The Daily Signal - Victor Davis Hanson: Donald Trump's Inauguration Day Promises and Biden Pardons

Episode Date: January 21, 2025

In today’s edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words,” Hanson assess the promises made by President Donald Trump in his inauguration speech, from combatting DEI to securing the border, and the messages between the lines. “Here's my point: Trump was blunt, maybe even crude. He said he was going to eventually — we would have the Panama Canal. He was going to rename the Gulf of Mexico, the ‘Gulf of America,’and people were kind of hysterical, in their reactions. But it's the way he said it and his directness and his candor and his honesty that bothered them.” “It reminded me of the great seal of the United States, “Novus Ordo Seclorum,” a new order for the ages or for the centuries. That comes from Virgil's Eclogues, the great Latin poet, when he was talking about the birth of a new Roman generation—in particular descendants of Augustus—that would change Rome forever. And our founders in 1776 put it on the seal. And you see it emblazoned on the $1 bill. And that's the type of mood he's trying to encourage.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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We'd love to talk. Business. It's Monday, Inauguration Day. It's also Martin Luther King Day, and the two dates coincided this year. And Donald Trump has just finished his inaugural address. The reaction to it was varied, but it was comprehensive as far as the agenda that I think is going to bother people. It was holistic. 360 degrees, 24-7. We're going to close the border. Hello, this is Victor Davis-Hansson for the Daily Signal. It's Monday Annoguration Day. It's also Martin Luther King Day, and the two dates coincided this year.

And Donald Trump has just finished his inaugural address. The reaction to it was varied. I scanned the mainstream media, the network news, some cable outlets, and there was sort of outrage. Outrage at the ambition of the Trump Revolution and outrage at the direct criticism of people in the audience that had engineered or were part of the Biden tenure. But it was comprehensive as far as the agenda that I think is going to bother people. It was holistic 360 degrees, 24-7. We're going to close the border.

We're not just going to close the border. We're going to deport people who came here illegally. We're going to change the idea that there is such a thing as anchor babies. Or just because you happen to be born here, that gives you full rights. of citizenship. That's a fundamental change. He addressed crime in the cities. He addressed the problems of DEI and woke and the end of meritocracy. He criticized the inability of the military to turn tactical success into strategic victory or resolution. He talked about energy a lot and that we were going to go full blast and he was going to overturn prior directives.

Joe Biden was sitting in the audience, of course. The point he was making is he called it a golden age, that everything was on the table. He only has four years, so he's moving ahead very quickly. He only has two or three seats in the House as in the Republican majority. He doesn't matter. He only has three Senate C. He doesn't matter to him. He's going full blast ahead.

He called us, as I said, a golden age. It reminded me of the great seal of the United States. It's novos ordo seclorum, a new order for the ages or for the centuries. That comes from Virgil's ecologues, the great Latin poet, when he was talking about the birth of a new Roman generation, in particular descendants of Augustus, that would change Rome forever. And our founders in 1776 put it on the seal, and you see it emblazoned on the $1 bill. And that's the type of mood he's trying to encourage. But at the same time this happened, the outgoing president pardoned, first of all, the same day so there would be no coverage, really. It would be overshadowed by the inauguration accounts.

He pardoned General Millie, who we remember called his Chinese counterpart to tip him off and warn him that he might have to have private conversations if Trump gave Millie an order he disagreed with. that Anthony Fauci, he pardoned, who looked right into the television screens under testimonies before Congress and said that he did not help in any way or subsidize gain of function research. That was a lie. And then he pardoned the entire January 6th committee. And we know that in the case of Liz Cheney, she may have unduly influenced a witness and coached her testimonies without a lawyer being there. and there are some records that are missing. These are all legitimate areas of inquiry for future

prosecutors. And yet he gave them a blanket pardoned Biden did. And then just 15 minutes before the speech, he pardoned the whole Biden family. For what? What did he pardon him for? For anything that turns up forever? Ten years, 20 years, two years, one month, anything we find about the Biden's skullduggery that accounts for how they made $20 million from foreign sources will be fruitless in vain. Think of that. And here's my point. Trump was blunt, maybe even crude. He said he was going to eventually, we would have the Panama Canal. He was going to rename the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of America. And people were kind of hysterical in their reactions. But it's the way he said it and his directness and his candor and his honesty that bothered them. But they weren't bothered to the same degree, if at all,

that in sober and judicious terms, Joe Biden did something that we've never seen before. He has the greatest numbers of preemptive pardons we've ever seen by a departing president, and we've never seen a president pardon his own convicted felon son, much less give a blanket immunity to people who may have been involved with Joe himself, his family members, and what? Scandals of unimaginable size. So let me just conclude. One of the paradoxes of the entire Trump decade is that he speaks often crudely, bluntly, and truthfully about the problems confronting the country and his opponents.

And then others who oppose him speak carefully or not at all or with media approval. with the proper vocabulary, and what they're talking about or what they're describing is egregious. It's just astoundingly dangerous and detrimental to the country, and we don't seem to be bothered. It's always style over substance. Trump gave a tough, substantive speech that ushers in a new age without worry about criticizing the people in the audience who brought us this disaster. Biden stealthily, covertly, pardoned a number of potential people. criminals in a way we've never seen before, and that was deemed okay. And that's the secret to the

entire Trump paradox. This is Victor Davis Hansen speaking for the Daily Signal. Thank you so much for tuning in today. Please subscribe to the Daily Signal for our next episode.