Victor Davis Hanson
American Greatness
The abject narcissism of the insular Left is startling. They apparently believe the American public is amnesiac enough to forget what leftists once did, now that they’re doing the utter opposite. And they assume we are to discount their hypocrisy and self-absorption simply because they self-identify as erudite and moral and assume their opponents are irredeemable and deplorable.
Impeachment
The Left is saturating the airwaves with outrage over the current House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry. They allege that formally investigating Joe Biden’s role in the family grifting operation is somehow a poor constitutional precedent, if not out-of-bounds entirely.
So we hear further arguments that it will be unwise to impeach a first-term president when he loses his House majority, that there is no reason to “waste” congressional time and effort when Biden will be automatically acquitted in the Democratically controlled Senate, and that the impeachment is cynically timed to synchronize with president’s reelection efforts.
All of these are the precise arguments many of us cited when Donald Trump was impeached in December 2019 (as his reelection campaign began, and immediately after being cleared of the 22-month, $40-million-special-counsel Russian-collusion hoax).
The Democrats tried to remove an elected president over a phone call without a special counsel’s report. So Trump was impeached only after the 2018 election led to a Democratic House majority, which went from eating up nearly two years of his administration in the Russian-collusion hoax straight into the impeachment farce. There was no concern about the cost to the nation of putting an elected government into a continual state of siege.
There is one difference, though, between the Trump impeachment and the Biden impeachment inquiry. Donald Trump was impeached because he accurately accused the members of the Ukrainian government of paying Hunter Biden, with his zero fossil fuel expertise, an astronomical sum to serve on the Burisma board—as the costly quid that earned the lucrative quo from his dad Vice President Joe Biden.
No one now denies that Joe Biden got prosecutor Viktor Shokin fired by threatening to cancel legislatively-approved U.S. aid. Shokin knew about the skullduggery through which the Biden family eventually received $6.5 million from Ukraine—and so Biden ensured his firing, and publicly bragged about it in performance-art fashion.
In sum, Trump had a perfect right as commander in chief to delay (he did not cancel) aid to Ukraine, to ensure that its government was not still paying off the Bidens for their lobbying efforts on its behalf.
It is also now clear that Biden serially lied about his ignorance of Hunter’s shake-down operation. In fact, he was, as Devon Archer emphasized, “the brand” central to Hunter’s scheme to coerce money from foreign governments. Joe was proverbially, in Hunter’s words “the man sitting next to me” and thus able to either punish or reward foreign interests, depending on the size of the checks they wrote to his various fronting family members.
Offspring subpoenas
The left is now furious that Hunter has been subpoenaed by the House to testify in private about how he earned his multimillion-dollar income, whether he fully paid taxes on it, and to whom he distributed his winnings.
Hunter has refused to testify. He is now being held in contempt of the U.S. Congress—to the silence of the usually self-righteous former senator Joe “pay your fair share” Biden.
We hear sanctimonious harangues that Joe is guilty of loving “his only son” Hunter too much, or that it is way out of bounds for a Department of Justice prosecutor to hound Joe Biden by going “after his family,” or that Republican congressional subpoenas and contempt findings should be summarily ignored.
Ask Peter Navarro or Steve Bannon whether one can simply ignore a House subpoena. Ask Ivanka Trump whether she was, or was not, subpoenaed to appear before the January 6 committee. Ask the Trump sons whether they could breezily say “no” to Letitia James’s subpoenas in her farcical real-estate-valuation suit against Trump.
Whistleblowers
Do we remember when, not long ago, whistleblowers were noble?
The alleged whistleblower Eric Ciaramella, an Obama holdover who had burrowed inside the Trump administration, had zero firsthand knowledge of the Trump phone call to Ukrainian president Zelensky. Ukrainian expatriate Lt. Col Alexander Vindman was on the call, as a member of the Trump national security team. He broke the law and apparently disclosed the classified call—in outrage that Trump was apparently too hard on his native Ukraine— to Ciaramella, and then hid the latter’s identity. Both met privately with Rep. Adam Schiff (D—CA) to engineer an impeachment writ.
This impeachment gambit was well-known to the media and the Democratic House. Both Vindman and Ciaramella were canonized as invaluable tools in wearing down Trump in a way that the failed Mueller prosecution had never done.
And whistleblowers now?
IRS Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley and 13-year Special IRS Agent Joe Ziegler never violated any statute or disclosed classified information. They did not leak a presidential phone call to a foreign leader.
