In this episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words,” Victor Davis Hanson and Sami Winc discuss whether President Donald Trump just didn’t want the distraction of the Epstein files, was protecting Republican donors, or was luring Democrats into a trap.
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,” Hanson says. “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.”
Across the country, a new confederacy is rising—built not on states’ rights, but on resistance to federal immigration law.
As cities like Portland, Los Angeles and Chicago openly defy federal immigration laws, Victor Davis Hanson argues we’re seeing the rise of a “neo-Confederate secessionist ideology” where local officials act as if they’re above the law on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words.”
“Sometimes it’s sponsored or encouraged by the Democratic Party: Gavin Newsom in California, our governor, or Karen Bass, the mayor of Los Angeles, openly calling for resistance, or Gov. Pritzker of Chicago.
“What’s really disturbing is we’re starting to see a new—I would call it—a neo-Confederate successionist ideology in these cities. In these blue cities, the officials who run them, the mayors or the police chiefs, believe they are a law unto themselves. In other words, within the confines of Chicago or within the confines of Portland, they can nullify all federal laws, just in the way that South Carolina said it could on the eve of the Civil War: The Union does not apply to us. We are morally superior.”
Stephen Gardner and RET. Col Daniel Davis go deep into the Charlie Kirk investigation gaps. The FBI is holding back lots of video, photos, cell phone data, forensic analysis, ballistic report, autopsy report and more. Are they safeguarding evidence for the trial of Tyler Robinson, or just stonewalling and lying, as the agency has done repeatedly over the year.
The biggest gap is the gun. It’s highly likely the bullet fired did not come from a .30 06 Mauser rifle or it would have blown a huge hole out of the side of Kirk’s neck. Questions remain as well about the shooter, the firing location and the diversions in the aftermath of the blast. Here’s more from Daniel Davis’ show Deep Dive.
Following Charlie Kirk’s assassination, there have been more than 75,000 requests for new Turning Point USA chapters and many conservative commentators have written about his legacy and achievements. But what hasn’t been remarked about enough is, “What was the essence of his appeal to young voters?” asks Victor Davis Hanson on today’s edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words.”
The answer? Charlie Kirk understood that young people, by their very nature, are rebellious. He wanted to take their natural skepticism and point it toward the establishment, which, today, is composed of the corporate media, higher ed, and baby boomers who never got over the 1960s and ’70s.
“So what was the secret to his success? I think what he did was quite brilliant. He understood that young people are, by nature, rebellious. They always, as—you’re full of energy. They’re full of hormones. They’re full of ideas. They haven’t lived a long time. And they question authority. That’s innate to all of us at that age,” says Hanson.
FBI Director Kash Patel is shutting down the FBI headquarters in Washington D.C.—a decision originally made under the Biden administration’s FBI. Symbolically, the closure speaks volumes.
Victor Davis Hanson walks us through the troubling legacy left behind at the FBI HQ on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words.”
Says Hanson, “ Robert Mueller, a former FBI director, was the head of the Special Counsel’s Office. Remember that? And he had the dream team—the all-stars, a hunter/killer team—with the Left. He was almost giddy about that they were gonna get Donald Trump on Russian collusion.”
Hanson continues, “ That same office then gave us Christopher Wray. Why was he spying on parents at school board meetings? Why was he spying on what they called ‘radical-traditional Catholics’? Why did they go after abortion protesters, but not in the same way people who were protesting pro-life?”
Earlier this week, newly elected Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, a liberal, visited the White House. Mark Carney ran a campaign emphasizing Canadian nationalism, which successfully won him the election.
However, nothing will negate the undue stresses Canada’s NATO spending shortfalls and trade surplus have on its relationship with the United States. Now, President Trump is taking him to task, argues Victor Davis Hanson on today’s edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words.”
What is it going to take for universities like Columbia University in New York City to start protecting their Jewish students?
Having the President of the United States cut off $400 million in federal funding is a good start, says Victor Davis Hanson in today’s edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words.”
“ It’s widespread in higher education and the country’s been appalled by it. But for some reason, higher education seems to equate Jewish Americans and, by definition, Israel with the white oppressor side of their Marxist binary, which is non-white oppressed versus white oppressor. “
Hanson continues, “ For a long time, the university has decided that it will make no more pretense that it’s disinterested. It’s partisan, and it’s political, and it’s left-wing, and it’s proud of it.”
