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Coinciding with the release of his autobiography, California Gov. Gavin Newsom just had the worst February of any major want-to-be presidential candidate in modern memory. Newsom tries posing as someone who grew up poor and dyslexic in order to connect with minority voters better and to “dispel” his true image of being “a nepo baby,” explains Victor Davis Hanson on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words. “So when he talked about he just ate white bread or he had all of these problems growing up—he said he had dyslexia—but the idea that Gavin Newsom was somehow parallel to Abraham Lincoln in a log cabin or JD Vance just doesn't work.”

Critics have hounded the Trump administration for supposedly not clearly stating to the American public their most favorable outcome in the ongoing conflict with Iran. With the midterms less than eight months away, the pressure is on this administration to get the job done.  And it can happen in one of three ways, argues Victor Davis Hanson on today’s edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words:” The Optimal Choice: What’s left of the Iranian military and Revolutionary Guard will capitulate, opening the doors for a Western-supplied transitory government made up of exiles to lead the nation until elections can be held. The Impalpable Solution: The “Venezuela solution,” i.e., appoint a lower-tier, secular, dissident member of the former regime, like a general. The Worst Choice: Allow the mullahs to “stew in their own juices.” Bomb their nuclear and military capabilities off the face of the earth and then leave.

Why attack Iran? Why reaffirm America’s dominance in Panama? Why capture Nicolás Maduro? Trump has scores to settle.  There’s a general pattern in the preemptive actions President Trump’s taken in both his terms in office.   A central theme to all his actions is that they’re geostrategic and top-down, explains Victor Davis Hanson on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.”   “Pressuring the Panamanians to divorce themselves from China. Making sure the Venezuelan oil does not go to Russia or China by changing the government and capturing Maduro. Things like that suggest that the current Iranian operation has targeted China. … You're starting to see a pattern. These are wars of reckoning.” (00:00) Trump Way of War (02:12) Wars of Reckoning (03:37) Negotiations and Decapitation (04:57) No Nation Building (09:26) Results and Wrap Up

President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address “was more of a variety show” than an address. By highlighting various “tragic cases,” Trump showed Americans two things: “We’re a wonderful patriotic country,” and Democrats’ policies caused some of the tragedies, explains Victor Davis Hanson on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.” “They [Democrats] wouldn't stand for any applause, no matter what the topic was, or no matter whether they agreed with it. …  They were all a disaster, to be quite frank.”

Less than one week since the initiation of Operation Epic Fury, and nearly everyone is wondering: What will be the domestic reaction to America’s war in Iran?  With this being the second time the U.S. has gone into Iran, something needs to change so a third time never happens. “It would behoove Donald Trump to find a magical solution” and remove Iran’s “theocratic government,” replacing it with “a benevolent government,” explains Victor Davis Hanson on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.” “ If we get stuck in a quagmire where we have to have ground troops and we get into the hundreds of American dead, it'll be a disaster for the Republican Party in the midterms.”

Susan Rice, former U.N. ambassador and national security advisor under Obama, made some very threatening statements directed toward Republicans and business elites on a recent podcast episode.    On “Stay Tuned with Preet Bharara,” Rice said she wanted Trump supporters to know that the Left won’t forget if they’ve allowed Donald Trump “to bully” them in their respective academic, corporate, or institutional worlds.   Victor Davis Hanson breaks down Rice’s comments on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words” and explains why nothing she, and her fellow Democrats, say can hurt the U.S. president and his supporters at this point.   “Your entire career of the Democratic Party—your career, Hillary Clinton's career, Barack Obama—has been to destroy Donald Trump. So we don't need lectures on retribution. You've already tried to practice retribution against Trump. And I don't think you're going to be in a position of power necessarily in the Congress in 2026, and I have a pretty good idea you wo