Instead, both came forward as whistleblowers to testify before Congress about how the Biden Justice Department deliberately and carefully ensured that the mountain of evidence for the prosecution of Hunter Biden that they had presented had simply been ignored—at least long enough for the statute of limitations to run out on his most egregious crimes.
When they both made their case that facts proved the Biden family received huge sums for selling access to or action from Joe Biden, they were roundly trashed by Democrats in congress and pilloried as disgruntled politicos by a toady press.
Dictators
Never-Trumpers and leftists vie to predict the most nightmarish consequence of a 2024 Trump election win. Supposedly, he will commit every imaginable sin, from ending habeas corpus to jailing his enemies.
This fearmongering has no basis in fact, especially given that the nation has already experienced a Trump administration for four years. And it saw none of the weaponization of the CIA, FBI, DOJ, and IRS that we have seen under the Biden and earlier Obama administrations. There was no concerted effort to destroy the 2020 Biden campaign in the manner of the 2016 Russian-collusion caper, no FBI suppression of evidence as we saw in the case of the Hunter laptop, no warping of a FISA court, no paying social media corporations FBI money to suppress news unfavorable to Trump. And so on.
The Burden of Familial Indictments?
Suddenly yet another new narrative emerges: Joe Biden is unduly preoccupied, bearing the enormous burden of Hunter’s indictments. Apparently, we have never appreciated the supposedly unnecessary and cruel encumbrance on a president when his son is indicted.
So, we are told that a son’s legal exposure is an unfair weight on a president.
Have we again forgotten the subpoenaed Trump children, much less the four weaponized indictments of Trump himself? Does anyone wish to compare the drug-addicted, prostitute-hiring, gun-losing, pornographic-photo-taking, shake-down grifting of Hunter with the conduct of the five Trump children?
What would Biden think if the next Republican Secretary of State had once tried to ruin him by rounding up “51 intelligence authorities” to blatantly lie that a Trump son’s incriminating laptop was not his own, in order to affect the 2024 election —all in the manner of the Antony Blinken 2020 ruse? Or imagine a future National Security advisor who had once tried, in Jake Sullivan’s 2016 way, to concoct a malicious yarn that Hunter was engineering a computer ping correspondence from Biden headquarters to Moscow. Would those be burdens on Biden? Were they on Trump?
It may well be unwise to impeach a president in his first term when he loses his House majority. It may certainly set a bad precedent to subpoena the children of presidents. It may be regrettable that whistleblowers are either unduly demonized or sanctified. And it is of course wrong to smear a president as a veritable Hitlerian dictator.
But the left does not see such absolutes. Instead, once a supposedly morally-superior agenda is enunciated, then any means necessary are justified to obtain it.
And that alternate reality ensures that impeaching a president, indicting him, subpoenaing his kids, praising or libeling whistleblowers, or smearing a president as a dictator become good or bad things only by determining whether they prove useful to the progressive project.
The Left’s sanctimony is dimming as a distraction. It will become the unanswered echo. Righteous indignation is rising to an unfathomable fury as it dawns on Americans what was taken from us. Right in front of our eyes as we played by the rules of decency.
It’s gotta be the same George Aucoin from MAGTF-Summer Storm.
Lost track of ya a while ago.
Call me 541-280-5950.
Jerry Johnson
Once again Dr Hanson organize an air-tight indictment of the current pseudo-POTUS and his venal brood, with Hunter at the forefront. This is corruption in high places, laid bare for the world to see. Biden will plotz before the 2024 election cycle is complete. Harris will move into the Oval for a cup of coffee and install the Left’s choice for POTUS, and will then resign for “personal reasons” walking away with untold millions in offshore contributions to her retirement fund. Then the fait accompli will be complete and our resolve will be tested. Thus Biden’s corruption will clearly be confirmed as a feature, never a bug.
Point impeachment, Point subpeonas, Point whistleblowers, Point dictator, Point family indictments. I might say that about sums it up but I am certain there are several more Biden/Leftist/Democrat hypocrisies, too many for any article to report.
One disagreement though, the abject narcissism of the insular Left is no longer startling. After having it shoved on us for nearing 20 years now, the only ones startled by it would be the left ideologues finally waking up.
Thank you for the adroit summary of the hypocrisy. The sad news is that you could add three more articles and not capture all of them.
Great and so clearly stated! Thank you, you say what everyone should see. Now, if we can only get the GOP to state these facts with a succinct unity, we could actually help stop the decline of USA. However, it seems the Dems have successfully made conservatives scared to be either unified or clear in a direction to win. My optimism is weaning.
