Victor Davis Hanson Discusses Attacks on Trump

Victor Davis Hanson, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, indicated in a recent interview that there is a persistent, multi-layered effort by the left aimed at undermining President Donald Trump.

During a segment on “Ingraham’s Angle,” he pointed to newly declassified evidence from Tulsi Gabbard’s Director of National Intelligence, which suggests that Barack Obama’s national security team began politicizing intelligence agencies following Obama’s 2016 victory. Hanson argued that Democrats, along with collaborators in the intelligence community, spent three years challenging Trump’s legitimacy.

“The Democrats wanted Trump’s administration to crumble — they were after him professionally, personally, and psychologically,” he stated. “Their narrative began with the conspiracy theories in 2015 and 2016, but ultimately, it didn’t succeed.”

He contended that this leftist coalition has engaged in a systematic campaign to weaken Trump’s presidency, using investigations to try and reverse the 2016 election results.

“They spent 22 months and $40 million trying to dismantle his administration,” he continued. “After that, they shifted focus to the Zelensky situation. People have said Watergate was minor by comparison.”

Despite these attempts, Trump successfully secured re-election in 2024. Hanson dismissed the narrative that Trump was lenient towards Russia, calling it entirely fabricated.

“One of the worst things they did was paint Trump as soft on the Russians. In reality, his administration was the only one where Putin stayed within his borders,” he pointed out. “Compared to Obama, who was against the Nord Stream Pipeline but still made compromises on missile defense, Trump’s stance was significantly tougher.”

Hanson highlighted that Trump was firm with Germany regarding the pipeline, asserting his position more strongly than either Obama or Biden. He noted that Obama’s approach seemed to involve some concessions, which as he claimed, added layers to the deception.

Journalist Matt Taibbi revealed that the intelligence community had withheld crucial information indicating no foreign interference in the 2016 election. An internal communication, dubbed “Potus Tasking on Intervention in the Russian Election,” mentioned they were preparing an assessment at Obama’s request.

According to a recently released report from the ODNI, intelligence agencies began leaking misleading information to the media, falsely alleging Russian interference in the election. Notably, special counsel Robert Mueller found no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia after several years of investigation.