As President Donald Trump positions “the largest naval and air forces” off Iran’s coast that the U.S. has “seen since the invasion of Iraq in 2003,” he has some pros and cons to weigh about striking the Middle Eastern country.  The U.S. isn’t in a war with Iran right now, so Trump’s positioning of forces could be for “either a preventive war, long-term threat, or a preemptive war,” explains Victor Davis Hanson on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.” “It’s very controversial, and we don’t know whether he’s going to pull the trigger or not ... He’ll have to make the decision pretty quickly because you can’t just take those many naval assets and stick them halfway across the world ... The window is probably about another six weeks.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thursday, Feb. 19, Tazewell Circuit Court Judge Jack Hurley Jr. granted a restraining order sought by the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee along with Congressmen Ben Cline (VA-06) and Morgan Griffith (VA-09). The order prohibits any voting to take place before March 18.  In order to comply with Virginia law, voting of the April 21 deadline needed to begin on March 6.   The request for a restraining order is based on the contention that the Democrat majority in the General Assembly were ramming redistricting-related bills through the legislature.  Hurley ruled in favor of the plaintiffs because he found merit in the argument concerning the ballot question’s language. The judge further sided with Republicans in ruling that the referendum violates the timing requirements set out in the state constitution.

From preserving parental vaccine rights to the inner workings within the Gold State’s capitol, Darrlene Alquiza and Jessica Cabrera with Informed Policy Advocates join Elaine Culotti, Daily Signal California contributor for a special interview to discuss their work. NOTE : This interview was recorded prior to Elaine Culotti’s 2026 California governor announcement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are Democrats really ready for a comeback—or are we about to revisit the graveyard of their own failed experiments? The so-called “new paradigms” of the Obama-Biden years—open borders, DEI mandates, deficit socialism, disarmament, and radical gender ideology—didn’t just falter… they collapsed under their own weight, argues Victor Davis Hanson on today’s edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words:”

President Trump is reversing the Biden administration’s years of damage to American “family finances” and “federal finances.” When Biden left office in Jan. 2025, “the private sector wasn’t adding any jobs at all, but losing them,” explains E.J. Antoni, Ph.D., The Heritage Foundation’s chief economist. One year later and Trump is righting the ship: Last month was the best January ever for employment among native-born Americans.  The private sector added 172,000 jobs while government jobs declined by 42,000. All told, Donald Trump has reduced the federal bureaucracy by 323,000 in just one year.

When there’s a problem, call Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump’s “fireman.” Last week, Marco Rubio, in keeping with the tradition started by Vice President JD Vance last year, painted a sobering picture of Europe’s future. But with a twist. Rubio did not gloat or talk down to his fellow world leaders. Instead, he glorified America’s European heritage—a very controversial statement amongst leftists who try to distance themselves from Western norms and cultures—saying that Europe is poised to make the same mistakes America has already made:  letting in 10 million illegal aliens, replacing meritocracy with DEI, failing to maintain military superiority, and forgoing energy independence. Europe is currently backsliding because it, unlike America, does not have a continent full of Donald Trumps to bring about a counterrevolution, argues Victor Davis Hanson on today’s edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words:” “It really enhanced the position of Marco Rubio because he's sort of become Trump's firema

California’s unfunded mandates “are exactly what they sound like:” a mandate “with no money behind it.”   A solution like deannexation, however, could really “change the culture of what Sacramento” has been been doing of forcing cities to follow mandates and pay for them, explains Elaine Culotti, The Daily Signal’s California contributor.   “It starts to direct tax dollars directly back to the cities in which have been deannexed. It’s an interesting business model, and for a state like California, is really important.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With only nine months until the midterm elections, Democrats will scrutinize every move President Donald Trump takes as they fight to reclaim control of the House and the Senate. Victor Davis Hanson lays out the narrow road ahead to victory for Trump and the GOP during the 2026 midterm elections. History is not on the incumbent’s side. Messaging mistakes and unforced errors could shift key voters and hand Congress back to Democrats. Hanson explains what it will take to hold a Republican majority—and why the stakes for these midterm elections could not be higher—on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words." “There's another advantage that Trump has. They've raised, I think, $90 to $100 million. They've out-raised the Left by three or four times. And the billionaire class of Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, not to mention Marc Andreessen or Elon Musk, they have defected and it's really hurting the Democrats. “What they're looking at in California with this billionaire's tax, you can be a

Are we prepared for the Cold War we’re actually in? Communist China is deeply embedded in every facet of American life—our economy, academics, and cultural life. For that reason, Victor Davis Hanson warns that we are already in a Cold War against it.  The Soviet Union had thousands of nuclear weapons. But China, Hanson argues, presents a different kind of challenge—one rooted in infiltration, influence, and integration rather than isolation. Do Americans recognize the scope of the challenge we’re up against? And are we prepared to stand strong? Victor Davis Hanson answers all this and more on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.” “There's an insidious idea that China's not really an enemy because of the massive amount of money that has been invested there. And that means put the Chinese students, the Chinese residents, the foreign investment, and our history of empathy with China; it’s very, very hard to tell people that China is an existential enemy in the way that Russia was. An

