Victor Davis Hanson
American Greatness
Two sets of laws now operate in an increasingly unrecognizable America.
Consider the matter of unlawfully removing and storing classified papers.
Donald Trump may go to prison for removing contested White House files to his home.
So far Joe Biden seems exempt from just such legal jeopardy.
But as a senator and Vice President with no right, as does a president, to declassify files, Biden removed and, as a private citizen kept for years classified files in unsecure locations.
Biden’s team strangely revealed the unlawful removals after years of silence.
It did so because the Biden administration found itself in the untenable position of prosecuting the former president for “crimes” that the current president committed as well—albeit far earlier and longer.
Impeachable phone calls?
Donald Trump was impeached by a Democratic House for delaying foreign aid until the Ukrainian government guaranteed that Hunter Biden and his family were no longer engaged in corrupt influence peddling in Kyiv.
In addition, the Left charged that Trump was targeting Joe Biden, his possible 2020 rival.
Yet Biden, with impunity, bragged that he had fired a Ukrainian prosecutor looking into his own son’s schemes by promising to cancel outright American foreign aid.
And the Biden administration’s Justice Department is now targeting Trump, currently the frontrunning challenger to Biden in 2024.
Election denialism?
Trump was indicted by Special Counsel Jack Smith, in part for supposedly conspiratorially “unlawfully discounting legitimate votes.”
Will Smith then also indict Stacey Abrams? For years Abrams falsely claimed that she was the real governor of Georgia. She toured the country in hopes of “discounting” the state vote count.
Or maybe Smith was referring to the conspiracist and former president Jimmy Carter.
He alleged that Trump in 2016 “lost the election, and he was put into office because the Russians interfered on his behalf.”
Will Smith charge Hillary Clinton?
She serially libeled Trump as an “illegitimate” president.
Clinton hatched the Russian collusion hoax, and bragged she joined the “Resistance” to continue her attacks on an elected president.
Or maybe Smith meant the Hollywood crowd.
Lots of actors cut commercials after the 2016 election—begging viewers to pressure the electors to ignore their constitutional duties to honor their states’ popular vote and instead swing their ballots to Hillary Clinton?
Was not that “insurrectionary?”
Or was Smith thinking of January 2005?
Then 32 Democratic House members and Sen. Barbara Boxer tried to nullify the legally certified vote in Ohio—to thereby elect the loser John Kerry.
How about destroying evidence?
Trump was also indicted for allegedly attempting to erase video material from his own cameras in his own house.
Yet Hillary Clinton with impunity eliminated subpoenaed communication devices and thousands of emails.
Violations of security? Trump was indicted for supposedly loosely talking about classified material to visitors at his home.
So will prosecutor Smith’s indictments also extend to Hillary Clinton? She sent classified documents illegally over her unsecure private server.
FBI Director James Comey memorialized a confidential president conversation.
Then he deliberately leaked what properly was a classified document to the media. It was all part of Comey’s Machiavellian gambit to prompt the appointment of a favorable special prosecutor.
What about subversion of the electoral process?
Donald Trump was indicted for supposedly undermining the election of 2020 by questioning the integrity of the balloting.
In 2016, Hillary Clinton’s campaign illegally hired two foreign nationals Christopher Steele and Igor Danchenko to compile falsehoods about her opponent Trump.
Clinton hid her payments behind three paywalls.
Her team, along with the FBI, helped leak the counterfeit dossier to the media and high officials to undermine her opponent—and thus subvert the election itself.
Lying and perjury?
Two Trump aides and Trump himself are indicted for supposedly stonewalling federal investigators by claiming either amnesia or ignorance.
That tact is exactly what James Comey did 245 times while under oath before Congress.
What do former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former Director of the CIA John Brennan, and former interim FBI Director Andrew McCabe all have in common?
All three admitted they flagrantly lied either under oath to Congress or to federal investigators.
The three were never indicted for their false and perjurious testimonies.
