In this weekend episode, Victor Davis Hanson with cohost Sami Winc explores the current assaults on DJT, the memories of the winners of the Civil War, the arrest of Pavel Durov and other tales of political expediency.
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Victor – If Jack Smith is not a special counsel, who can the defendant appeal to stop an unjust prosecution? What safeguards are embedded in our legal system to thwart political prosecutions?
“I love my Tesla”. Lol, so does Comrade Xi.
Some of you may have had your historical appetite whetted by this podcast. A few recommendations for those of you who would like to learn more about Sherman, and/or Grant: 1) “The Soul of Battle: From Ancient Times to the Present Day, How Three Great Liberators Vanquished Tyranny” by VDH. One of the three is Sherman.
2) The top two annotated editions of Grant’s memoirs (IMO), are the one edited by John Marszalek, and the one edited by Elizabeth Samet.
3) My favorite edition of Sherman’s memoirs is the Library of Americas edition.
Victor,
Tucker Carlson interviewed Mike Benz a few days ago on the subject of free speech and the Deep State’s plan to suppress speech and manipulate public opinion.
I know on the surface this sounds rather conspiratorial, but Benz makes some interesting points. For example, the reason the EU, Britain, Brazil are going after Elon Musk is because he has enabled free speech on X and these left leaning governments want to control how Hoi Polloi think and vote.
Remember Nina Jankowicz and the Orwellian Disinformation Governance Board? Basically what Benz is saying is that the same tactics the CIA uses to control and coerce other governments are now being used against the American people. And anyone, such as Elon Musk, who are brave enough to stand against them will be targeted.
I don’t know that I’d put Grant in the “genius” category. He was certainly dogged and got the job done, but “Napoleonic?” So many people in the nineteenth century tried to claim that association, and so few deserved it.
I find that Robert E. Lee’s champions perhaps romanticize him, and that his detractors are, more than anything else, irritated by that romanticization. It is unfortunate for the “winners” of the Civil War that they never really captured the public imagination the way the “losers” did, wonderful memoirs, or not. Part of this is the undeniable glamour that belongs to the doomed. In Lee’s case, there was the sense of tragedy — the wrenching choice between the Union and Virginia; and the fact that he was the underdog and had the North on its heels for two years. He also seemed to inspire in his men a kind of devotion that wasn’t quite there for Northern generals, or at least didn’t seem to be.