Victor Davis Hanson: Under Trump, America Is Again ‘No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy’

Almost one year into his second term one thing is clear: President Donald Trump is neither an interventionist, nation-builder or an isolationist. Instead, Trump has seemingly adopted the foreign policy of President Andrew Jackson, guided by principles like “No better friend, no worse enemy.” However, Trump’s Jacksonian approach to the world stage comes with a slight twist, a “vise,” so to say, argues Victor Davis Hanson on today’s edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words”: “If Maduro cannot put embargoed oil on sanctioned tankers and get to Cuba, then Cuba's going to have no ability to distill gasoline, nor will it have energy. And that's exactly what is happening. The Cuban economy is in a Trump vise. Are we going to bomb Cuba? No. Are we going to have a Bay of Pigs standoff or invasion? No. Are we going to have a Cuban Missile Crisis with China? No. We're going to have a Trump vise. And it's going to squeeze.”

Victor Davis Hanson: Western Civilization Can’t Survive Without Assimilation

Western civilization is being tested like never before. Victor Davis Hanson argues to the contrary, saying that while much of Western Europe and America’s blue states continue down a failing path, signs of renewal are emerging in unexpected places—Eastern Europe and America’s red states. These countermovements are pushing back against cultural nihilism, restoring free speech, reinforcing the nuclear family, and demanding legal immigration with full assimilation. He breaks down these emerging trends on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.” “’It’s a verdict for the future of Western civilization. We've had the revolution for 50 years, but we haven't seen a counterrevolution to the degree that's taking place. Western European elites in the former British Commonwealth and blue state elites all are very critical of the Yahoos in Eastern Europe and the Yahoos in the red states. But only for a while because their paradigm is collapsing as we speak. And the people who are gonna save Europe are the people who they thought they were embarrassed of. It's quite ironic, but it's also a hopeful time for Western civilization.”

Victor Davis Hanson: Nunes Unveils Trump Media’s Nuclear Fusion Vision

Former Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., shared insight into his work with President Donald Trump’s social media and crypto company merging with TAE Technologies, a company focused on nuclear fusion power. Nunes, who is CEO of Truth Social and who also chairs Trump’s Intelligence Advisory Board, outlined future plans for building commercial reactors, expecting to commence construction in 2026, with Hanson during today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.” “Let me break it down: We are Trump Media & Technology Group. We have, everybody knows, Truth Social… We also have $2.5 billion Bitcoin treasury that we put together in the summer… We wanted to solve big problems. This company does only big things. And we picked the most important issue at the highest level… Just like we led on free speech, we’re now leading on energy because you can’t have the technology without the energy.”

Patriots are FLOODING Minnesota to KICK Ilhan Omar OUT!! – Victor Davis Hanson

Patriots across the country are pouring into Minnesota as Ilhan Omar faces the biggest political backlash of her career. Explosive new commentary from Victor Davis Hanson breaks down why voters have finally had enough — and why this showdown could reshape the state’s future. This isn’t just a protest… it’s a full-scale reckoning.

Victor Davis Hanson: War With Venezuela Would Be a Strategic Catastrophe

Tensions between Venezuela and the United States are rising as Trump cracks down on drug trafficking, illicit oil shipments, and hostile foreign influence in Latin America. With talk of confrontation swirling in the media, questions are mounting about how far the U.S. should go—and what lessons history offers. Victor Davis Hanson puts Trump’s standoff with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro into historical perspective and explains why a military invasion of Venezuela would be a strategic mistake on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.” “Something that the world is looking at. And for the United States to go in there and have a ground removal, I think would be unwise at this point. So, what would be the alternative? It's sort of what we're doing now. We're isolating all drug shipments, illegal transportation of embargoed oil out of Venezuela. It's kind of a quasi-blockade/embargo. And they're going to tighten the screws.”

Tim Walz Officially Being REPLACED in Minnesota, YOU WON’T Believe WHO IT IS?! – Victor Davis Hanson

Tim Walz is suddenly at the center of a political firestorm as new claims suggest he’s being replaced — and the name floating as his successor is stunning everyone. Victor Davis Hanson breaks down the rumored power shift, the real motives behind it, and why this shake-up could change Minnesota’s political landscape overnight.

Tim Walz Is Being OUSTED From Minnesota and His Challenger Will SHOCK You!!!

