𝐕𝐃𝐇: 𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐌𝐏 𝐃𝐈𝐃 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒 𝐑𝐄𝐅𝐔𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐃𝐎 — 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓'𝐒 𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐋𝐎𝐔𝐃𝐌𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐒 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐒𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐇𝐈𝐌
Victor Davis Hanson on PodForce1 with Miranda Devine delivered the kind of historical framing nobody else on television can provide — because nobody else has spent 50 years reading Thucydides, Plutarch, and military dispatches the way he has.
His central verdict on Trump and Iran: "𝘏𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥, 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥, 𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘸 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘮𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘐𝘳𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳." Reagan, both Bushes, Clinton, Obama, Biden — 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 called Iran an existential threat. Every one of them refused to touch it. The bipartisan foreign policy establishment swore Iran was indomitable. Trump asked, why? And in five weeks he dismantled their navy, air force, anti-aircraft, nuclear sites, top leadership, and command structure — with 𝐳𝐞𝐫𝐨 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝.
The strategic chess move ahead is elegant. VDH argues Trump doesn't have to invade Kharg Island — the 8-square-mile Persian Gulf terminal that handles 𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 of Iran's crude exports. He's about to meet Xi Jinping, and 𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐲 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧'𝐬 𝐨𝐢𝐥 𝐠𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐚 (U.S. Energy Information Administration). The leverage writes itself. Tell Xi: pressure the mullahs or we blockade the Chinese tankers themselves. Not adversarial. Art of the deal. And VDH notes Iran has already suffered "𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘧 𝘢 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘴" in military and infrastructure damage acquired over 47 years. A decade of rebuilding ahead of them — while their own population can't afford bread or gasoline. This is exactly what Reagan did to the Soviets with Pershing missiles and Star Wars: economic strangulation until the regime collapses under its own weight.
Then VDH turned his fire on the right-wing critics actively sabotaging Trump over this campaign. His math is unanswerable. Trump has delivered 𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐲-𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 of the agenda Tucker, Megyn, Candace, and Alex Jones claim to want. Over a half-million criminal illegals deported. Another 1.5 million self-deported. Crime at all-time lows. Largest oil and gas producer in history. First president to dismantle DEI in the federal bureaucracy, the Pentagon, and the U.S. Olympic Committee. First to take on Harvard and Stanford. And they're going to torpedo turnout in the midterms because of one Iran disagreement? VDH's challenge to them: "𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦?" The alternative isn't purer MAGA. It's revenge DEI, revenge open borders, revenge lawfare — another Kamala-style regime that burns down everything Trump just built.
And he names the incoherence of the left beautifully. Monday Trump is Hitler for bombing. Tuesday he's Chamberlain for negotiating. VDH's recommended tweet for Trump: "𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘐'𝘮 𝘏𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘳 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦. 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘐'𝘮 𝘊𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘭."
His verdict on the Biden years was devastating and precise. Not just the worst president in his lifetime — but something stranger. VDH's assessment: Biden was "𝘯𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴." The country was actually run by a cabal of 20-30 Obama alumni using Biden as "𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘹𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘺." The open border. The Afghan surrender that killed 13 Americans. DEI metastasizing through every federal agency. The $7 billion in COVID funds that vanished. California's $250 billion Medicaid fraud. Minnesota's $9 billion Feeding Our Future scandal. "𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘢 𝘫𝘶𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘦, 𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 m∗rderer 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬, 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘥" — the radical judicial appointments are still generating the insane rulings we see every week.
And then the literary frame only VDH can give. Trump is the archetype from Sophocles' Ajax, from John Ford's The Searchers, from Shane. The morally flawed outsider society summons to save it — then shuns because he's polluted by doing what no one else would do. "𝘐'𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘦" Trump has absorbed, VDH says. Four trials. The Mar-a-Lago raid. De-balloting cases. Two impeachments. Two assassination attempts. And the man is still standing — still building.
𝐒𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝. 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠.