We have now serially devolved from the 2016 election “Russian collusion” hoax, to the 2020 election “Russian disinformation” laptop hoax, and down to the 2024 election weaponized indictments.
Out of pathological hatred or fear of Donald Trump, the Left has crafted one set of laws for themselves, and another for all other Americans.
They smugly believe their own moral superiority grants them such a right to apply laws unequally—or to ignore them altogether.
To retain power at all cost, and to destroy a political rival, leftwing Democrats are systematically dismantling the constitutional foundations of the United States as we once knew them.
What a brilliant and detailed analysis of the two tiered justice system which is now a standard in our country. We live in a land where facts no longer matter. Emotions and lies rule. I pray that we can turn America back to a land of freedom and opportunity , not deceit and evil. Thank you for your article, Mr. Hanson. Thank you for being a truth teller..
I cannot believe we Iive in a country that ignores the constitution and our leaders lie and make illegal money for their profit. It’s surreal and terrifying. The Biden regime is so corrupt and they don’t try to hide it.
What I find most terrifying is at least half the country doesn’t even see what is so painfully obvious to the rest of us. That is indeed surreal.
I would like to expand upon the ‘because they say so’ in the last run-on sentence. (Sorry about that, I had to write it as it was on my mind or I’d forget what I was trying to say.)
Their saying so is the replacement of what God has said in Nature and in his Word which is the foundation of Natural Law and Human Governance (John Locke) with their word as to what is good and what is evil.
Liberalism started in the Garden when Satan deceived Eve with the lie that man might be as gods knowing good and evil and that they could live forever.
When you consider the foundations of liberal theology in McDowell’s two-volume set ‘Evidence That Demands a Verdict’ you’ll see that they construct their doctrine on foundations of shifting sand. The Radical Historical-Critical schools of Higher Textual Criticism, (Form Criticism, Source Criticism, Modern Criticism, Redaction Criticism, Documentarians, etc…) rely upon the Graf-Welhausen Documentary Hypothesis which itself is constructed on the conjecture of the existence of the infamous J/E/P/D documents for which there is no evidence. It is entirely made up!
Nota bene the construction of the Liberal Theologians ‘Creative Community’ out of which certain more spiritually/in
Nota bene the Liberal Theologians construction of their “Creative Community” concept that they use to justify certain more highly illuminated spiritually and intellectually individuals re-writing of the Word of God based upon the “needs” of said contemporaneous “Creative Co
You want to teach the teacher Chris. Look up the word pithy.
After reading your reply a few times Chris, I can’t help thinking that you’re the type of person that just has to constantly prove that YOU are the smartest person in the room. When you attempt to upstage a Master of Analysis like Victor Davis Hanson, seriously, in my opinion, it makes you look small!
One has to wonder about your thoughts about Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.
…Creative Community.”
Conveniently, their more highly illuminated ‘Legislative Leaders’ are the ones who determine just what those “needs’ that justify their re-determining what is good and what is evil are!
Read the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s ‘Book of Confessions’ where, in the beginning, they reference Modern methods of Textual Criticism: It is the invalid methods outlined by McDowell that the apostate Presbyterian Church (USA) use in order to embrace the morally depraved homosexuals and to abandon support for Israel and enthusiastically support the group that calls themselves ‘Palestinian’ though they have no ancestral connection to the Philistines of biblical infamy.
I’d love to listen to you and McDowell have a long discussion on the doctrines and tenets of the Liberal-fascist Left. Sincerely, Chris Farrell (aka Legionnaire James Foster; 1er REC; 2em Esc., 1er Plt. Deserter. But that’s another story!)
Is it all because Trump is an outsider who stepped into “the show” ?
Thats right Trump exposed their evil and corruption and the more they persecute him the more they are exposed. Civil war is coming sadly.
Thank God for sharing such information. Never stop. God bless you.
Brilliant, thank you for laying out this abuse of our national trust. Please keep it going.
Laugh, cry, and/or get angry at the blatant double standard.
Excellent summary. Thank you.
