no quarter.
Thank you Victor for your astute insights into the pathology of the failed progressive message and by extension its messengers. It’s so important to the American people to be reminded often of the litany of attacks, both political and visceral, on Donald J. Trump. We also see in the post-election autopsies that the left is incapable of self reflection. Essentially, they proclaim that most American citizens are too stupid to realize and appreciate their superior Marxist message. I truly believe that because of their own neurological deficits, they are incapable of the objectivity necessary for truthful analysis. I wish there was a solution. I don’t see one.
Addendum: The bifurcation of states is more of a possibility than one might imagine. Gov. Hochul of New York implied that if New Yorkers voted for Trump they were un-American. Over twice as many counties voted for Trump rather than Harris. Check out a post election map of New York.
Bifurcation happened to Virginia due to the Civil War. If a state truly went off the rails into a state of rebellion then the precedent of West Virginia is at hand to do the same for an Inner California, a South Illinois, etc.
Thank you. Have you seen the smiles on the faces of The Canceled across both ponds? How did they fare in the identity count? Oh they weren’t counted. I thought it best not to raise this with my grieving clueless smart friends inside this MD bubble.
For the record, Imane Khalif, the Algerian boxer many said was trans is not transgender. She has DSD which means Differences in Sexual Development. From a journal at PubMed: Disorders/differences of sex development (DSD) comprise a heterogeneous group of inborn conditions where the individual’s sex chromosomes, gonads, and/or anatomical sex are discordant.
Otherwise, I am very much against trans men competing in women’s sports.
I was particularly amused at IL Gov Pritzker and his stirring, selfless call for action. “You’ll have to go thru me”, he said, solidly. To go through this fat porcine toad would take a regiment, and equipment at the tank level.
Excellent as usual, Victor. Frankly, I do not want the left to figure out what they did wrong. I hope they stay in their Marxist bubble, so the majority of Americans can reject them time and time again.
“There are no red states or blue states, only the United States of America!” was the infamous quote from you know who. It launched his ascension to power with deceit and conniving tactics that led to the mess now find ourselves in.
No more slick leftists…Pelosi, AOC, Harris, Walz, Biden, et al will do just fine to keep the US from being suckered into their dream path for America.
We are basically a 47/47 nation with some remaining portion of people who’ll float either way or towards a third party candidate. They make up the margin that votes one party into power over another. So, I fully agree that the Dems have only themselves to blame and should take a hard look in the mirror, but if they don’t we shouldn’t assume that that means the end of them. Politicians tend to annoy people and then get turfed out. The Dems were in a strong position after 2008 and 2020 and blew it. The Republicans were in a strong position after 2002 and 2016 and blew it. As a conservative I’m happy the Republicans are in a strong position nationally, but I wouldn’t be too confident about maintaining it for long. It’s walking a tightrope and who knows where that floating 6% will go next. If we’re lucky it’ll just turn into a floating 4%.
Well said, Harry. You called it, and that floating 6% is what makes or breaks elections. Trump’s ability to focus on the middle and lower middle class is what won 2024. The ability of the Repubs. to get reelected in 2026 and in future years will absolutely depend upon their ability to ‘deliver the goods’ to these folks who make up the backbone of the US. Dr. Hanson correctly calls out the Coastal Elites as making the decisions for Democratic policy. God forbid they wake up and recognize the err of their ways.
Professor Hanson, you are such a breath of fresh air!! This response to Democrats was perfect!! Always loved your commentaries on NewsMax and Fox, but hate that your time is so limited on the shows. All 3 of us in our home think you are brilliant and love hearing what you have to say. It would be a wonderfully different breed of college graduates if we had more common sense and brilliant professors like you!!
Right on, right on, right on…!
I spend more time on X (Twitter) than I should but you are spot on. I have been encouraging these leftists by saying things like “ you are right over the target. Keep it up. Nothing will convince people more than elitist arrogance with a healthy serving of condescension”. Also, did you miss the number of people who said it was the white male patriarchy that did the otherwise flawless message & messenger in?
