Victor Davis Hanson: Trump Laid Out America’s Comeback While Democrats Sat Silent
This isn't complicated—it's willpower.
Editor’s note: This is a lightly edited transcript of today’s video from Daily Signal Senior Contributor Victor Davis Hanson. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see more of his videos.
Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson for The Daily Signal.
We had the State of the Union, as we all know, on Tuesday. I think all of us were a little apprehensive when we were told it would be the longest State of the Union. I happen to have watched Bill Clinton’s 2000 State of the Union address.
I think it was an hour and 28 minutes. Trump was, depending where you start the actual measurement of the speech, I think it was about an hour and 48, 50 minutes. Twenty to 25 minutes longer. Bill Clinton’s was considered kind of a disaster. It was too long, and it was just what the Emperor Augustus called res gestae. Just a recap of all the good things he’s done.
So when I heard that, I was a little upset, but when you looked at the actual speech, he got what he had to cover, the bullet points on the economy. And there are many. I mean, inflation the last three months is way below 2%. And he inherited, remember, a five point, I think it’s a 5.4 average inflation rate under Biden.
It was 21 aggregate inflation over four years divided by four, and GDP was very strong. It was much stronger than people had anticipated. Job growth is not only strong, but it’s U.S. citizens for the vast majority of the new jobs that are created. Interest rates are down.
All of that … gasoline, as he pointed out. In a place in Iowa, it’s under $2. It doesn’t apply to here to us in California. We’re going to be seeing six, seven, and eight this summer because we drove out two large refineries that will be leaving California.
Nevertheless, he got what he needed to say at the very beginning, and then it wasn’t really a State of the Union address. It was more of a variety show. It was an interview when he brought all of these tragic cases of these people.
And they all had one thing in common: whether it was the family that was impacted by the illegal alien truck driver, or it was to show how so many people had been patriotic, or the sudden entry of the hockey team, or the tragic killing of the Ukrainian immigrant on a train.
It was all to show you two things: that we’re a wonderful patriotic country, and the policies of the Democratic opposition had caused, in some cases, these tragedies. And then the Democrats thought they were going to be very, very cute by boycotting. I don’t know. They said 73 or 74, but maybe only 60 actually boycotted.
They wouldn’t stand for any applause, no matter what the topic was, or no matter whether they agreed with it, and they were going to have alternate realities in reply to Donald Trump’s speech. And they were all a disaster, to be quite frank.
Gov. [Abigail] Spanberger of Virginia, she’s added all these taxes. She’s taxing anything that moves or breathes, and she’s talking about her affordability record. I think it was mostly about her.
She thinks, I think, that [Gavin] Newsom, [Kamala] Harris, [Pete] Buttigieg, they’re not viable candidates, and somebody like herself, a dark horse, might emerge in 2028. I don’t think she is. It wasn’t a very …
This isn't complicated—it's willpower.
Editor’s note: This is a lightly edited transcript of today’s video from Daily Signal Senior Contributor Victor Davis Hanson. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see more of his videos.
Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson for The Daily Signal.
We had the State of the Union, as we all know, on Tuesday. I think all of us were a little apprehensive when we were told it would be the longest State of the Union. I happen to have watched Bill Clinton’s 2000 State of the Union address.
I think it was an hour and 28 minutes. Trump was, depending where you start the actual measurement of the speech, I think it was about an hour and 48, 50 minutes. Twenty to 25 minutes longer. Bill Clinton’s was considered kind of a disaster. It was too long, and it was just what the Emperor Augustus called res gestae. Just a recap of all the good things he’s done.
So when I heard that, I was a little upset, but when you looked at the actual speech, he got what he had to cover, the bullet points on the economy. And there are many. I mean, inflation the last three months is way below 2%. And he inherited, remember, a five point, I think it’s a 5.4 average inflation rate under Biden.
It was 21 aggregate inflation over four years divided by four, and GDP was very strong. It was much stronger than people had anticipated. Job growth is not only strong, but it’s U.S. citizens for the vast majority of the new jobs that are created. Interest rates are down.
All of that … gasoline, as he pointed out. In a place in Iowa, it’s under $2. It doesn’t apply to here to us in California. We’re going to be seeing six, seven, and eight this summer because we drove out two large refineries that will be leaving California.
