Free Republic

History suggests civilizations fall when complacency, debt, and tribalism replace unity, discipline, and reform—prompting fears the West may be nearing a familiar decline. Western civilization arose in the 8th century B.C. Greece. Some 1,500 city-states emerged from a murky, illiterate 400-year-old Dark Age. That chaos followed the utter collapse of the palatial culture of Mycenaean Greece. But what reemerged were constitutional government, rationalism, liberty, freedom of expression, self-critique, and free markets—what we know now as the foundation of a unique Western civilization. The Roman Republic inherited and enhanced the Greek model. For a millennium, the Republic and subsequent Empire spread...

The criticisms against Sec. of War Pete Hegseth are “entirely political,” and anyone could have said the same things about “the Obama and Biden administration—and much more egregiously.” Hegseth has turned the U.S. military around in ways no one thought was possible, like getting the military back to meeting all of its recruiting quotas, explains Hanson during today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.” Recruitment under the Biden administration fell “some 40 to 50,000 recruits,” and former Sec. of Defense Lloyd Austin’s Pentagon used excuses like “people are out of shape, in gangs, using drugs, etc.”

The recent Democratic cry of “affordability” is ironic in many ways. The left-wing narrative of Trump hyperinflation was one of desperation and came only after previous memes had failed to resonate. The 2025 generic “dictator,” “fascist,” and “Nazi” smear points never helped the left much. Nor did the nihilist government shutdown over the “Obamacare crisis” work other than perhaps to depress fourth-quarter GDP. Nor did the earlier spring 2025 melodramatic predictions of an impending “Trade War,” “Recession,” and stock-market “Meltdown resonate.” Nor did the “Gestapo,” “SS,” and “Nazi” ICE smears become effective talking points. The “illegal orders” and “unconstitutional use...

America warns Europe that only one of them is truly fighting to reverse the West’s decline—and the clock is running out for the other to follow suit. Nothing bothers the European elite as much as American conservatives praising the European foundations of their shared, but threatened, Western civilization. Europeans especially resent having their social-welfare state system critiqued by upstart, crass Americans. Their pique only increases as they push back against the condescending American idea that the U.S. could possibly offer any constructive advice, much less help a more civilized Europe follow the “American model.” Americans, in turn, are worried that...

A border abandoned and laws ignored have turned public frustration into a sweeping backlash that now threatens even legal immigration. It is hard now even for Democrats to defend illegal immigration, given that the Biden administration allowed in more than 10 million entrants. Among them were an estimated 500,000 criminals. No one believes that was wise or should ever be repeated. Worse, the message went out that there would be few, if any, deportations and no real ICE kinetic activity beyond the border. The world’s poor, sick, both law-abiding and criminal, young and old, understood that anyone could now enter...

Putin gambled on Western hesitation, and now a war born of miscalculation grinds on because neither Moscow nor NATO is willing—or able—to force a decisive end. Why did the war in Ukraine start in 2021?As in 2008 and 2012, but unlike 2017 to 2021, Vladimir Putin sensed an American president would not or could not deter him, so he invaded a former Soviet republic. Under past presidents, Putin saw no downside to grabbing Ossetia, the Donbas, and Crimea. Putin was also led to believe the West or Joe Biden would not challenge him following the recent humiliating U.S. withdrawal from...

Why does America support Israel? The answer isn’t rooted in theology or special-interest politics but is grounded in strategic national interest. Victor Davis Hanson explains how Israel’s status as the Middle East’s only stable democracy, its alignment with U.S. security priorities, and its role in countering Iran’s decades-long campaign of terror against Americans make it an essential ally on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words." “ There's only one government that is truly a free democratic government, and that's Israel. So, it has affinities with the United States and interest with the United States that transcends...

A generation sidelined by debt, ideology, and stalled adulthood is drifting—but it won’t stay lost if society restores real opportunity, accountability, and purpose. TA generation sidelined by debt, ideology, and stalled adulthood is drifting—but it won’t stay lost if society restores real opportunity, accountability, and purpose. Zoomers rarely date, supposedly out of fear that they would have to grow up, take charge, and head a household. Yet the opposite, sympathetic generalization of Gen Z seems more accurate. All through K-12, young men, particularly white males, have been demonized for their “toxic masculinity” that draws accusations of sexism, racism, and homophobia....

A generation sidelined by debt, ideology, and stalled adulthood is drifting—but it won’t stay lost if society restores real opportunity, accountability, and purpose. The current generation “Z”—those now roughly between 13 and 28 years old—is becoming our 21st-century version of the “Lost Generation.” Members of Gen Z are often nicknamed “Zoomers,” a term used to describe young adults who came of age in the era of smartphones, social media, and rapid cultural upheaval. Males in their teens and twenties are prolonging their adolescence—rarely marrying, not buying a home, not having children, and often not working full-time. The negative stereotype of...

Democrats now celebrate the very nullificationist tactics they once decried, embracing a neo-Confederate defiance of federal authority to undermine a president they despise. Is Jeff Davis the Model?Who is the real, or fictional, inspiration for the new insurrectionary wing of the Democrat Party? The fictitious Hollywood insurrectionist, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, “James Mattoon Scott” (Burt Lancaster), who in the 1964 film Seven Days in May attempted to overthrow the presidency? Or perhaps Jefferson Davis? He ultimately ordered the attack by South Carolina state forces against the federal garrison at Fort Sumter, which ignited the Civil War. Or...

