The Daily Signal - Victor Davis Hanson: ‘It’s the Economy, Stupid:’ How a Political Meme Toppled a President and Could Do It Again

Episode Date: December 16, 2025

Affordability is the “new theme that Democrats are using against the Trump administration,” and it appears the administration thinks its “foreign policy successes would mitigate any criticism.��   Victor Davis Hanson illustrates the dangers of presidents not heeding the economy’s significance with voters, drawing on one of history’s most notorious examples: former President George H.W. Bush, during today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.”     Bush lost his reelection in 1992 because he and his campaign didn’t take his opponents seriously nor did they think the economy was a worthy platform to run on.   “ The economy is on the uptake. Donald Trump is overseas with a lot of successes. And the same Democrats are saying: It's affordability, stupid. And they need to get out in front of that issue and not discount it in the way that Republicans did in 1992.” 👉 The Daily Signal cannot continue to tell stories, like this one, without the support of our viewers: http://dailysignal.com/donate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Could I go back in history just a minute to offer a warning? In 1992, George H.W. Bush, the elder Bush, was up for re-election. George H.W. Bush came into campaign cycle 1992 as high as 90 percent approval rating. What happened? They didn't take the Clinton Gore campaign seriously, and they did not take the third-party candidacy of Ross Perrault seriously. Meanwhile, the Clinton Gore, George Stephanopoulos team was saying, it's the economy's stupid. Bush's popularity went from 90% to 40% that election year, and he would lose that election. Hey, folks, it's Tony Kennett, National Correspondent for the Daily Signal and host of the Tony Kinnettcast.

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That's dailysignal.com slash donate. Every dollar goes directly into making sure we can continue serving you with the reporting you've come to count on. Please go to dailysignal.com slash donate and give your gift today. Hello, this is Victor Davis Hansen for The Daily Signal. I've talked about affordability, this new meme, this new theme that the Democrats are using against the Trump administration. They have belatedly responded to it, as I pointed out earlier, perhaps because they thought it was sort of absurd when the 21.5 aggregate inflation came under Biden. And their inflation rate that they inherited, and the month of January was 3%.

It's already gone down. It's 3 to 2.7%. Gas is cheaper, et cetera. So I don't think they took it seriously that anybody would believe that the people who caused a problem would blame the people who are trying to clean it up in four years the problem, 10 months to clean up. And then I think they thought their foreign policy successes would mitigate any criticism. In fact, they amplified it because the Democrats said you're all involved with these ceasefires or Ukraine or you don't care about us. And so there were – then they had all these initiatives, which will boom, I think, the economy in 25, but – 2026, but they didn't emphasize them exactly how increased oil and gas will help us very quickly, how all this foreign investment, how all this new deregulation, how these new tax cuts. how the new trade policies, how the AI and the jobs they will create are going to boom the economy

in 26. Could I go back in history just a minute to offer a warning? In 1992, George Bush was up for re-election. George H.W. Bush, the elder Bush. He was riding high because the 1991 Gulf War, had finished, I think, a little problematically with the survival of Saddam Hussein, but he had ended that threat, expelled him from Kuwait with a four-day ground war following a brilliant air campaign. Very few American casualties. He was at the top of his game as an international diplomat, former war veteran. George H.W. Bush came into campaign cycle 1992 as high as 90% approval rating. There had been a recession in 1991, but by 92, when the year started, that year would show 3% inflation. That's not too bad. It would show 3.5% GDP growth. The

unemployment rate had gone down. It was still over 7% too high, but it was going down. And he was at 90%. What happened? He had a lackluster campaign. I would not want to speak ill of Mr. Malick or Robert Teeter, who has passed away or Mr. Moschbacher. But that campaign team really lacked a Lee Atwater. He was the No Prisoner's Campaign Director of 1988 that got George H.W. Bush elected.

I know a lot of you say, well, he did the Willie of. Horton ad. He did the Boston Harbor ad. He did the tank ad. He did. And he was relentless. And he destroyed the Dukakis candidates. He may be cruelly, but he destroyed it. And he got George H.W. Bush elected. He didn't play by the Marcus of Queensberry rules. And he was gone. He had passed away. He had a new Wall Street type of team. And they played by the rules. And they didn't take the Clinton Gore campaign seriously. And they did not take the third-party candidacy of Ross Perrault seriously. Why didn't they do it? Because I hope this doesn't sound eerily similar to the problem today. But they said, we had such foreign policy successes.

We were polling 90%. They said, the recession is almost over. Look at all the GDP, the inflation. They're all going in the right direction and are not at recessionary levels. Meanwhile, while. The Clinton Gore, George Stephanopoulos team was saying, it's the economy stupid. And they took that meme and said, this is the worst economy since the Great Depression. We have no jobs. Inflation is affordable. And then they got an amplification from Ross Perot. He was kind of like the never-Trumpers of that age, although he was an independent third party. And the result of it, Bush's popularity went from 90% to 40% that election year, and he would lose that election, partly because of Ross Perrault, partly because of a lackluster, complacent campaign,

and partly because they created this meme, it's the economy stupid, and turned a recovering economy that they had, in a sense, inherited a recovering economy into the Great Depression. I hope that doesn't sound too familiar, but that's exactly what is happening now. There is, the economy is on the uptake, Donald Trump is overseas with a lot of successes, and the same Democrats are saying it's affordability, stupid, and they need to get out in front of that issue and not discount it in the way that Republican. did in 1992. Thank you very much. This is Victor Davis Hansen for the Daily Signal. Thank you for tuning in to the Daily Signal. Please like, share, and subscribe to be notified for more content like this.

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