Imv, the left appears to be seriously fearful of Trump back in Office. Keep the onery bull out of the fragile tricket shop.
They know he knows who and what they are. The poor selection metrics he used the first time around in choosing advisors probably will be replaced with more realistic metrics for selection for his second term.
Blatant yet weak charges that each time follow by one day House announced incriminating discoveries about the Crime Family. Such an obvious pattern suggests prior planning. Prior planning and then issuing preselected responses after each announcement of clear evidence of crime by the Biden Crime Family suggest a strong intention to take out something they seriously fear. Their over-the-top tactics of offense against a political opponent requires them to abuse federal authority and legal standards. They appear psychopathic without any sign of empathy, guilt, or shame. Oh contraire, they pile on.
If ever there were a time for Dem opposition to come together, it is now.
The truth hurts, we have been living in not a banana republic, but rather a fastfood republic. Trashy, disposable, subject to whimsical trends of popularity, and in the long run unhealthy for all. President Trump did the one thing only an outsider could do, pull back the curtain and reveal the whole shady business, both parties slave to crony capitalism, hogs at the trough. For that greatest of all sins his character must be assassinated nd the memory of his accomplishments erased. This is our new reality. This is what is at stake in 2024. These are the two paths for the future of the country.
Prof Hanson,
Thank you! You hit the nail on its head again and again and again. What’s the “so what” for us? The Republicans? No. Faith, hope and love? And the greatest of them is love…God’s love for those of us who believe Jesus is the God-man, who is coming back. What about those who don’t believe? By the time they know the truth it will be too late for them…eternal life without faith, hope and love…and void of God’s love because that’s what they believe and want. Why do we get eternal life with the God who loves? Do we deserve it? No, but we believe Him. John 3:16
In recent years, the progressives have moved well beyond dirty work behind the scenes. Now they feel supreme enough to rub our noses in it, to add to our resignation and passivity. Since the current obstacle to their toatl evel program is the 2024 election, they focus on a newer, better, more lopsided fix. Many of the “dying citizens” have no clue about what citizens do. Nor do the illegal aliens; that and their usefulness in a Cloward-Piven plan to collapse society make them essential.
(corrected for typos)
In recent years, the progressives have moved well beyond dirty work behind the scenes. Now they feel supreme enough to rub our noses in it, to add to our resignation and passivity. Since the current obstacle to their total evil program is the 2024 election, they focus on a newer, better, more lopsided fix. Many of the “dying citizens” have no clue about what citizens do. Nor do the illegal aliens; that and their usefulness in a Cloward-Piven plan to collapse society make them essential.
Our Constitutional Republic died in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election……if not a decade before.
All of this through the totally biased jury pool of Washington DC. Why bring charges against a DC insider when you already know the criminal will be found not guilty. A Republican defendant doesn’t need a trial – just go straight to a guilty verdict. Jurors should be selected from the entire USA – jurors to witness the trial from their local Federal courthouse.
In every decade in the history we have always seen two sets of laws used in the small burgs, counties, cities of various size, states, and finally the federal government. Corruption endures against our best intentions to curb it. Prior to the turn of last century we saw the back lash of corporate and government corruption as the populists rose up against the trusts and monopolistic practices of a few large corporations. Somehow stealing from the public only ears a slap on the wrist and nothing much changes. Perhaps capital punishment (and I do mean use it) would cure the few of any intent to such a scheme.
Does sane, reasonably objective adult now doubt we are now behaving as a “Banana Republic”?
Today, I am having my annual check-up with my liberal ophthalmologist (Last year he told me he thought Kyle Rittenhouse should have been found guilty). He likes to discuss politics with me for a few minutes before he gets down to the professional business at hand.
Today, I plan on telling him that I believe the U.S. is now no better than a Banana Republic.
I think he will probably say that is hyperbole. I’ll insist it in not. In defense of my bold claim I have copied and pasted into a Word doc VDH’s article, “Two Sets of Laws for Two Americas”.
I will present it to him, explaining that the series of facts cited (there is not one opinion in the article) in this article is the reason I believe as I do.
