The Daily Signal - Victor Davis Hanson: The Left Called Trump’s Iran Strike ‘Unconstitutional.’ Their History of Inconsistency and Immorality Says Otherwise  

Episode Date: June 24, 2025

President Obama Barack did not seek formal congressional authority to bomb Libya in 2011, nor in January 2017, when he ordered B-2 bombers to strike ISIS targets inside the country, one of his last acts as President.   President Trump has seemingly quelled the concerned of many on the MAGA Right, making certain that last Saturday’s strike was a ‘designated, finite’ act, and not a pre-requisite for a protracted ground invasion, argues Victor Davis Hanson on today’s edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words.”   “They have concerns that this "America First," MAGA agenda does not want to get into optional wars in the Middle East. But this is not a 1991 preliminary to an invasion, 2003 preliminary to invasion, 2011 preliminary to Gaddafi regime change. This was a designated, finite act. And now it's over with and it's up to Iran to do what it wants. It can either negotiate and become a peaceful presence with peaceful nuclear power or it can continue its terror. But it has no terrorist appendages to hurt us, really. And we'll see.”    👉Don’t miss out on Victor’s latest videos by subscribing to The Daily Signal today. You’ll be notified every time a new piece of content drops: https://www.youtube.com/dailysignal?sub_confirmation=1   👉If you can’t get enough of Victor Davis Hanson from The Daily Signal, subscribe to his official YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@victordavishanson7273   👉He’s also the host of “The Victor Davis Hanson Show,” available wherever you prefer to watch or listen. Links to the show and exclusive content are available on his website: https://victorhanson.com   The Daily Signal cannot continue to tell stories, like this one, without the support of our viewers: https://secured.dailysignal.com/   00:00 Introduction and Initial Reactions 00:52 Left's Inconsistent Stance on Military Actions 02:46 MAGA Right's Perspective on the Strike 04:24 International Reactions: Europe and the Arab World 05:48 China and Russia's Strategic Calculations 08:20 Conclusion and Final Thoughts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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We'd love to talk. Business. The reaction to this destruction, especially at Fordo, is typical. Express public regret, stability, da-da-da, but private relief. If you look at home, the Left has no history of consistency, no logic, no morality on this. Privately, they understand they had no solution. After all, what did Biden do? Why did he lift the sanction?

Why did he give them $100 billion in new revenue? Everybody says the MAGA rights is going to de facto. They have concerns that this America First MAGA agenda does not not want to get into optional wars. This was a designated finite act, and now it's over with. Bottom line, all the critics here and abroad, they're going to be Lao. I don't think they're going to have any consequence. Hello, this is Victor Davis-Hansson for the Daily Signal. What will be the reaction here and abroad in the coming days and weeks to the June 21st Saturday night destruction for all practical purposes of the Iranian nuclear program by the United States

as ordered by President Donald Trump. If you look at home, I don't think the left is going to have much complaint. I mean, they're going to try to say that Donald Trump should have had permission from Congress, but after all, Tim Kane, he's the author of the new legislation chastising Trump for this, but he was the head of the DNC in 2011. when Hillary Clinton's Susan Rice, Samantha Power, and Ben Rhodes urged Barack Obama to bomb Libya, and that was a disastrous decision. And there was no congressional authority to grant that. Gaddafi was in the middle of reform with his children, and we got rid of them,

and then we were bombing them on and off for the next five years. The last thing that Barack Obama did in office, remember this. on January 19th of 2007, he ordered B-2 bombers, just like we saw all the way over to Libya to bomb Libya. There wasn't anybody in the Democratic Party that tried to stop that or said that was on Constitution. So the left has no history of consistency, no logic, no morality on this. And privately, they understand they had no solution to force Iran to give up this bomb. Donald Trump came in in January and all of a sudden he was told they almost have a bomb.

And his first reaction was, well, what did Biden do? Why did he lift the sanction? Why did he give them $100 billion in new revenue? So the left is going to be inert and quiet, I think. How about the MAGA right? Everybody says the MAGA right's going to de facto. Stephen Bannon, Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, everybody's upset. Rand Paul.

