The Daily Signal - Victor Davis Hanson: The World Is Becoming More Pro-American Than It Has Been in Years

Episode Date: July 14, 2026

The world is in a far different position than it was just five years ago. Across Latin America, governments are becoming more aligned with the United States while Chinese influence continues to recede. Europe is dramatically increasing defense spending, strengthening its borders, and rethinking energy policies after years of dependence and underinvestment. Russia is weaker economically and militarily, Iran has suffered devastating losses to its military and nuclear infrastructure, and China faces growing economic and strategic challenges as its global ambitions encounter new obstacles.Many of these changes stem from Donald Trump's willingness to abandon traditional diplomacy in favor of an unpredictable negotiating style that pressured both allies and adversaries. NATO members are committing more resources to their own defense, America's strategic position has strengthened across multiple regions, and longtime rivals face greater economic and military pressure than they did just a few years ago. Whether history ultimately judges Trump's approach favorably remains to be seen, but the global balance of power has shifted in ways that increasingly favor the United States.  Mount Titano Media - FINDING OUR WORDS: Words That Made America is available now in paperback, hardcover, Kindle, Audible, and in Spanish translation on Amazon.com, and on https://www.MountTitanoMedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the Daily Signal podcast, where we provide intelligence for the intelligent. Now, without further ado, here's today's take. The Hulu original series Furious is coming to Disney Plus, starring Emmy Rossum. Furious follows FBI agent Alice Black on the hunt for a mysterious and calculating serial killer. Both walk their own paths toward justice, and as their lives start to intertwine, the line between right and wrong begins to blur. Don't miss the three-episode premiere of the Hulu original series Furious on July 27th, only on Hulu on Disney Plus. The Western Hemisphere is now staunchly pro-U.S. and copying many of the protocols that we are, such as tough on crime, free market economics, secure borders, and into illegal immigration.

They're not sending people out of insane asylums or mental hospitals or prisons into the United States. the radically different world. Hello, this is Victor Davis-Hanson for the Daily Signal. The world that we're looking at today is radically different than that just five years ago. Radically different in the sense that is much more in the interest of the United States. I know that seems controversial because Trump is written off as someone who is too fluid, volatile, his tweets, his verbiage can put people off. But that's the art of the deal on predictability of his nature.

Some of it can be a drawback, some advantage. But overall, it doesn't help analysis to just look at what he says. It's more important to see what he's done. Let's go through the world abroad as it is today, systematically. Look at Latin America. Five years ago, the Chinese were controlling through their surrogate companies, the entry and exit to Panama. Russia and China were the de facto.

rulers of Venezuela, the second largest oil reserves in the world. A slew of communist governments had taken over South America. Cuba was still defiant. What's happened now? There are no Chinese influencers in Panama. We have said that John Kerry was wrong. The Monmo Doctrine is not anachronistic. It's very much alive.

There has been pro-U.S. changes in government in Venezuela. Venezuela, maybe not immediately yet, but there will be Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina. That's just a radical change. In other words, the Western Hemisphere is now staunchly pro-U.S. and copying many of the protocols that we are, such as tough on crime, free market economics, secure borders, and into illegal immigration. They're not sending people out of insane asylums or mental hospitals or prisons. into the United States. It's a radically different world. Look at Europe. Five years ago, Europe had been

jaw-owned by Donald Trump in this first term to at least spend 2%. Only six nations. He jaw-boned them. He threatened them. Six nations did so. Now, almost 30 of 32 nations have agreed to spend 2% GDP. But more importantly, they have now all agreed to spend 5%. Even the two free riders that are most notorious, Spain and Canada, yes, they do not spend 2%. And Spain has defied NATO's protocols and says it will not spend 5%. Canada, for all of self-righteousness, was running a $55 billion surplus with us. It was not patrolling its northern border, as it should, and it was spending about 1.3% GDP on defense. And now it has pledged to spend not just 2%, but work its way up to the projected and desirable 5%.

It's working to reduce its surplus. Spain has stopped all of this Belacos verbiage that's going to resist the United States. Why? Because Trump said, go your own way. We don't need you and we don't want your products. And we don't even want your NATO base. Just be happy and go off on yourself and create the Spanish empire again if you want. It worked. Spain said, no, no, no, we're a NATO member. You misunderstood us.

