Join the weekend episode with Victor Davis Hanson and cohost Sami Winc. They discuss some recent news and the Treaty of Versailles following WWI. The current news includes Trump’s tariffs, lawsuit brought against pro-Hamas protesters, Vance in Greenland, Rubio rightly unapologetic, and Stefanik’s nomination withdrawn for UN ambassador.
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Also re Keynes’s “The Economic Consequences of the Peace.” Keynes simply explained that the amount of postwar reparations levied on Germany exceeded their productive capacity. The only way to pay those reparations was to print money. As Keynes predicted, that led to the German hyperinflation, sowing the seeds for the rise of Hitler.
Prof. Hanson, I’m afraid you are wrong about economics. A trade deficit is created by a country’s financial account surplus. While I am nowhere near the writer you are, I’ve attempted an explanation here: https://gonzoecon.com/2025/03/a-nation-of-spenders-creates-trade-deficits/. Second, tariffs raise domestic prices. In fact, that’s why they work. More here (including a few graphs, I’m afraid): https://gonzoecon.com/2025/03/trumps-tariffs/
Other than that, please keep up the good work you do!
Tony Lima
Retired economics professor
“American first, journalist second” reminds me of Mike Wallace. He once said that if he was with the Viet Cong and they booby-trapped a trail that Americans were coming down, he would not alert them because it would compromise his journalistic values. He would be there to record, not intervene.
Dear Victor,
I’ve been a fan of yours since I was a young classical philology undergraduate and read your great work “the western way of war” some 35 years ago. Since then I’ve continued to be edified by you through your subsequent books and podcasts. So for that, I am eternally grateful. This week in one of your podcasts you use the reference from the Aeneid, the boat race scene, to illustrate Trump‘s idea of the potency of belief. This brought to mind another excerpt from Virgil‘s great work that I think could also be used to show Trump‘s position. It is from Aeneas’ katabasis:
“Facilis descensus Averno:
Noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis;
Sed revocare gradium superasque evadere ad auras,
Hoc opus, hic labor est.”
It is a lot easier to sink a ship than to right it. We’ve been aboard a sinking ship for a long time and I hope that all the citizens that voted for Trump can realize the leviathan of the task that is before him and be patient.
Thanks and keep up the good work! It is much needed,
Brian
Thank You VDH.
I have been reading histories most of life and it has always been easy for me to blow away others when discussions involved history of most eras. Listening to Dr. Hansen has not only giving me a better understanding of history, as well as politics of America and the rest of the world.
I am also learning a lot of words and that I have to look up when watching or just listening to his videos.
Thank You and Battle On,
Al
Another fascinating podcast and intriguing summary by VDH with Sami.
Thank you.
Regarding the Jeffrey Goldberg debacle, definitely agree. It’s highly probable that the Trump hating Goldberg was deliberately allowed into that circle. There is too much Trump hatred around and through the media to believe it was a simple blunder. There are no coincidences in such politics. It smacks of a deliberate act to assist in the take-down. There was probably a mole involved.
Even if it were a simple oversight, after the first term in which Trump and his supporters and voters endured a tidal wave of leftie backstabbers, the individual that recently allowed Goldberg into the group meeting should be severely punished in order to discourage others from similar tactics. There is too much at stake to ignore the probabilities of an act of sedition.
In the interim, until the truth comes out, how about a real investigation of Marc Elias (he offensively boasted a year ago of using courts to stop Trump’s agenda), George/Alex Soros, Reid Hoffman, etc., et al?
What’s good for the gander is good for the goose.