Rigid ideologies like DEI, climate dogma, and anti-Trump obsession keep collapsing under their own contradictions, leaving their loudest champions looking increasingly absurd. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is a euphemism for a rigid racialist theology. It deductively postulates that a large percentage of the population is oppressed by racism and sexism, mostly by white males. DEI makes no allowance for the class or wealth of the alleged victims or their supposed victimizers. So once that rigid party line is set, it cannot account for tens of millions of affluent and privileged non-white Americans or like numbers of poor and non-privileged...

Trump’s first-year economy is surging, but the race ahead hinges on perception, messaging, and whether voters see the boom before the 2026 midterms. The current economic indicators, at least those attributable to the 10-month Trump administration, are strong. Fourth-quarter GDP is estimated to grow between 2.7 and 4 percent, the robust latter figure according to the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank. Inflation from June to August ranged from 2.7 to 2.9 percent, significantly lower than the 5 percent annual average during Biden’s 2021-2025 term. Gas prices now average $2.98 per gallon, compared to $3.46, the average cost during Biden’s four years....

<p>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.</p><p>Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson for The Daily Signal. Nancy Pelosi, former speaker of the House, congresswoman from the Bay Area in California, just said that she was going to warn federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents that if, in the opinion of state authorities, they acted in the way the state felt was improper, then she would order their arrest.</p>

For months, Americans were told that the U.S. was embroiled in a losing “trade war” with China, preventing the two world powers from striking any sort of deal. However, in the face of this supposed adversity, Chinese leader Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump inked a trade and economic deal, which included key Chinese concessions: agreeing to buy more U.S. soybeans, ease export controls on rare earth minerals, and crack down on fentanyl production chemicals.

China’s reluctant deal to curb fentanyl and ease trade tensions signals not surrender, but a strategic pause as America reasserts its strength at home and abroad. China has tentatively agreed to curtail sales of fentanyl to Mexico and other Latin American nations. For three decades, Beijing sent the raw product to Latin American and Mexican cartels. The gangs then processed and disguised the toxic brew as less lethal narcotics and prescription drugs for export. The cartels laundered the profits with additional Chinese help, along with the feigned ignorance of the Mexican government. Since 1999, imported fentanyl-laced drugs have killed approximately...

While the media fixates on Trump’s tweets, the numbers tell a different story—closed borders, lower inflation, revived energy, and restored U.S. strength at home and abroad. The left wing and media rage hysterically from one Trump psychodrama to the next, while Trump trolls both on social media. But all that is verbiage. What matters is the data and facts of Trump’s first nine months since January 20, 2025, in comparison to either Biden’s prior year or the averages of his four years in office. Take the border. No one knows how many illegal aliens entered—or stayed in—the U.S. during Biden’s...

President Donald Trump’s privately funded plan to build a 90,000-square-foot ballroom has Democrats like Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren fuming about “luxury” while they’ve shut down the government. Presidents have remodeled the White House for over a century—from Harry Truman’s gut renovation to Barack Obama’s basketball court—yet only Trump gets scorn. Victor Davis Hanson breaks down the hypocrisy on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.” “Do we really want to know what belittles the White House? I mean, we're just coming off the Biden administration, where cocaine was found in a carrel in the West...

Democrats cry “No Kings” while wielding royal power—raiding rivals, silencing dissent, and crowning heirs without a single vote. So-called King, Donald Trump, ran in two contested Republican primaries. He ran three times in a general election. He was elected twice, and his party recently won a Republican Congress. In contrast, in 2020, Joe Biden did not run a typical campaign. He avoided the public, staying ensconced in his basement. He outsourced his campaign to Democratic politicos, donors, and a sycophantic media. No red state ever sought to remove Joe Biden or Kamala Harris from their 2024 ballots. In contrast, twenty-five...

Hamas is an irredeemable terrorist cartel that subverts Gaza, uses civilians as shields, and must be dismantled and barred from power before any genuine peace can begin. Hamas was born and exists to kill Jews, seek the destruction of Israel, and, to some extent, overthrow or subvert pro-Western Arab governments. Period. For those ends, it diverted billions of dollars from the people of Gaza to build a vast subterranean labyrinth of military headquarters and arsenals. It expropriated hospitals, mosques, and schools for use as tunnel entries and exits, using expendable civilian shields to protect its rich terrorist hierarchy. Hamas always...

The short answer to why both the Biden and Obama administrations failed to achieve peace in the Middle East is that they took actions opposite to Trump’s current efforts, which have led to a ceasefire. First, consider Iran. Iran was flush with cash, on a trajectory toward a nuclear weapon, and arming Israel’s “ring of fire” enemies: Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. The radical Islamic world of the Middle East was convinced that Israel would be doomed eventually. Yet both Democratic administrations let Iran profit from oil sales. They talked of delaying, but not ending, Iran’s nuclear program. And they...