Nevertheless, he got what he needed to say at the very beginning, and then it wasn’t really a State of the Union address. It was more of a variety show. It was an interview when he brought all of these tragic cases of these people.
And they all had one thing in common: whether it was the family that was impacted by the illegal alien truck driver, or it was to show how so many people had been patriotic, or the sudden entry of the hockey team, or the tragic killing of the Ukrainian immigrant on a train.
It was all to show you two things: that we’re a wonderful patriotic country, and the policies of the Democratic opposition had caused, in some cases, these tragedies. And then the Democrats thought they were going to be very, very cute by boycotting. I don’t know. They said 73 or 74, but maybe only 60 actually boycotted.
They wouldn’t stand for any applause, no matter what the topic was, or no matter whether they agreed with it, and they were going to have alternate realities in reply to Donald Trump’s speech. And they were all a disaster, to be quite frank.
Gov. [Abigail] Spanberger of Virginia, she’s added all these taxes. She’s taxing anything that moves or breathes, and she’s talking about her affordability record. I think it was mostly about her.
She thinks, I think, that [Gavin] Newsom, [Kamala] Harris, [Pete] Buttigieg, they’re not viable candidates, and somebody like herself, a dark horse, might emerge in 2028. I don’t think she is. It wasn’t a very …
Victor Davis Hanson: Trump Laid Out America’s Comeback While Democrats Sat Silent
This isn't complicated—it's willpower.
Editor’s note: This is a lightly edited transcript of today’s video from Daily Signal Senior Contributor Victor Davis Hanson. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see more of his videos.
Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson for The Daily Signal.
We had the State of the Union, as we all know, on Tuesday. I think all of us were a little apprehensive when we were told it would be the longest State of the Union. I happen to have watched Bill Clinton’s 2000 State of the Union address.
I think it was an hour and 28 minutes. Trump was, depending where you start the actual measurement of the speech, I think it was about an hour and 48, 50 minutes. Twenty to 25 minutes longer. Bill Clinton’s was considered kind of a disaster. It was too long, and it was just what the Emperor Augustus called res gestae. Just a recap of all the good things he’s done.
So when I heard that, I was a little upset, but when you looked at the actual speech, he got what he had to cover, the bullet points on the economy. And there are many. I mean, inflation the last three months is way below 2%. And he inherited, remember, a five point, I think it’s a 5.4 average inflation rate under Biden.
It was 21 aggregate inflation over four years divided by four, and GDP was very strong. It was much stronger than people had anticipated. Job growth is not only strong, but it’s U.S. citizens for the vast majority of the new jobs that are created. Interest rates are down.
All of that … gasoline, as he pointed out. In a place in Iowa, it’s under $2. It doesn’t apply to here to us in California. We’re going to be seeing six, seven, and eight this summer because we drove out two large refineries that will be leaving California.
Nevertheless, he got what he needed to say at the very beginning, and then it wasn’t really a State of the Union address. It was more of a variety show. It was an interview when he brought all of these tragic cases of these people.
And they all had one thing in common: whether it was the family that was impacted by the illegal alien truck driver, or it was to show how so many people had been patriotic, or the sudden entry of the hockey team, or the tragic killing of the Ukrainian immigrant on a train.
It was all to show you two things: that we’re a wonderful patriotic country, and the policies of the Democratic opposition had caused, in some cases, these tragedies. And then the Democrats thought they were going to be very, very cute by boycotting. I don’t know. They said 73 or 74, but maybe only 60 actually boycotted.
They wouldn’t stand for any applause, no matter what the topic was, or no matter whether they agreed with it, and they were going to have alternate realities in reply to Donald Trump’s speech. And they were all a disaster, to be quite frank.
Gov. [Abigail] Spanberger of Virginia, she’s added all these taxes. She’s taxing anything that moves or breathes, and she’s talking about her affordability record. I think it was mostly about her.
She thinks, I think, that [Gavin] Newsom, [Kamala] Harris, [Pete] Buttigieg, they’re not viable candidates, and somebody like herself, a dark horse, might emerge in 2028. I don’t think she is. It wasn’t a very …
