Victor Davis Hanson
American Greatness
Despite the media hysteria, Trump’s counterrevolution remains on course.
Its ultimate fate will probably rest with the state of the economy by the November 2026 midterm elections. But its success also hinges on accomplishing what is right and long overdue—and then making such reforms quietly, compassionately, and methodically.
No country can long endure without sovereignty and security—or with 10 to 12 million illegal immigrants crossing the border and half a million criminal foreign nationals roaming freely.
The prior administration found that it was easy to destroy the border and welcome the influx. But it is far harder for its successor to restore security, find those who broke the law, and insist on legal-only immigration. Trump is on the right side of all these issues and making substantial progress.
Everyone knew that a $2 trillion budget deficit, a $37 trillion national debt, and a $1.2 trillion trade deficit in goods were ultimately unsustainable.
Yet all prior politicians of the 21st century winced at the mere thought of reducing debts and deficits, given that it proved much easier just to print and spread around federal money. As long as the Trump administration dutifully cuts the budget, sends its regrets to displaced federal employees, seeks to expand private sector reemployment, and quietly presses ahead, it retains the moral high ground.
The elite universities have long hidden things from the American people that otherwise would have lost them all public support.
They deliberately sought to neuter Supreme Court rulings banning race-based preferences by stealthily continuing their often-segregated policies on campuses, from admissions and hiring to dorms and graduations.
They have taken billions of dollars from autocracies, such as communist China and Qatar. And they have partnered abroad with their foreign illiberal institutions and then disguised their quid pro quo subservience.
These supposedly prestigious universities have previously made no real effort either to stop or even hide their own campus epidemics of anti-Semitism.
They have spiked their tuition and costs higher than the annual rate of inflation, assured that the tottering $1.7 trillion guaranteed student loan portfolio would always send them guaranteed cash flows.
They have gouged taxpayers by charging exorbitant surcharges on federal grants from 40 to 60 percent. And they make no effort to offer students intellectual, ideological, or political diversity.
So, even our most prestigious universities seem to have no real moral compass. Accordingly, as long as Trump retains the high ground, the public, too, will demand either reform in higher education or a cessation of federal support to it.
The economy remains strong, but its ultimate health depends on reaching a trade deal with a handful of nations that account for our $1.2 trillion trade deficit in goods: China, the EU, Canada, Mexico, the Southeast Asian trade bloc, and Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea.
These nations all know that their tariffs are not symmetrical. But our trade partners will not willingly change. They apparently, but wrongly, believe that the U.S. either welcomes its trade deficits, naively thinks they’re irrelevant, or is too wedded to libertarian trade ideology to demand accountability.
So, too, on trade, the Trump administration is in the right.
Its only challenge is to avoid envisioning tariffs as a new, get-rich source of massive revenue. Data does not support the idea of such large tariff incomes.
The American people signed on for symmetry, fairness, and reciprocity in trade, not tariffing those who run deficits with us or seeing high tariffs as a cash cow to fund our out-of-control government.
Enraged Democrats still offer no substantial alternatives to the Trump agenda.
There are no shadow-government Democratic leaders with new policy initiatives. They flee from the Biden record on the border, the prior massive deficits and inflation, the disaster in Afghanistan, two theater-wide wars that broke out on Biden’s watch, and the shameless conspiracy to hide the prior president’s increasing dementia.
Instead, the Left has descended into thinly veiled threats of organized disruption in the streets. It embraces potty-mouth public profanity, profane and unhinged videos, nihilistic filibusters, congressional outbursts, and increasingly dangerous threats to the persons of Elon Musk and Donald Trump.
All that frenzy is not a sign that the Trump counterrevolution is failing. It is good evidence that it is advancing forward, and its ethically bankrupt opposition has no idea how, or whether even, to stop it.
Watching Mr Trump again gives me hope for this country and its future. The one thing I’ve learned from Mr Trump is he has never lied to me. This man is as strong as a bull. This country has been good to him and because of it he wants it to work for those who follow after him. I admire the daylights out of him. I’ve never felt this from a president before and it gives me great hope for my children/grandchildren and the world for an example. The deep state makes following the bill of rights and constitution all but impossible. We need him desperately. Like Mr Hanson has said; our country has been blessed with the correct leadership when it really needs it and we really need it.