It is said that Marxism wants to create heaven on earth through the creation of a classless society & redistribution of wealth. Marx famously said God is dead and religion is the opium of the masses, resulting in the creation of a secular religion in and of itself. The inherent flaw of Marxism is two-fold: a.) somone has to rule, and b.) it runs counter to human nature, where peope want to be rewarded for their efforts.
Note: The two failed assasinations of Trump and his election to office would seem to imply that there is a higher power which governs our behavior and to which we must ultimately answer.
Aw, they’ll just…
Double down.
Triple down.
Quadruple down.
Quintuple down.
Find a way to lie even more than the 24/7 lying they’re already doing.
Find a way to be even more insane, toxic and destructive than they already are.
Never happen, ye’ say? Not possible?
Haven’t we learned anything???
NEVER SAY “NEVER”….
Mr Hanson,
We’re the same age. Like you I was a “farm kid”, raised on a 160 acre homestead farm in Indiana. That anchor has served me well for many years. Like many, I served in the military after high school, and use the VA benefits for degrees afterwards. Last week’s victory was an awakening for all. For Trump supporters it means another chance to return America to solid ground, culturally, traditionally, financially, spiritually with a chance of prosperity for future generations. For the left, there will be no self reflection, no lesson learned, sadly, only a determination that their ideology is what is best for others. We should be prepared for it. There will be riots. There will be nightly attacks from the networks, manipulating the public to believe the majority opinion is against Trump. There will be leftist judges making unlawful rulings. There will be bureaucrats at every government level putting up roadblocks. It won’t be easy, but it is my hope that Trump will use every legal act at his disposal, to put in place every item on his agenda, to do it quickly, boldly and as thorough as possible. It can happen, if the team has the courage to see it through.
God love you sir. I don’t think you know just how important you are to America. THank you for being a part of the new media. The legacy network media is dead. Long live the new enlightenment.
All the best.
Quick typo on Lois Lerner, who punished right wing groups, not leftists groups. There I have filled my pedantic quota for the day and feel accomplished that I got to copy edit the great VDH. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with the rest of us. Can you think of a historical comparison to where we find ourselves today? Meaning a civilization on the decline that through strong leadership and smart policies was able to get back on track? I wrote an email to you a couple months ago about doing a short segment on John Dos Passos, if you do any more segments on Lit, please consider him. Finally, when I was in college there was a book called Clash of Civilizations by Samuel Huntington (I assume you are familiar with it) that was taught as being ‘wrong’…I would be curious to know your thoughts on this. Thanks so much for all you do, Todd in Vegas
Am not holding my breath.
Bravo!!!
I too, share the joy in seeing in our election results that a vast majority of Americans and others around the world had finally had enough of the effects of the “woke” Neo-Marxist onslaught we have been subjected to since the Obama years and voted their desire for change.
However, we should understand why this modern Marxist movement had been as successful as it was. There is a fundamental difference between the original “Marx/Lenin” form and “Neo-Marxism”. The original was based on pure economic equality, plus was seen to ultimately alienate the masses once the actual carnage in life and liberty to get there became known.
Neo-Marxism on the other hand depends on convincing the majority of the population and it’s leaders that man has the ability to counter history and develop a new collective identity, namely pure communism. This idea originated in the communist movement in Italy in the turbulent, but politically diverse years after WWI in Italy. Antonio Gramsci was a young communist leader in Italy who later was jailed by Mussolini. While incarcerated, he wrote extensively developing and promoting this concept.
During the years leading up to WWII, his works surfaced and became popular with many intellectuals in Europe, eventually spreading to progressive intellectuals in Eastern colleges in the U.S. as “Communism” became the enemy of “Nazism”.
It’s because of Gramsci’s appeal to intellectual elites plus the technological advances of electronic communication to the mas
My note was cut off. Here is the rest:
It’s because of Gramsci’s appeal to intellectual elites plus the technological advances of electronic communication to the masses that has driven this “woke” movement so far. Once they take a position, most so-called intellectuals will fight to the end to prove they are right!!