Victor Davis Hanson: America’s About To Have a ‘Rendezvous’ With Europe’s Immigration Disaster

“Yes, we are a nation of immigrants.* “*We're a nation of legal immigrants whose first mission upon arrival in America was to be a better American than a native-born American. And many millions were. I don't think that is the case now, and the fault is not just with the immigrant, it's with us,” argues Victor Davis Hanson, following a string of high-profile, immigrant-related crimes, such as the brutal shooting of two National Guardsmen blocks away from the White House and a billion-dollar fraud scheme amongst the Somali diaspora in Minneapolis, on today’s edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.”

Victor Davis Hanson: Insurrection Chic—Democrats’ Dangerous New Fad

101,654 views Nov 25, 2025 Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words
Six Democrat lawmakers urged members of the military to openly defy their commands from President Donald Trump and War Secretary Pete Hegseth last week. Their video sent shock waves through the political narrative as Trump called their actions “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH” on Truth Social. But this Democrat insurrection is not new, as they’ve spent the past year openly encouraging defiance of federal law, from sanctuary cities to calls for soldiers to ignore orders. Victor Davis Hanson breaks down this disturbing trend on the left on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.” “ We have 600 jurisdictions in which blue cities and states say that the federal law no longer applies in their jurisdiction. That's sort of neo-Confederate nullification that's prompted the Civil War. And you know, when Jefferson Davis, when he ordered South Carolina troops to fire on Fort Sumter, all he was doing was saying that the federal government is at war with the state. That's what our mayors are doing in these blue jurisdictions.”

Mamdani Just ATTACKED Starbucks and Then EVERYTHING WENT OUT OF CONTROL | Victor Davis Hanson

In New York’s political landscape, something extraordinary just happened, and it reveals far more than a failed boycott. When Zohran Mamdani urged over a million followers to “boycott Starbucks,” the reaction didn’t collapse the company. It triggered the biggest sales day in Starbucks history. In this video, we break down why Mamdani’s call exploded in the opposite direction, what it exposes about power, incentives, and human behavior, and why this moment signals something deeper about the future of New York under progressive leadership. Victor Davis Hanson examines how economics, daily habits, and real-world incentives overwhelmed political messaging, and what this means for rent freezes, free buses, government grocery stores, and every promise heading into Mamdani’s first term. If you want to understand how ideology collides with reality, why well-intentioned policies keep failing in major cities, and what New Yorkers should prepare for in the coming years, this is a breakdown you don’t want to miss. Watch closely, question everything, and pay attention to the patterns forming right in front of you.

Victor Davis Hanson: Don’t Ignore This—Hitler Revisionism Is Growing Online

“Nazi.” “Hitler.” The smears have been used against conservatives for generations—but something new is happening.  Victor Davis Hanson warns that a small, vocal corner of the Right is beginning to flirt with World War II revisionism and even speak favorably about aspects of Nazism. He explains what the Nazi Party truly was, the destruction it unleashed, and why these comparisons—and this revisionism—must be confronted immediately on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.”   “For the first time in all of our lives, we are seeing people openly, overtly—not very many, but they have a larger audience, it seems, every couple of months—who defend Nazism and the horrors that followed from Adolf Hitler's career. And so, it's very incumbent upon us that we know what the Nazis were, when they rose, what they caused, how we defeated them, and how an American elected president or mainstream political figures, even if we don't agree with them, are not Nazis, are not Hitler-like. That is a given.”

Victor Davis Hanson: Is the Era of ‘Climate Change Orthodoxy’ Dying?

Decades of consensus around so-called climate catastrophe are now running into new economic, technological, and geopolitical realities. Mix in AI and its unprecedented demand for large-scale electricity generation, and we have a global climate conversation that demands to be reckoned with. Victor Davis Hanson breaks down how the foundations of decades of “green orthodoxy” are shifting on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.” “The people who have been the avatars of climate change, never suffer the consequences of their own ideology. Barack Obama said the planet would be inundated pretty soon, if we didn't address global climate change. Why would he buy a seaside estate at Martha's Vineyard or one on the beach of Hawaii if he really did believe that the oceans would rise and flood his multimillion-dollar investment? “The inconsistency of the global warming narrative, the self-interest in the people who promote it, and the logic that they have not presented, empirically, the evidence that would convince us that we have to radically transform our economies on the wishes of a few elites that do not have the evidence, but do have a lot of hypocrisy in the process.”