Mr. Trump is strong because of democrat behavior. They know it but cannot help themselves. Their arrogantly ignorant behavior and blatant disregard for any societal norms fuels his strength. The judiciary is supposed to be the referee between warring factions. It is time for the judiciary to justly penalize convicted perpetrators, dismiss charges against the falsely accused, and discipline the false accusers before them on a case-by-case basis in accord with current law. Hopefully they are up to this huge task. This will be a slow and messy process at best; however, it is far better than the quick fix alternatives that history so readily demonstrates. We are an impatient and quick fix obsessed society. That said, the quick fixes terrify me as much as justice terrifies the “destructionist” in both parties you referred to in an earlier essay. This is a battle between those who would preserve the union and those who would destroy it. It is as simple and as complex as that. Keep sounding the alarm!
Victor, we appear to be living in a mobocracy controlled by pseudo-journalists telling political narratives, not true news. Once this happens, voting becomes a moot point because voting depends on voters being a properly informed electorate. And they are not. The alphabet soup of government bureaucracies who posted their opinion that the Hunter laptop tapes were probably Russian disinformation indicates that the alphabet soup bureaucratic inmates, which have a dog in the political hunt, are now in control of the asylum. I cry for our country. It is not the country that I was born into.
The leftist commiecrats and their minions that follow every marching order must be removed from office in every case possible. The Republican party or the No Label party must work toward that goal for the survival of this country and it’s constitution. We are, I believe we are at the precipice of total failure as a nation on multiple fronts, and this is the result of the commiecrats power hungry march to destroy everything we have built and believe in and conversely the Republican’s timidity to respond forcefully to this threat. This is not politics as usual where it all gets sorted out in the following 2, 4, 6 years, no… it’s the death spiral picking up unstoppable momentum to achieve their ultimate goal.
you sir are right
V. D. H. FOR PRESIDENT!!
Good post
The Trump administration “saw none of the weaponization of the CIA, FBI, DOJ, and IRS that we have seen under the Biden and earlier Obama administrations.” That is true.
IMO Joe Biden, the somnambulist, merely aped Obama’s weaponization of the 3 letter Deep State, with Obama surrogates controlling his Pinocchio strings. Perhaps I do Ol’ Scranton Joe, driver of the 18 Wheeler, an injustice – but I think not – he doesn’t have a single creative thought left in him, I reckon.
Eisenhower and Truman were both rightly concerned about the creation of the Deep State. Democrats have become master manipulators of the Deep State largely because they wholly embrace it, and that embrace is reciprocated.
Lest we forget, establishment Republicans have largely been on board with that embrace as well – what does all this spell?
The people’s MAGA middle class – the independent voter (so far) who is not beholden to the government or the oligarchs, is the government’s enemy. Terrorists all, and insurrectionists to boot, according to Merrick Garland, and others – so the Deep State calls, and the despot politicians answer – like wolves on a full moon night.
We are blessed to have you on the right side 🙏
“…(The left) apparently believe the American public is amnesiac…The Left is saturating the airwaves…”
And those that control the airwaves happily do the saturating for them.
Well said! 5 stars for Mr. Hanson’s usual perspicacity.
I am a single self employed 61 year old artist. I rent. Can’t make ends meet. Already lived in my 22 year old truck twice. I only have social security of $1150/month if I wait till 70. My options…death.
Excellent review of the Democrat cabal.
Dear Professor Hanson, once again we are in complete agreement. Thank you for your brilliant summation of the divisive and dangerous hypocrisy of the Left. One of your most salient points resonating so forcefully with me is the fact that we have witnessed a four year Trump presidency. Did he do any of the things the Left is warning us that he will do? No! He most certainly did not. His accomplishments beneficial to all Americans and the world in general while in office, despite the unimaginable opposition by the MSM and lack of cooperation by the political Left are simply amazing.
I do not know the man personally and never expect to. As a 90-year-old I have seen enough in my time to recognize right from wrong, good from evil, and sacrifice to serve others. Why would a man who has hotels and golf courses all over, a wonderful family and beautiful wife, and enough money to do just about anything he chooses be willing to suffer the slings and arrows and constant harassment from the MSM and his political opposition and run for re-election as President of the US? Not ego or narcissism or even revenge but because he LOVES AMERICA. He wants to SAVE AMERICA and MAKE IT GREAT AGAIN….as I do…Period!!!
Is Trump the only president not to take a salary from the US government?
How does this square with people calling him selfish and in it for himself?
As we have seen, he is actually risking his entire fortune by running for office against the deep state, the law-fare obsessed judiciary and the entirely corrupt and manipulated legacy media.