Don Thorson
May 4
Victor The Dems are so focused on their insane passion against Trump that they have lost their reason for living. in their plans to weaponize the courts they have managed to impune the integrity of our whole system. They find a liberal judge who will bend to their wishes and he poisons the honest judges. They have placed so many unqualified people on the benches that every judge becomes suspect. I hope you are still coming to HD this fall. I intend to be there. don
Unfortunately Trump’s FY26 budget proposal is estimated to exceed revenues by $1.6 Trillion. Some of this may be cut with some modest tariff revenues, domestic growth of the civilian sector, elimination of fraud, waste and abuse of the government by DOGE. It is unlikely those will wind up balancing the budget so we should not expect any decrease to the National Debt for the forseeable future. Possibly Trump will hand off a balanced budget to the next POTUS, a small surplus would be a miraculous accomplishment.
The problem is whether the voters will give Trump the time required to do the job he set out to do or will they usher in a democrat Congress that have no ideas, only blame of Trump. We must not forget that this group of democrat politicians cannot differentiate between a man and a woman, an illegal gang banger and a ‘Maryland man’, yet expect us to believe they have a handle on the economy; which they did not during the Biden adminition; and now how tariffs will affect the country. Few economists understand tariffs and none can predict how other nations will react to Trump’s tariff threats.
I for one have stopped believing any of the democrat falsehoods.
The Democrats and their legacy press allies will do everything possible to make Trump fail—with zero regard for the country or its citizens. If they can’t accelerate his failure, they’ll just lie about it, declare it a failure anyway, or ignore his obvious victories altogether.
But Trump and his team are far more agile than their confused, sluggish adversaries. While the media is still strategizing how to spin what Trump said last week, he’s already moved on to six new topics—grabbing all the oxygen and headlines.
The hippo in the room now is his tariff strategy. Ask yourself: how often has Trump been proven wrong on major issues? Now ask how often his critics have been dead wrong. The asymmetry is glaring.
Crucially, Trump is not an ideologue. If something doesn’t work, he pivots. That’s what smart, results-driven people do. It’s the scientific method in action.
He won’t die on the tariff hill. He’ll either notch another spectacular win—or regroup with new data and try again. That’s called leadership.
VDH, another wise column. Keep it up, please….
The Trump agenda is going to need some legal support from the Supreme Court. So far the Roberts court has been mostly missing in action. They do America no favors by shirking responsibility for hard decisions.
The harder Trump pushes change, the more blatant will be the deep state response to it. This should be his strategy to drive the Democrats out in the open!
“A spirit of innovation is generally the result of a selfish temper, and confined views. People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors.”. . .”In revolutions, the great danger is not from those who will seek to destroy liberty but from those who will seek to change it.”. . . .”Revolutions never go as planned; they are often more dangerous than anyone imagined.” . . . “Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind the slime of a new bureaucracy.”. .“When the leaders choose to make themselves bidders at an auction of popularity, their talents, in the construction of the state, will be of no service. They will become flatterers instead of legislators; the instruments, not the guides, of the people.”. . . “It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.” . . . “But what is liberty without wisdom and without virtue? It is the greatest of all possible evils; for it is folly, vice, and madness, without tuition or restraint. . . “Good order is the foundation of all good things.”. . . “You will smile here at the consistency of those democratists who, when they are not on their guard, treat the humbler part of the community with the greatest contempt, whilst, at the same time they pretend to make them the depositories of all power.” ― Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France.
ARROWW raises some good questions. But when he gets to “Trump fundamentally misunderstands international trade relationships” he loses the point. Who understands this? Biden? Obummer? What defines understanding? The comment lands like high school debate jab. Ineffective at best.
Victor, I have been enjoying your podcast now for some three months and it’s well worth the cost for your thoughtful and common sense discussions. Thanks.
I must say that I share your disappointment with the decline of California over the years. I am a native Californian born in 1948 and have personally witnessed the decline from one of the greatest places to live in the world to a third world country. It had the greatest university system (I am a graduate of UCLA), freeways, water projects and the list goes on.
What were driving forces behind the decline to a complete Democratic state government takeover and decline. Loss of manufacturing? Loss of middle class? Immigration? What were the drivers of the great decline?
It’s been 100 days. Obviously if the Democrats had ANY policies, we would have heard them. They’re like Spartacus’s 25 hour long filibuster for which no bills were being debated. Who votes for these people?
