We'll Do It LIVE! — Victor Davis Hanson
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Quick Read
Summary
Takeaways
- ❖The Democratic Party has been taken over by progressive cadres, aided by media and wealthy elites.
- ❖Globalization created a class of wealthy professionals who became the financial and ideological backbone of the progressive movement.
- ❖Progressive policies are often utopian and do not affect the wealthy elites who champion them, such as open borders or defunding police.
- ❖The Democratic Party has shifted from focusing on class to focusing on race, especially under Obama, creating a 'pyramid' with elites and a subsidized welfare state.
- ❖Cultural institutions like media, universities, and foundations are actively shaping public opinion and normalizing progressive ideas, even in the military.
- ❖The K-12 education system is failing to teach analytical tools, making younger generations susceptible to constant progressive messaging.
- ❖Nancy Pelosi effectively eliminated moderate Democrats by tying campaign funding to progressive alignment.
- ❖The Republican Party is willing to 'win ugly' by overlooking Donald Trump's 'idiosyncrasies' because his message addresses core concerns like immigration.
- ❖There's a concerning rise in anti-Semitism on both the left (Hamas support) and elements of the right, with traditional MAGA supporters seen as the only group consistently speaking out against it.
- ❖Secularization and assimilation among younger Jewish Americans have diminished their traditional pro-Israel stance, making them more susceptible to progressive narratives.
- ❖The Democratic Party lacks strong, unifying leadership, with potential candidates like Gavin Newsom or Kamala Harris seen as unconvincing or too radical.
- ❖Progressives are losing the white working class and struggling to gain support from Hispanic and black men because their 'boutique issues' don't address real community problems like crime and illegal immigration's impact on services.
- ❖Victor Davis Hanson believes the progressive movement will run its course if people actively speak out and form coalitions against it, especially as it starts to target its own billionaire funders with taxes.
Insights
1Globalization's Role in Progressive Shift
Victor Davis Hanson argues that the end of the Clinton administration and the rise of globalization at the millennium created a new class of wealthy professionals in law, media, universities, and corporate boardrooms. These individuals, benefiting from a globalized market, became the financial and ideological drivers of the progressive movement, adopting utopian ideals and replacing traditional class-based politics with race-based identity politics.
Hanson states, 'globalization because that really took off at the millennium and it basically said we're going to westernize the whole market world and people woke up in this century and they said you know if I have skills that transcend the United States law media university campuses all over the world corporate boardroom international sports entertainment... and they became rich.' He adds, 'they made a postfacto exesus the democrats or the people in these global not everybody but most of them were on the left or the democratic liberal side they said we were the winners... So, we've got enough money now that we don't worry about food or transport. So, we're going to go into utopianism.'
2Insulated Elite and Policy Consequences
The progressive elite, according to Hanson, is largely insulated from the negative consequences of the policies they advocate. Issues like open borders, defunding police, or shutting down fossil fuels do not directly impact their privileged lifestyles, allowing them to champion these causes without personal cost.
Hanson notes, 'We on the coastal elite who were so wealthy and are never subject to the consequences of our ideology, we're going to champion these people.' He later adds, 'that message of these boutique issues that they in transgenderism, open borders, illegal, it never affects them and that makes them psychologically feel good about themselves at no cost to themselves.'
3Cultural Institutions as Progressive Enablers
Both O'Reilly and Hanson emphasize the pervasive influence of cultural institutions—media, universities (K-12 through higher education), and foundations—in disseminating progressive messages and shaping public opinion. They argue these institutions normalize radical ideas and erode critical thinking, making populations susceptible to narratives without analytical tools.
Hanson states, 'all that came from NPR, PBS, the institutions that you me mentioned, the Ford Foundation, Rockefell, the whole bunch of them. So they have a very profound effect in shaping public opinion.' He also highlights the K-12 curriculum's failure to teach civics and analytical skills, leading to a generation that 'get this progressive message 24/7 and they have no analytical tools.'