Whatever they accuse him of, they are guilty of themselves. Seems to be the rule we can count on.
I see examples over and over again how people are siloed in their news . Saw a piece on a US Senator who graduated Harvard and was appalled at reception in library . Wondering why the President of Harvard was allowing . I just ask , where’s he getting his news ? It’s filtered . VDH is the best of the time . Incredible man that not well followed . I wonder how many of the senators read his pieces ?
What gall!
Great article! I need to bring to Dr. Hanson’s attention a practice that was probably common during this country’s early years, namely “warning out of town.” There were then no welfare systems to take care of those unable or unwilling to support themselves. If a family or person came into a community, residents there would likely learn pretty quickly whether they were productive or not, and there was no pot of gold sitting around to support them. This was solved by “warning them out,” i.e., asking them to go elsewhere. I became aware of this some years ago while doing genealogical research. Perhaps Dr. Hanson can educate us on how this practice does have application to the current overloading of budgets by illegal immigrants.
Simple solution: make your jurisdiction less inviting than your neighbor’s. The non-producers will go to the place that has more free stuff. Then it becomes their problem.
If this principle is applied equally throughout the land, soon the free loaders will figure out that they better get to work and take responsibility for their own lives.
We once had a system that supported those who support themselves. Unless we return to those ideas, there will be no end to homelessness.
We have no standards. All behavior is equally “ok”.
Great piece– So, so ‘true’ ! Ed Nelson/ 12-18-023/ 3:57pm
Thank your for your column. It inspires two thoughts.
We all know it’s the moral duty of people who are so much smarter than everyone else, to bring us under their guiding control. It’s for our own good. In fact, that’s such an important job for the elite’s of our country, that it would dangerous to let law get in the way.
And my favorite….what is wrong with these people that they always accuse those they oppose of the crime they themselves engage in? You see it endlessly.
As usual, you are spot on. I wonder how much of the population pays enough attention to see through what is actually going on. Thank you so much for sharing your information.
God bless you and your family this Christmas and my family and I will be praying for a truth-revealing new year.
A communist system can be recognized by the fact that it spares the criminals and criminalizes the political opponent.” Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
“The individual is handicapped by coming face-to-face with a conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists. The American mind simply has not come to a realization of the evil that has been introduced into our midst. It rejects even the assumption that human creatures could espouse a philosophy which must ultimately destroy all that is good and decent.” J. Edgar Hoover. “Never, never forget that Everything Hitler did was legal.” MLK, Jr. It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself. Thomas Jefferson. “Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.” ~ Harry S. Truman. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever. John Adams. Stand up for justice, stand up for truth; and God will be at your side forever. ” Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter. ” – Martin Luther King, Jr. The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it. In a time of Universal Deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act. Orwell
Nice bunch of quotes. I’ll copy and use them elsewhere.
Colingos@gmail.com The barn is empty…yes we can close the gate but too late!
Bravo!
Victor Davis Hansen you tell us very succinctly the truth of the matter . It’s a wonder we are able to sleep and face another day, but we do and will continue . Good must rein, just hoping it will before the Democrats do even more damage to our wonderful United States of America. Keep writing
The truth Dr. Davis it is well appreciated and much needed.
The entire Biden administration is fooling themselves that Americans are as ignorant as they are…Joe can deny all he wants…we all know Joe has been selling out our country to our enemies his entire political career…Obama knew it..yet did nothing to stop it. The entire Biden family are crooks…Hunters baby daughter should be thankful she’s not using his name. Joe can deny…brag how much he loves his son…truth be told, Joe is as terrible a father as he is President…he is so in love with money and power…that he sat and watched his son using drugs..have sex with prostitutes…
That’s not a father..that’s a man with no conscience…just like Joe is selling out our country to enrich himself..he is a TRAITOR..not a PRESIDENT.
Great truthful article Victor.
Hopefully this comments gets posted.
“But the left does not see such absolutes. Instead, once a supposedly morally-superior agenda is enunciated, then any means necessary are justufied to obtain it. ” I believe that this perfectly describes those pulling POTUS` strings.
Great observations VDH. Right on the mark. I cannot believe I sometimes voted democrat
“A fortune made by people who tell lies amounts to nothing and leads to death.” Proverbs 21:6
The whole Biden family is as crooked as a dogs hind legs (my apologies to our best friends, the dogs).
After ready this I can’t help but feeling like I’m living in a clown world. Our government is like a bad movie. They will pick us off one by one for awhile longer. Then they will pounce, and blame it on china or God knows who.