Victor Davis Hanson: Will Trump’s Economy Survive the Left’s Sabotage Ahead of Midterms?

The Democrat Party is no longer the centrist institution of the past, and because of that, the midterms will be unlike any in recent memory. Donald Trump’s path to victory for the GOP in 2026 is clear: sustain a growing economy while facing opposition determined to stall it. Victor Davis Hanson explains how the Left’s strategy seeks to slow momentum before voters can see the full recovery and what steps the Trump administration needs to take to fight back on this episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words.” “ Donald Trump is in a race to get the message out that the economy is much better than the Biden economy. It's going to get much better. And don't believe the media because the media, like the Democratic shutdown, like the Federal Reserve, this artificial efforts to keep interest rates high are politically motivated. But if everything works out the way that he had planned and he does the right thing, right around midterm time, the economy's gonna take off.”

Victor Davis Hanson: Mayor Mamdani’s Socialist Vision Is Setting NYC Up for Failure

Last week, New York City elected Zohran Mamdani to be its next mayor. And while he claims to be a democratic socialist, the dangerous ideas he champions make him out to be more of a communist than anything.  How will this fare for New York City—the financial capital of the world? And what exactly is it about socialism that doesn’t work, as history has taught us time and time again? Victor Davis Hanson breaks it all down on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In A Few Words.” “ Socialism destroys private initiative. If you think the harder you work, the better ideas you have, the more efficiency you can create in your business or in your own life but you're not going to be compensated more than someone who does not either show those traits or doesn't want to show those traits or just simply says, ‘Live and let live. I just wanna stay in my house, watch TV, and get pizza,’ and he will get the same amount as you do, in terms of cars or housing or federal supplements—it doesn't work.”

Victor Davis Hanson: Why Veterans Day Still Matters

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the Allied powers defeated Germany, ending World War I. The annual celebration of this pivotal date we know to be Veterans Day. Victor Davis Hanson breaks down the history of the holiday—from the challenges the U.S. faced entering World War I and the extraordinary contributions of American troops to the transformation of its beginnings as Armistice Day to a day in which we honor all who have served in the U.S. military—on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.”

Victor Davis Hanson | A Warning to the Right: Don’t Let Antisemitism Take Root

Tucker Carlson’s interview with controversial right-wing podcaster Nick Fuentes has snowballed into a bigger conversation that has everyone asking: Does the Right have a serious issue with antisemitism? Victor Davis Hanson explains how conservative icons like William F. Buckley once handled extremists, contrasts that with today’s platforms, and explores why some on the Right are now flirting with the same rhetoric on Israel that echoes leftwing sentiments. How should the conservative movement handle this divide? Hanson breaks it down on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.” “I think the reason for the rise of antisemitism is an element, the isolationist base of the MAGA movement, felt that it was the driving force and that it was going to be isolationist and we were not going to get involved in the Middle East. And they were very suspicious of so-called, what they call neocons and what they call Christian Zionists. As Tucker said, he hates Christian Zionists over any other people. Even bin Laden? Al-Qaeda? ISIS? I don't know. But they were losing influence. Donald Trump proved that he is not a neoisolation. He's a Jacksonian. Targeted strikes to preserve and enhance U.S. deterrents.”

Victor Davis Hanson: Secessionist Democrats Need a Constitutional Lesson

Last month, former Democrat Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi suggested that local and state authorities in California, a sanctuary state, could arrest federal agents for enforcing federal immigration law, saying that while “the president may enjoy absolute immunity courtesy of his rogue Supreme Court, those who operate under his orders do not.” The former speaker, as well as other mayors and governors who see fit to nullify federal law, should take a moment and reread the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution, which “details that local state authorities are subject to treaties and the laws that the federal government makes. And, therefore, pursuant to those laws, they are subordinate,” argues Victor Davis Hanson on today’s edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.” “We know in 1961-63, we had another attempt to nullify the supremacy clause. Southern governors in Mississippi and Arkansas and Alabama said, 'Federal law does not apply here. The Supreme Court ruling does not apply here. In our opinion, we can run our schools the way local people want. And we're gonna resist you.' The Eisenhower, and then later the Kennedy administration, said, 'No, you're not. We have the federal government's military, and we can federalize and hold you in contempt and arrest you because of the supremacy clause.'"