I have printed it in 12 point type, and have the title highlighted in yellow. I suspect he will be curious enough to read it. I also suspect the facts it presents will not make not a damn bit of difference in his view that “All things Trump are bad.”
How curious, a myopic ophthalmologist.
Very good, Leroy. Excellent observation.
The very mention of Trump’s name transforms his normally calm demeanor to one of agitated stress. He told me he should be prosecuted “for treason, or worse”. No comment from him about Biden, and the family enterprise, though.
He said he would read VDH’s article. Maybe, maybe not.
Like many people, I have observed that Democrats frequently accuse Republicans of what they, themselves, have already been committing, and feel embarrassed about. It seems so bluntly obvious, that I have wondered why they do it. I think that maybe, I have now figured out why they do it.
It happened, when I was reading in the current news about a muslim woman who had been convicted of sending many hateful and threatening emails to a mixed-marriage neighbor and was sentenced to 9 years in prison followed by 3 years of probation. I thought that 9 years for a hate crime was very much-too-much and wondered why a judge and jury could do that.
Then I remembered about the scapegoat of Leviticus-16. That goat was selected to carry away the sins of the community.
I think that the aforementioned judge and jury were subconsciously piling their own sins on the convicted woman!
And likewise, the Democrats may be (subconsciously?) seeking some atonement for their own sins by accusing the Republicans of what they, themselves, feel guilty about.
Great article Victor.
After experiencing the lack of curiosity or defiance during Covid era from too many of my fellow citizens, I see very little push-back of the direction of the country illustrated in your article. I also believe the people who benefit from the revolution know this as well. The policies and political lean of Google, Facebook, Amazon, or Apple are all irrelevant. When a willing and able administration needs curated data , ie how many people googled Trump Indictment vs Biden Corruption or how many and who ordered USA flags on Amazon, they simply push the leverage button to obtain the needed metrics to help determine the thresholds of compliance vs resistance. Thanks for your insight Victor. Your ability to merge the past with the present to fill in the gaps ( we cant be in every room) helps us all stay informed to navigate properly in our individual lives.
chris from semi-woke Golden, CO
You’ve nailed it!
Victor, thank you for your dependably sharp insights. If the Biden administration revealed his hoard of classified documents “because [it] found itself in the untenable position of prosecuting the former president for ‘crimes’ that the current president committed as well,” how did that benefit the administration? Something even more nefarious seems at play. According to nationalpriorities.org (Feb. 2015), Confucius said that “The requisites of government are that there be a sufficiency of food, enough military equipment, and the confidence of the people in their ruler.” He further claimed that military equipment and food are less important than confidence in rulers because “if the people have no faith in their rulers, then the state cannot exist.” It appears the Confucian critical triad is under systematic and global attack to cancel the US in particular. E.g., 1) our “rulers” have crippled our military by failing to maintain equipment, abandoning it in Afghanistan, giving it away to Ukraine, and draining our national oil reserve. 2) The American family farm is being replaced by corporate and centralized control, and foreigners are buying our farmland while Dutch farmers and the Ukrainian breadbasket are targeted for destruction. 3) Public confidence in our “rulers”—Congress, the White House, and the DOJ—is at an historical low. What are your thoughts on the relevance of the Confucian critical triad today?
An excellent synopsis of the “two sets of laws” that if continued will not end well for the United States. Thank you.
This is a nation of laws and no amount of idiotic comments like this will change that fact. What will change that fact is Trump supporters like you want Trump and like-mined autocratic dimwits to be free from legal accountability. I don’t you would be on this high horse if Barack Obama tried to overturn an election like DBag Trump. No, you’d be asking for him to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Like most Republicans, you believe that Trump and Republicans breaking the law is ok, but not anybody else. I will use all caps like your favorite dimwit: NO ONE SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO BE ABOVE THE LAW, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THEY ARE PRESIDENT, A FORMER PRESIDENT OR ANY REPUBLICAN POLITICAN, and yes, I do include Democrats, for under our constitution that is the law.