So if you look at Europe today, they are going to spend probably a half of trillion dollars in further defense readiness. And more importantly, they're reexamining all of the things that weaken Europe, this green mania. They're going to bring back nuclear power, natural gas, oil production. It won't be rapid and there'll be resistance, but they know that that's the only recourse for them. They're going to secure their borders. are going to start deporting people from Europe. In other words, Europe is going to be much stronger and it will be more closely aligned with the United States,

even though they might not say so. Russia. Russia is not getting sanctioned oil from Venezuela or Iran. None. There's been a radical change in the course of the Ukraine war, partly because Donald Trump said all targets are up for ground, I made my peace with Zelensky, and if you want to hit refineries with your drones, go ahead. And oh, by the way, we're going to let you produce Patriot missiles.

We'll give you a license to do so so you can protect your cities. Russia has lost its client in the Middle East in Syria, and it's probably the weakest point, economically, militarily, industrially, in the last 50 years, especially vis-a-vis the United States, where the economy is growing at almost two and a half percent. GDP and our military will now spend $1.5 trillion, almost 5% of GDP, and we've exceeded all of our recruiting targets. The same thing as true of China. China was creating an enclave in the Belt and Road agenda in Latin America. It's out now. No toehold, no grip, nothing in Venezuela, nothing in Panama. No cheap oil. It was importing 15, 14 million barrels a day. It can't afford that at the current

price. It's down to 10 million barrels, and it can't get cheap oil on the slide either from Iran. Its defenses were shown to be shoddy when the Israeli Air Force destroyed Iran's air protective cover in about a day and a half. That was all Chinese and Russian supplied. Its economy is bad shape, its idea that it was going to run up these trillion-dollar surpluses forever is over with, and it's much, much weaker than it was five years ago. What it sees in Ukraine is not reassuring, nor in the Middle East, to invade Taiwan. And then finally, the Middle East. Did anybody ever believe that Israel would be supplying missile defense to Arab countries in the Gulf? Did any every person ever believed that the supposedly indominal, scary, terrifying, formidable Iran,

93 million people with an unpredictable theocratic terrorist regime who had killed more Americans through terrorism than anyone since 9-11. Did anybody believe that that would be taken and dealt with and its military, nuclear industrial complex would be neutered? And that's where it is today. And after it broke many of its protocols, I think we now are seeing the correct U.S. policy. What Trump is going to do is he's going to the first time they continue to hit us. He hits them back disproportionately, ten times more damage on them than they inflict. And the time is running out for them at one point.

He's going to take out all of the communications and transportation, China and Russia either through the train tracks. He's already grown up a rail bridge or through the Caspian Sea. He's going to hit dual use. He may hit generation plants, and Iran knows that. So I think the U.S. will say to them, we're going to do all this to you. You're not going to be able to be militarily capable for 10 or 20 years. You've lost a half trillion C.

You wouldn't want to be you. And oh, by the way, we'll have a vestigial number of ships, and they're going to tell the Europeans and those in Asia, this is your straight. It's very critical to you, not to us. We'll help you organize an effort to keep it open. So what's the common denominator? Trump is very unpredictable. He has a very unusual style of diplomacy.

It rankles people in the West. He can be crude. He can be on Cuth. He can tweet at 3 in the morning. He can say one thing on Monday and change his mind on Tuesday. He says that he might like to. invade or take Greenland. And all he was trying to say is the Chinese and the Russians are going to use this base as the Nazis did in World War II because it's undefended and its colonial master

in Europe further away from it than it is from us in North America can't defend it. And therefore, the more I threaten and am boisterous, the more they will invest and the more Europeans will take me serious. And indeed, they've spent a billion dollars, our place. pledged to have spent on the defenses of Greenland and they have given us a base. Same thing with Canada. Prime Minister Carney said, okay, okay, okay, stop the 51 state stuff and we will make our 5% projections. We will make our 2% immediately.

We will work on the surpluses because he's unpredictable. And that can be a drawback as we've seen. And we'll leave it to historians to assess whether all of these triumphs he's achieved overseas were negated by the lack of what, goodwill or the damage to bilateral relations. I don't think that will be the case, but historians will adjudicate that. But the point I'm making is the world is much more in the interest of the United States than it was five years. And most of that is due, excuse me, to the unpredictability of Donald Trump. Thank you very much.

was Victor Davis Hansen for the Daily Signal. Here's a question. As we approach our 250th, is it possible for us to turn around our education to restore civic leadership and enjoy summer vacation with our family all at the same time? Well, Mount Titano Media says yes.

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