They have concerns that this America first MAGA. agenda does not want to get into optional wars in the Middle East. But this is not a 1991 preliminary to an invasion, 2003 preliminary to invasion, 2011 preliminary to Qaddafi regime change. This was a designated finite act, and now it's over with, and it's up to Iran to do what it wants. It can either negotiate and become a peaceful presence with peaceful nuclear power, or it can continue its terror, but it has no terrorist appendages to hurt us, really, and we'll see. But even Tucker Carlson, remember, quite logically said when he had that fiery exchange with Ted Cruz, he said, if I had known that Iran wanted to kill Donald Trump, I would

order, I would want somebody to order to bomb Iran. Well, that's, we now know that the terrorist that was planning to kill Trump is being tried in an absentia. He's in Iran. It's not in doubt. And so we bombed Iran. And where would anybody go? I'm a MAGA supporter.

If I was vehemently opposed to this one-off strike, I'd say, well, how about illegal immigration? It doesn't exist anymore. Look at the border. Look at all of these things that Donald Trump has done with the universities, with a tax relief. So there was so much of the MAGA agenda that his critics agree with, I don't think they're going to be very vehement. How about abroad? The Europeans were going to be very disturbed. This was not multilateral. The UN wasn't involved, and I can guarantee you they're calling Donald Trump up right now and saying, thank God you did this because we were much closer to Iran than you were.

And we were very worried about this crazy regime, according to the Israelis, days away from obtaining a nuclear weapon. How about the Arab world? The Arab world before this attack, attack was very, it was angry at Israel. Remember, they said the Zionists should not have had a preliminary preemptive war. This was wrong. It's disruptive. And they had a point. They ship oil out of the Straits of Hormuz, but that was the public reaction. Privately, they were telling the Israelis or the United States, if you're going to get rid of the Iranian nuclear threat and neuter that regime, please, please do it, but do it completely. Do not. leave this wounded animal in our backyard because we can't handle it.

So we either get rid of it or promise us that you will get rid of it. And now the reaction to this destruction, especially at Fordo, is typical. Express public regret, instability, da, da, da, but private relief. And then finally, what is China and Russia going to do? Russia, everybody says that Putin is very angry. Medvedev has said that he might give nuclear weapons to Iran. I don't think you'll do that because the last thing in the world you want is nuclear proliferation because there's a lot of people in Japan and South Korea and Australia and Taiwan that want nuclear weapons.

And unlike the ones in Iran, they will work. And we are doing our best to ensure them they're all. all under our umbrella, so that would be an empty threat and a stupid threat. But more importantly, Putin is saying privately, I'm tied down in Ukraine, I can't do anything. I've lost a million dead and wounded. I've been kicked out of the Middle East when I lost the pawn of Bashar Assad. But the fact there's turmoil in the Middle East and the price of oil will go up benefits me because I'm broke and this will be very good for my war machine.

As far as China goes, China's got the opposite reaction in one way, but it's similar. I don't want to get involved. Until all this happened, we bought 90% of Iranian oil. I want that oil on the market. And we bought 50% of the oil that left the Straits of her moves. I don't like what happened. But on the other hand, I think that Trump is a little bit too volatile and is a little bit too uncertain. is a little bit too fluid for me. So I'm going to quiet down and make sure that stability

returns to the region and we get our oil. And that finally, that dittoes Putin as well. Putin is going to say to everyone, there was a reason, everyone in his circle, there was a reason that I went in under George Bush into Georgia in Osatia when he was wounded from Iran. There was a reason I went in Barack Obama. I remember the hot Mike deal in Seoul? Give me some space, Putin, and this is my last election, and I'll dismantle missile defense. That's when I went into the Domebas and Crimea.

There was a reason, once I saw what happened in Afghanistan, why I went in during the Biden administration, back in and tried to take Kiev. I didn't go in during the Trump administration. And I don't want to do anything like that again either during the second Trump. He's just too unpredictable. Bottom line, all the critics here and abroad, they're going to be loud, but I don't think they're going to have any consequence.

Thank you very much. This is Victor Davis-Hansson 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. You can also check out my own website at Victor Hanson. and subscribe for exclusive features in addition.