Only one problem there Doc. How many Democrats will continue to be immune from prosecution for committing similar crimes and worse? If you can’t see the selective prosecution and unequal justice being applied here you just don’t care about the truth. Your TDS is blinding you to the truth. No wonder Trump can never get a fair trial in places like NY and DC. People such as yourself have so much hatred towards Trump you don’t even believe he should be treated fairly. It reminds me of the quick lynching that used to exist in this country. You don’t need a trial. You’ve already given him the death sentence.
Victor, why do you keep trying to order Will Smith around? I mean I know he was great in “The Fresh Price” and all, but really, I do not believe he has anything to do with this mess.
Carry on.
Like Dr. Thomas Sowell said, “The facts”. That is what guides his judgment.
As usual VDH……..you encapsulate the entire side by side hypocrisy of the left in a concise and understandable manner. Thank you sir …..
Thanks Victor for the juxtaposition of how our legal system “functions” with regard to insulating progressive marxists from prosecution while, at the same time, instigating and fomenting lies against conservatives which they will then gleefully prosecute to inflict maximum damage at strategic times.
I have noticed in the comment section, where you encourage people to express themselves, that your readers are increasingly critical of the biden regime and its ancillary empowering groups. These groups are apparently very sensitive to objective scrutiny by American citizens. Perhaps, justifiably paranoid.. biden implies that an American citizen needs F-15’s or nuclear devices to do so. Your readers and American citizens reject that notion realizing they have a more potent tool – the United States Constitution.
Atlas shrugging under imbalanced weight on the scales of justice; that is, the Left side of the scales.
Its difficult to understand why they are allowed to get away with this, as if they’re untouchable. How can sanity be restored for “We The People?”
Being a Podunk carpenter in the middle of nowhere, I truly enjoy all of VDH articles and podcasts. Refreshing as a cold beer and a fishing pole…
There are no “podunk” carpenters. Carpenters build stuff. If a house stands for 100 years it is because of the muscular energy of the carpenter that is now stored in the nail/wood matrix. The carpenter may have passed but the energy imparted to the nail remains. The billion dollar “castle” which was “constructed” using usurped “material’ by Sam Bankman-Fried instantly disintegrated. A Bankman-Fried, on his best day, would not make a pimple on the buttocks of a real carpenter!
Sadly, all is true. But Americans must finally get smart this coming election to stop this evil or our nation is doomed.
Professor Hanson,
While I certainly agree with your statement about unequal application of our laws and do tend to believe, my opinion, that the Asymmetry is evident comparing “the haves” and the “have nots” in our society and can see some of this evidence of variances also applied between our Conservative and Liberal classes, it is difficult to believe that the former President DJT is clean of any wrong doing. I didn’t drop off the turnip truck recently as someone north of 60, and treat the election process of our Washington servants through the classic lens of “the lesser of two evils”. I am a conservative, voted for Trump twice and will vote for whomever the nominee will be because I do believe also that the threat from the left is much more damaging to our republic and survival and if we fail to stop the bleeding in 2024, we may be at the end of it. We may already be in that long decline. I am hoping for another candidate to emerge from both sides to be honest. Keep on writing and speaking. We need your wise voice.
Brilliant commentary.
Thank you Victor for all of your hard work prolifically putting your pen to paper…I hope you realize that all of your recent prescient articles are part of your most important work penned during the most challenging time in our lifetime…Your writings will be viewed meritoriously by future generations…May God bless you forever…
AMEN BROTHER. TOO BAD SO CLEARLY EXPLAINING THE TRUTH WILL DO NOTHING TO TURN THE TIDE OF TYRANNY.
What an excellent, right on, article.
Thank you sir for all of your fantastic articles.
You are brilliant and I deeply appreciate your writings and look forward to reading your comments in the Epoch Times as well.
Please keep up your excellent work !
Seymour Z Beiser, DPM
Miami Florida
I agree totally about the two sets of laws.