4The 'Cabal' of 2020 Election Strategy
Bill O'Reilly raises the idea of a 'cabal' behind the progressive movement. Victor Davis Hanson references a Time magazine article by Molly Ball from February 2020, which allegedly detailed how a group of elites (corporate, media, tech, and street activists) coordinated to secure the 2020 election by suppressing 'misinformation' and altering balloting laws.
O'Reilly asks, 'is this a cabal? Do they meet in Switzerland?' Hanson responds, 'Molly Ball... wrote a very revealing piece right after the election of 2020... she used that term, Bill, Cabal and conspiracy. She said, 'Now we can tell how we won. We got the corporate boardroom. We got the media. We ran comm we suppressed what she called misinformation or disinformation. Twitter, Facebook stopped the story on the laptop. We changed the balloting laws in 28 states.'
5Progressive Alienation of Working-Class Voters
The progressive movement's focus on 'boutique issues' and identity politics is alienating working-class voters, including Hispanic and black men. These communities, particularly Hispanic communities, are more concerned with practical issues like crime, gangs, drugs, and the impact of illegal immigration on local services, which the progressive agenda fails to address.
Hanson notes, 'they have entirely lost the white working class.' He describes his 95% Hispanic town: 'they're dealing with M13, Nortanos gang, Serenos gang, imported drugs, DUIs, got illegal aliens. They're very anti-ilgal alien... That's what they're concerned about when they look to the Democratic party. All they tell them is, well, you're not very smart to know the insidious covert racism all about you from white people.'
Bottom Line
The progressive movement's radicalism, particularly its 'Stalinist' or 'Jacobin' desire to erase American heritage and traditions, is distinct and more dangerous than the 1960s counterculture.
This distinction suggests a fundamental threat to the existing societal framework, implying that current progressive goals are not reformist but revolutionary, aiming for a complete societal overhaul rather than a return to foundational principles.
For those opposing this movement, framing it as a radical, anti-foundational force rather than a continuation of past liberal movements could be a more effective rhetorical strategy to rally broader support.
The progressive movement, despite its institutional power, is vulnerable because it is beginning to 'turn on' its own billionaire and millionaire funders through proposals like wealth taxes.
This internal conflict could disrupt a significant source of progressive funding and political influence, as the wealthy elite who previously supported the movement may withdraw their support when their own financial interests are threatened.
Opponents of the progressive movement could highlight these internal contradictions and the potential for self-cannibalization, encouraging disaffected wealthy donors to reconsider their alliances.
Lessons
- Actively speak out against what you perceive as radical progressive ideologies, as silence is seen as enabling their advancement.
- Cultivate critical thinking and analytical tools, especially regarding information consumed from digital platforms and educational institutions, to counter pervasive ideological messaging.
- Understand the distinction between traditional liberal movements and the current progressive movement, particularly regarding their views on American heritage and institutions.
Notable Moments
Discussion of Molly Ball's Time magazine article detailing a 'cabal' of elites coordinating to influence the 2020 election by suppressing information and changing balloting laws.
This moment suggests a perceived coordinated effort by powerful institutions and individuals to achieve political outcomes, raising questions about democratic processes and media integrity.
Hanson's comparison of current progressives to 'Stalinists' or 'Jacobins' who seek to erase American heritage, contrasting them with 1960s hippies who, in his view, wanted to return to foundational American ideals.
This strong distinction frames the current progressive movement as fundamentally revolutionary and destructive to existing societal structures, rather than merely reformist.
Quotes
"The Democratic Party became like a pyramid, a little bit cone on the top of the professional and the billionaire classes and then a large subsidized welfare state and they didn't care about class."
"We on the coastal elite who were so wealthy and are never subject to the consequences of our ideology, we're going to champion these people."
"They get this progressive message 24/7 and they have no analytical tools. They don't know anything, you know, and it's it's frightening."
"The left got very angry when she wrote it. But she was basically saying that a great a group of elite people got together and they said even though we have a messages that nobody really wants, we can find power."
"I don't think there's one progressive in the country that learned anything from that at all. I don't see them."
Q&A
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