Thanks VDH. Continue being true north.
Dear Dr Hansen, Your description of the present generations as “Unappreciative, undistinguished and mediocre”, resonates with me. Other commentaries identify their characteristics of being endowed, pampered and arrogant. Equally apparent are agnostic, atheistic and impotent traits. Your narratives plant these hallmarks of decline in understandable historical perspectives…Thank You!
Your sober, judicious and kind Swedish voice makes your pearls of wisdom resonate widely and deeply among us and chafe in the agnostic’s ears.
I hope an artful skilled ENT permanently relieves your burdened sinuses and frees you to sleep well and travel carefree.
My Prayers and Best Wishes go out to you and your family.🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Neal Shonnard MD
VDH asserts: “The American people signed on for symmetry, fairness, and reciprocity in trade, not tariffing those who run deficits with us or seeing high tariffs as a cash cow to fund our out-of-control government.”
You’re merely rationalizing crude notions that amplify economic myths which are errantly held by Trump. Please define “symmetry, fairness and reciprocity.” What, exactly, is a “fair” or “level” playing field? What is a ‘fair’ factory wage in China, Vietnam, India, or South Carolina?
I notice that you do not use the phrase that reflects Trump’s fundamental view: that “we have been ripped-off for decades.” Wise word choice, but as Trump’s defender, please define “ripped-off.” How do we recognize the offending party?
Many people argue in a similar fashion by pointing to “New York” bankers as agents of economic oppression. Others attach the (il)logic to certain religions or ethnic groups who “rip-off” innocent consumers. Please clarify Trump’s analysis if you do not believe, as I do, that Trump fundamentally misunderstands international trade relationships.
Victor Sinus Infection
Hyperbaric oxygen treatments (Listen to a podcast when in chamber)
Will help your whole body
Iodine drops in water (drink) J.Crows’s- Lugol’s Solution 2%
Iodine supports Thyroid function your bodies natural antibiotic
Methylenen Blue USP Grade (FDA recognized drug used for several serious conditions) boosts mitochondrial function, antibiotic, anti fungal, anti malarial I take 15 drops in 4 oz water (use straw will stain tongue)
Good luck we have to keep you healthy. The world needs your common sense 🙂
Ray K
How many honest Republicans are in the House and Senate? How many honest justices are in the Supreme Court? How many honest bureaucrats are on duty below the top level? I’d say not nearly enough in all cases. This didn’t happen overnight; it took many years to decay this much.
The best summary I’ve read yet.
Re: “So, even our most prestigious universities seem to have no real moral compass.”
A moral code cannot dispense with the truth. If it does, it is not a morality. But this precise morality lies a great deal. Perhaps it lies sincerely, perhaps it is convinced of the truth of its lies—that would be all the more alarming. It lies by omissions, it lies by the suppression of information and by censorship, it lies by its permanent minting of counterfeit language, by euphemisation on an industrial scale. —Renaud Camus
Spot on VDH! Now to get Congress to walk the line. No more grandstanding from weak, spineless “republicans”. Everyone knows who I’m talking about. The ones that show up in front of a camera for their 90 seconds of fame. They claim to be principled while rattling on about “working across the aisle” and “bipartisan support”.
The Left is tripling down on their go to’s to hijack what they perceive is a winner in the moral high ground competition.
It is the Race card.
Note that Kamala in her public appearance yesterday had been soaked in tanning spray . Apparently since Michelle is truant at the moment, Kamala appears to be the stand in for Black Woman Holy.
The tell was the palms of Kamala’s hands- applying stain to your skin leaves a stain on your hands. But the message is clear -the old shiv of race will be their go to in order to combat the moral hill they all died on long ago.
The Biden years will live on in infamy.
The Biden administration was defined by “The Emperor has no clothes” and the response to Trump 2.0 is “The fox and the grapes”.
Well said, VDH. A phrase that Obama frequently used, “the right side of history” comes to mind.
It surely applies to the Trump agenda. The continued efforts of the left to stymie the progress of the agenda, must be one of the central themes in the midterm elections.
Do Americans want to return to open borders, raging spending and inflation, DEI dictates, 2-tiered justice, crime, locked up toothpaste in stores, boys in girls locker rooms, etc.?
Not just NO, HELL NO!