HOWEVER, I have to point Trump had TWO opportunities to appoint an AG who would fly as his wingman and go after the miscreants you cited and didn’t.
Good point, John.
The only caveat I would offer is that whomever Trump nominates would still need to be confirmed by the Senate.
I don’t know why the president can’t choose his own cabinet. Having to get what more often than not is your opponent’s approval makes it difficult to put in the necessary people.
I prefer a British parliamentary system. The party with the most seats forms a government and you don’t have this ridiculous problem. Just look at our never ending border crisis and the ever increasing national debt. Our system is fast becoming a dysfunctional farce.
Having and AG that would aggressively defend the constitution is good enough for me. No “wingmen” need apply.
What we need, in my view, is a bold AG, not afraid to aggressively enforce our constitution in a nonpartisan manner.
No “wingmen” need apply!
And, by controlling the DOJ, as well as other ‘departments’ there is no recourse via the courts – unless the Supreme Court chooses to rein in this, which is problematic. So what can citizens do? Do we sue? Can we legally sue? Petition (class action?) Congress? Virginia’s senators vote Dem party-line. Most of her Representatives are/ do same. There is no recourse!
I feel the GOP is not understanding that most folks feel a bit scared and will not vote. This fear will bring their win. If only 1% less GOP voters do not vote or vote for other candidates the Democrats win. Scaring people is the plan.
I agree.
Someone up-thread commented that the Democrat leadership must either hate or fear Trump so much that they want to keep him out of office BAMN – I almost replied to that comment to say that I didn’t think that was the motivation, but I passed on the opportunity. I won’t do the same here. I think the motivation is purely and simply to show all of us little people that the big They can do whatever they want, even to someone with f-you money, even to someone with incredible influence over our country (here I speak of both Trump and Musk, with regard to the DOJ lawsuit being brought against the latter). If They can bring down the mighty, at least through making them spend millions defending themselves and damaging or destroying their reputations, they can crush us like bugs.
The thing I don’t understand is, why now? Suddenly they have the bit between their teeth and are coming after those who try to publicize their corruption, right at the time that publicizing that corruption is pretty much the easiest it’s ever been, thanks to Musk’s purchase of Twitter/X and the prevalence of alternate Internet fora like Substack. Is it because they’re worried they’re on the brink of losing the grip they’ve had on civil society for so long, or is it because they’re confident they finally hold all the power necessary to bring all opposition to its knees?
The first possibility affords some hope. The second affords the need for desperate efforts to continue to oppose them.
Can we get David Brooks at the NY Times to read this after his most recent piece wondering if the Left are the real “bad guys”…. nah.
Ever notice how face to face discussion never takes place between VDH (& others like him) and the so-called intellectuals of the Left?
So many will read this as an exoneration of Trump. Note that it is not – it is an indictment of the left. The latter, as deserved as it is, does not defacto lead to the former. Trump was and is many things good and bad. Conservatives have the opp’ty now to move past these internecine battles and move forward – there are several excellent candidates running, just as there were in 2016 when Trump won by virtue of all the other candidates dividing the votes of traditional conservatives. Let’s not repeat the mistakes of the past – let’s move forward, for our nation will only suffer further if we do not.
Well said sir❣️
Thank you Professor Hanson!
Wasn’t Jack Smith the name of the evil agent in ‘Matrix’ capable of multiplicating who relentlessly pursued Neo, Trinity & the good guys?
It was stunning to learn today that Rush predicted this back in 2017.
Biden’s threaten Jill Biden’s first husband. https://youtu.be/-XC9Q70Ndjg?t=578
A democratic win ensures the destruction of America as the founders envisioned it. A Republican win delays the destruction until we the people can figure out what the F— we really want…
VDH, you speak truth. Eloquently!
I have listened to you on Tucker Carlson’s show, FOX News. I admire and greatly appreciate what you say, the truth. It’s refreshing to hear it. It stands out against all the other media hype that’s out there. Thank you very much for speaking out.
Thanks for your honesty