It’s been five weeks since the U.S. removed former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from power. But the question on everyone's mind is what comes next now that Maduro is no longer in power.  State Department Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott joined “The Signal Sitdown” this week to discuss the plan to stabilize, recover, and transition power in Venezuela. Pigott explained the administration's phased approach to Venezuela.  "First, the stability of Venezuela. Second, the recovery, where you might see the beginnings of investment, in oil infrastructure, for example. Then the third phase being that transition to a longer-term situation where hopefully you have a reliable partner in the region." Follow us on Instagram for EXCLUSIVE bonus content and the chance to be featured in our episodes: https://www.instagram.com/problematicwomen/   Connect with our hosts on socials!   Elise McCue X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=EliseMcCue Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elisemccueofficial/

Jerome Powell’s tenure at the Federal Reserve “has been an unmitigated disaster” as his Fed “created a novel monetary framework in 2020 that is proving very difficult to manage and maintain.” The good news, however, is that Powell’s time at the Fed will be up in May, and his replacement, “inflation hawk Kevin Warsh,” looks much more promising, says E.J. Antoni, Ph.D, The Heritage Foundation’s chief economist. "If Warsh is confirmed and can clean up the Fed, it will reassure financial markets and help deliver a Main Street boom without inflation or another financial crisis."  Follow us on Instagram for EXCLUSIVE bonus content and the chance to be featured in our episodes: https://www.instagram.com/problematicwomen/   Connect with our hosts on socials!   Elise McCue X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=EliseMcCue Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elisemccueofficial/   Virginia Allen: X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=Virginia_Allen5 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/virginia

Jerome Powell’s tenure at the Federal Reserve “has been an unmitigated disaster” as his Fed “created a novel monetary framework in 2020 that is proving very difficult to manage and maintain.” The good news, however, is that Powell’s time at the Fed will be up in May, and his replacement, “inflation hawk Kevin Warsh,” looks much more promising, says E.J. Antoni, Ph.D, The Heritage Foundation’s chief economist. "If Warsh is confirmed and can clean up the Fed, it will reassure financial markets and help deliver a Main Street boom without inflation or another financial crisis."  Follow us on Instagram for EXCLUSIVE bonus content and the chance to be featured in our episodes: https://www.instagram.com/problematicwomen/   Connect with our hosts on socials!   Elise McCue X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=EliseMcCue Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elisemccueofficial/   Virginia Allen: X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=Virginia_Allen5 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/virginia

Virginia’s recent winter storm brought with it the usual state of emergency announcements along with “the inevitable swooping in” of some politicians going “after anyone who’s price gouging.” Price gouging laws basically mean things like “batteries,” “tree removal services,” food and water can’t be sold at “unconscionably higher” prices than they were “10 days prior to the storm,” explains Scott Goodman, a defense attorney at The Goodman Law Firm in Charlottesville, Virginia. “The business or the supplier that can open its books and show that this is what it costs them to get the water [for example] and that the percentage of the profit that they’re adding on top of that when they sell it to a customer is basically the same as it was prior to the state of emergency, that would again, speak to the fact that they’re not price gouging. They’re simply passing along a higher cost that they have to the customer.” Follow us on Instagram for EXCLUSIVE bonus content and the chance to be featured in our episod

Minnesota’s top officials are fanning the flames of unrest in their state. When are we going to call it like we see it? This is an insurrection. From Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison to Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, state and city leaders have repeatedly excused, enabled, and emboldened disorder. They’re only the latest links in a long Democrat chain of political indulgence toward radicalism, tracing back to the civil rights era. Victor Davis Hanson warns of the fractures this mindset brings on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.” “ What we're seeing is a complete failure of the blue state model. And the failure is ironic because it's neo-Confederate. Just like the old Confederacy and the Antebellum South, these blue states are obsessed with race. This is where DEI comes from. This is where, if you're one-sixteenth of this, or you have DNA of that, you identify, primarily, by your ethnic or racial background and not your common humanity or your common American citize