Victor Davis Hanson: Zohran Mamdani's Skeletons Are Coming Out of the Closet

As New York City's Democrat mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani gains momentum, a troubling record is beginning to emerge—one that raises serious questions about his judgment, ideology, and honesty. With no record of holding a real job outside activism, music, and campaigning, Mamdani has built his political identity on class warfare, racial rhetoric, and far-Left ideology. Victor Davis Hanson breaks down the latest on Mamdani in today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words.” “ Barack Obama, when he was president, ordered a predator hit team on and killed [Anwar] al-Awlaki in a targeted assassination….Now we learned in 2015, years after that Obama hit on this ISIS figure, Mamdani was defending him and saying, basically, he turned radical because FBI surveilled him. “He has some other disturbing things, as well. He posted a video on his social media of Indian Americans dressed as if they were Hasidic Jews. And they were making fun of the Hanukkah celebration. And they had a menorah there. And they were chanting, as if they were rap music. It was very derogatory toward Jews. Yet, why would he put that on his social media account?”

Victor Davis Hanson: How Trump Forced China’s Hand

President Donald Trump just forced China into its most vulnerable position in decades. Trump wrapped up a weeklong trip to Asia and, after years of tension and economic warfare, negotiated a sweeping deal with Beijing. Victor Davis Hanson breaks down the specifics of the deal—including China’s promise to stop the flow of fentanyl to Mexico—how this breakthrough happened, and what this means for the future of U.S.-China relations on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.” “ [China] sized up the domestic renaissance here at home—low inflation, basically 3% or below, 3%, probably, at the end of the year of GDP, stock market record levels, vast new investments—and they said: You know what? The United States is back. And the foreign—the atmosphere is very different. “Neutrals will probably join them. And their friends are emboldened. So, they've got new alliances. NATO is stronger than it's ever been. So, you add all of that up and the Chinese said to themselves the following: I think it's time to cut a deal. Not that we're gonna give up on trying to erode and subvert the United States.”

Victor Davis Hanson: The Fresh, New ‘Jacobin’ Faces of the Democrat Party

Democrat Maine senatorial candidate Graham Platner claims that he didn’t know he got a Nazi tattoo in 2007 while serving as a U.S. Marine, saying on “Pod Save America” that he was “very inebriated” and “chose a terrifying skull and crossbones off the wall because we were Marines and skulls and crossbones are a pretty standard military thing.” “The Democrats are in a quandary. The old guard of Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, are very worried about this young group of more radical, Jacobin, younger people who want to shut down the government … “The problem that these people have is they are not in the mainstream of American politics. And so, they have said things in their past before they were candidates—sometimes during—that are incompatible with the majority of Americans’ views on what denotes proper behavior and conduct of a politician or an official. “For example, Mr. Platner in Maine … “It was the exact replica, facsimile of the Totenkopf, death’s head, emblem of the 3rd SS-Waffen Division in World War II, a division that was made up of former, at least in its 1939-41 inception, former death camp guards and special Einsatzgruppen group killers of Jews,” argues Victor Davis Hanson on today’s edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.”

Victor Davis Hanson: Trump’s Ballroom Broke the Democrats

President Donald Trump’s privately funded plan to build a 90,000-square-foot ballroom has Democrats like Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren fuming about “luxury” while they’ve shut down the government. Presidents have remodeled the White House for over a century—from Harry Truman’s gut renovation to Barack Obama’s basketball court—yet only Trump gets scorn. Victor Davis Hanson breaks down the hypocrisy on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.” “Do we really want to know what belittles the White House? I mean, we're just coming off the Biden administration, where cocaine was found in a carrel in the West Wing. … Do you remember when Barack Obama was president? He brought in a whole cadre of Muslim Brotherhood people that were tied to Hamas Islamic terrorism. He brought an entourage, in 2012, into the White House. I remember, 2016, he thought it would be neat to have his favorite rappers in the White House. Kendrick Lamar—“Pimp a Butterfly.” Remember those lyrics about killing the police in the White House? That rapper—‘kill po-po,’ as he said. “We could go on with the embarrassing incidents. I won't mention what transpired between Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton right off the Oval Office in the presidential laboratory. But nonetheless, the ballroom was needed.