In addition, actual results of this “wokeness” have facilitated the creation of many economically powerful billionaires who, while not in the communism tent, will not give up that power easily.
It will be a hard and vicious battle to reverse all this!
Thanks for your insights into the spread of Neo-Marxism. It would be interesting to hear Victor’s comments on this topic.
The two greatest Scientists of all time are, to date, Max Plank and Albert Einstein.
I would like to nominate Victor Davis Hanson as the greatest historian and political commentator, to date, of all time.
So, for the Democrats:
“Take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame.”
Erica Jong
My dear Democrats, stop blaming yourselves and others. Learn feng shui, and blame the furniture.
Nailed it…excellent.
Fanaticism is the worst form of pride, while introspection requires humility. Unfortunately, pride and humility seldom reside in the same mind in useful measure.
This describes a third of our eligible voters. Some will grow-up. Many never have.
They need help in forming a third party to marginalize themselves.
Thank you, VDH, for this great autopsy of the election!
Until the Democrats can offer: true leadership, provide original ideas // plans to benefit America and Americans, reduce the burgeoning morass of unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats … the Democrat party will continue to offer nothing to a more in-tune and educated populace.
The Republicans and Rhinos had better pay close attention as well, staying focused on leadership, governance, and solutions.
I lost my comment after it was posted, what happened. Can I get it back, please.
excellent points as always by VDH…. he summarized it allllllllll🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🥰
Make VDH Great Again
TRUMP 2024
“Men at some times are masters of their fates; The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves….especially when we bear no responsibility and are infantile, bitter and elitist.”
I think the repudiation of the progressives was actually greater than the numbers indicate. there was a significant number of voters who do not buy the progressive agenda, but had a visceral dislike of Trump’s persona…so they either held their noses and voted for Harris or, more likely, didn’t vote at all
Thank you, Prof. Hanson, for your your thoughtful and insightful analysis – always with historical reference and a little wit!
On Fox News Sunday Marie Harf, sitting next to Mollie Hemingway, was defending the Harris campaign by cataloguing how Democrats did all the right things to win. They had the right positive media coverage, celebrity endorsements, outspent their opponent by huge margins, and on and on, so they should have won. It struck me that the Democrat campaign ecosystem has become a cargo cult. They don’t understand why people used to vote for them, they just remember what they used to do during winning campaigns in the past, and just repeated all the proper rituals and built all the proper totems, like Polynesians building bamboo jeeps and then being mystified when the US Navy fails to show up in the harbor again.
They used to get positive coverage from Cronkite or Brokaw because they had highly competent candidates with policies that enjoyed widespread public support. The popularity of their candidates and positions garnered donations, and those freely given rank and file donations paid for the hoopla and ceremony, subsidized by genuine volunteer efforts from everyday Joes.
Now they’re just recreating the trappings of grass-roots popularity, with foreign money funneled through Act Blue, and paid celebrity appearances (at least a million for Oprah and each of the other stars), with Brian Selzer, Rachel Maddow, and the cast of The View clapping like trained seals. They’re at a loss to understand why it all failed, just like those disappointed Polynesians.
Your article is a fulsome indictment of just how far off the rails the D’s went to “protect [their oligarchical version] of democracy.” The only thing I did not read was their Faustian decision to commission former Congresswoman. Liz Cheney, as an aide-de-camp. They promised to be the adults, good heavens.
The genius of our forefathers was to establish a Republic that self corrects when it veers from the Golden Mean.
“even as two would-be assassins tried to shoot him.” Should have read, “tried to kill him”. One did shoot him and hit him.
From another observational angle, it has been curious to see nearly everything these freak Democrats try pulling on the normals turn into serial failings. Methinks there is indeed a God in Heaven who hears the cries and yearnings of the offended and mercifully confounds the schemes of deceivers. Glory.
Should be mandatory reading for all.
While what has recently transpired was a decisive victory, our 2024 election was a turning point that is politically analogous to the Battle of Gettysburg. We are still in the middle of the second Civil War. The next step should be the administrative and cultural equivalent of Sherman’s march to the sea. Nothing short of total victory will lead to long term success.