The Daily Signal - Victor Davis Hanson: Trump’s Counterrevolution

Episode Date: February 20, 2025

Victor Davis Hanson discusses the misleading information about the first 30 days of the Trump administration’s actions, comparing it to FDR’s first hundred days. On this episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words,” Hanson describes the current period as a “Trump restoration” rather than a revolution, emphasizing it as a counterrevolution against the changes brought by the Obama administration. “ We don't really appreciate what we've been through with eight years of the Obama revolution and the four-year, more radical third term of Obama using or employing the wax effigy of Joe Biden. A revolution that we've experienced was a cultural, economic, political, social revolution. It was very similar to the French Revolution under the Robespierre brothers. You should remember what they tried to do. They changed the days of the week. They renamed things. They tore down statues. They went after the churches. Does this sound familiar? … “ So this was a revolutionary movement. Movies were different. Sports were different. Take a knee. And Donald Trump came in and it was not sufficient to say we’re going to stop the madness of $37 billion. … It’s a return to normalcy. It’s a return to common sense. It only looks revolutionary to revolutionaries. But to the rest of the people, it is a counterrevolution to restore normalcy and bring the country from the far-left fringes back home again.” For Victor’s latest thoughts, go to: https://victorhanson.com/   Don’t miss out on Victor’s latest videos by subscribing to The Daily Signal today. You’ll be notified every time a new video drops: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHqkXbgqrDrDVInBMSoGQgQ The Daily Signal cannot continue to tell stories like this one without the support of our viewers: https://secured.dailysignal.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At Desjardin, we speak business. We speak equipment modernization. We're fluent in data digitization and expansion into foreign markets. And we can talk all day about streamlining manufacturing processes. Because at Desjardin business, we speak the same language you do. Business. So join the more than 400,000 Canadian entrepreneurs who already count on us. And contact Desjardin today.

We'd love to talk. Business. There's been a lot of false information, what the left calls, misinformation, disinformation about what's going on in these first 30 days. It hasn't even been 30 days. It's reminiscent of FDR's first 100 days, and they call it the MAGA revolution. It's not a revolution. It is a counter-revolution. Let's use the word Trump restoration. We don't really appreciate what we've been through with eight years of the Obama revolution

and the four-year, more radical, third term of Obama, using or employing the waxen effigy. Joe Biden, a revolution that we've experienced was a cultural, economic, political, social evolution. Hello, this is Victor Davis-Hanson for the Daily Signal. I want to talk about the Trump counter-revolution, not the revolution. There's been a lot of false information, what the left calls misinformation, disinformation, about what's going on in these first 30 days. It hasn't even been 30 days. It's reminiscent of FDR's first hundred days. And they call it the MAGA revolution. It's not a revolution. It is a counter-revolution. There's a big difference. This is a restoration. Let's use the word Trump restoration. We don't know really, we don't really appreciate what we've been through with eight years of the Obama revolution and the four-year, more radical, third term of Obama,

using or employing the waxen effigy of Joe Biden. A revolution that we've experienced was a cultural, economic, political, social evolution. It was very similar to the French Revolution under the Robespierre Brothers. We should remember what they tried to do. They changed the days of the week. They rename things. They tore down statues. They went after the church.

Does this sound familiar? This revolution that we've experienced, everything was up for sale. Everything was negotiable. We invented a third gender and rammed it down people's throats. We tore down statues. We said 1776 was no longer the foundational day.

It was 1619. We changed the very mechanism that we vote. We went from 70% of the electorate voting on election day to 70% of the electorate, not doing that, either through mail-in or early voting. That was a radical change that had no discussion.

It was done by Fiat. It was incredible. We looked at girls' sports and we destroyed it. We said that transgendered biological males that were now transgendered females could compete. They went over 600 medals. They took away from hardworking female athletes. We had drag shows among young children. Ford was built on the belief that the world doesn't get to decide what you're capable of.

You do. So ask yourself, can you or can't you? Can you load up a Ford F-150 and build your dream with sweat and steel? Can you chase thrills and conquer curves in a Mustang? Can you take a Bronco to where the map ends and adventure begins? Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right. Ready, set Ford. It was an effort to change the entire Constitution.

We forget that. They were trying to bring in Puerto Rico as a state and Washington, D.C. to get four instant senators. They were proud. They said that they were going to pack the Supreme Court. It hadn't been tried since 1937. And it was an object of disgrace ever since. But they were proud to try it again.

They talked about making states the Senate look like the House. They wanted, and a lot of them were advocating, it was not fair that one senator in Wyoming, to take one example, is worth 250,000 votes, but a senator in California represented to 20 million. They wanted to change the makeup of the Senate. They wanted to get rid of the Senate filibuster. Remember that.

They wanted to bring back. neo-confederate nullification. 600 jurisdictions in the manner of South Carolina in 1832 are on the edge of the Civil War in 1860 when Confederate, neo-Confederate Southern State said the federal government's law does not apply to us. Tariffs, Yankee tariffs, no, no. We were going to override them. Andrew Jackson almost invaded the Carolinas over that, South Carolina.

And so these jurisdictions said federal law doesn't apply here. We're exempt. We have our own laws. You cannot. Federal immigration law does not apply here. It applies everywhere else to you, you, you, but not to us. So this was a revolutionary movement. Movies were different.

Sports were different. Take a knee. And Donald Trump came in, and it was not sufficient to say, we're going to stop the madness of 37 billion. We're going to stop the madness of being short 40 or 50,000 military recruits because of this D.I coupled with the ameliation and Kabul. We're going to stop the appeasement of China. But that wasn't all.

He said the government is broke. We're going to go through all of these agencies. And finally, for the first time in the history of this country, when somebody says they're going to cut federal spending and drain the swamp or cut the administration, we're going to do it. And there's going to be no changing names except to go back to traditional names. And we're not going to topple statues. And if you break the law and you're on campus and you're on a student visa, you're going to go back home. So we're in the midst of a counter-revolution.

It's not revolutionary. You know what it is? It's a return to normalcy. It's a return to common sense. It only looks revolutionary to revolutionaries. But to the rest of the people, it is a counter-revoluntary. revolution to restore normalcy and bring the country from the far left fringes back home again. Thank you very much. This is Victor Davis-Hansson for The Daily Signal.

Thank you for watching today's podcast. And for more news like that, subscribe to the Daily Signal. Maybe you can check out my own website at victorhansson.com for podcast, ultra-series behind a paywall, but more importantly, just daily columns that are accessible and free to everyone. Thank you very much.