Victor Davis Hanson: If You Think Trump Is a ‘King,’ Just Look in the Mirror

Who’s more of a “king”: Donald Trump, who ran for election three times, won the popular vote, the Electoral College, and all the swing states in 2024, or Joe Biden, who was appointed by Democratic Party elites in 2020 to be the nominee after losing the first three primaries and remained sequestered to his basement for the remainder of the campaign?Monarchs conduct lawfare. For all his talk in 2016 about “locking her up,” President Donald Trump did not direct his administration to investigate Hillary Clinton, however, Trump “had 91 indictments filed by federal, local, and state prosecutors in cahoots,” points out Victor Davis Hanson on today’s edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.”  “Joe Biden, in 2020, had lost the first three caucuses or primaries. He was going nowhere. And then a group of insiders, politicos, donors, the media panicked because they knew that to nominate a Elizabeth Warren, a Pete Buttigieg, especially a Bernie Sanders, would destroy the Democratic ticket. “So, they cooked up this idea that Joe Biden from Scranton—even though they knew he was already cognitively challenged—could be a veneer, a wax effigy. And then they did not allow him to campaign because we know what happens when he campaigns, as we saw in 2024. “He sat in the basement under the pretext of COVID. He outsourced his campaign like a royal monarch to his underlings in the media. They got him elected. And then he, more or less, abdicated while on the job and let the hard Left, in this quid pro quo arrangement, run the country.”

Victor Davis Hanson: The Democrats Are Stuck in a Shutdown ‘Doom Loop’

As the week closes out, the government shutdown has officially become the second-longest in American history, and Democrats have made it clear they don’t intend to vote to reopen it soon. It’s clear why they’re holding the government hostage: Democrats keep backing losing causes—open borders, defunding police, pro-Palestine protests, and trans athletes in women’s sports—with no leader strong enough to steer them through. Victor Davis Hanson breaks down their strategy and what Republicans must do to end the shutdown on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.” “ We had an election. You guys, whether Republicans or Democrats, lost, and now you're kind of poor losers and you're saying you're losing in chess so you wanna overthrow the board and say, 'I'm gonna shut it all down.'" And then public opinion starts to go against the people who shut down. I think we're at that point now where the Democrats are seeing a diminishing return on their investment of shutting the government down.”

Victor Davis Hanson: There’s No Going Back If NYC Elects Zohran Mamdani

For the first time in the modern era, New York City may soon elect an unapologetic socialist as its mayor: Zohran Mamdani   The Democrat candidate has expressed ideas that go far beyond traditional liberal politics, echoing principles more commonly associated with communist ideology. Victor Davis Hanson breaks down how New York’s shifting demographics and political culture have created the ideal conditions for Mamdani’s rise—and also how his mayoral reign could permanently alter the city’s future—on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.”   “ Can he be stopped? The only way that he could be stopped, if the right part of the Left and the Center and the Right were to combine and say: ‘We don't like each other. We have very little in common. But this man represents the destruction of our way of life. He's anti-Israel. He is antisemitic. He is pro-Hamas. He is anti-capitalist. He's anti-free enterprise. He's socialistic. And he's gonna bankrupt the state and drive out our entire source of wealth that is the financial class itself.’”

Victor Davis Hanson: Immigrants Should Assimilate, Not Change the Constitution

Europe has never had a true multiracial society. Socialism, weak defense, delayed marriage and homeownership, and limited class mobility make assimilation difficult. Bringing in people with different values and religions creates friction—and history shows it rarely works. Europe’s experiment is a warning to America: celebrate culture, preserve values, insist on shared identity, or face chaos.

Victor Davis Hanson: California Was Never a Slave State—So Why Reparations?

California entered the union in 1850 as a free state—yet black Californians are about to cash out big on reparations, thanks to Gov. Gavin Newsom. So, who exactly is owed and for what? And what is Newsom’s angle here, considering his state is already facing massive deficits? Victor Davis Hanson breaks down California’s newly approved reparations agenda on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.” “ The black population of California is about 5.4% of the 41 million people. Who are going to be paying the reparations? The so-called white oppressor, victimizer class is only 42%. It is a minority. “ Who is black in a multiracial, intermarried culture? Are we going to go back to the Elizabeth Warren rule? Do we need DNA badges? Are we gonna use the old Confederate measure of one-sixteenth? 16% to 17% of the California population identify as multiracial. How do we know who is white, who is Hispanic, who is black? It's very hard to adjudicate that.”

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