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.

This is Victor Davis Hanson for The Daily Signal.  

The Left is making quite a deal of attention to what they call the anti-MAGA right, that is former staunch supporters of Donald Trump that have now parted ways with him. And the names that they fixate on, the Left, Marjorie Taylor Greene, who resigned from Congress after a big fight with Donald Trump over the Epstein files and the [Iran] War. 

Tucker Carlson, the former, Fox host, news host, and now has become a fierce Trump critic. Megyn Kelly, who had a very successful Fox show herself and then went to NBC and now has a very successful podcast, and she seems to have parted ways with Donald Trump over the same issues as Marjorie Taylor Greene and Tucker Carlson. 

Then, of course, Joe Rogan has expressed disappointment. Perhaps he is now not in the MAGA fold. Candace Owens has been a virulent critic. Steve Bannon, I don’t know what his status is but there’s a group of people. And then further to the right, of course, there’s the Groypers and Nick Fuentes and all those people.

But what was their beef? The first thing that seems to really bother them is the current war. I shouldn’t say the first thing. The first thing that bothered some of them was the summer 2025 attack by the United States for about 25 hours on the nuclear facilities in Iran. It was a one-off. Tucker Carlson said this was unnecessary. 

It could lead to World War III. It didn’t. It did retard the progression of nuclear acquisition. Then new information came in that, they had much more ballistic missiles than had been anticipated. And there may have been other areas where they had stored nuclear material. So then that reopened negotiations this year to remove those peacefully. 

They didn’t work. And so then the United States began, at the end of February, bombing, and now we’re in the sixth week and they feel that is a forever war and an endless war.

But it’s a very funny forever war, isn’t it? I mean, if you look at it, there’s been tragically 13 Americans killed, but it’s not 4,000 or 5,000 as we’ve seen in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

7,000 total, perhaps another 20,000 casualties. It’s an air war, almost exclusively an air war except for the rescue of the pilot, and it’s completely asymmetrical. We have destroyed, as people have said, their navy, except for their patrol boats, which I think will be destroyed shortly if they try to interrupt traffic any further in the Strait [of Hormuz]. 

We’ve destroyed their air force. We’ve destroyed their missile defense. We’ve taken out the first and second tier of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the regular army, the theocrats, and even some of the politicians. So their command and control is in disarray, and we have suffered really no major downfall other than politics. 

The future of that war is entirely political. I mean, the United States is at liberty to do what it wants, whatever the military feels is necessary to disarm Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and to stop its ballistic missile potential.

But it’s a political question. Just a question of what’s the effect on the world economy? 

What’s the effect on the American economy, and more importantly, how does that affect the midterms and the future of the Trump presidency? But people are conflating those and suggest that militarily it’s a defeat. That’s absurd.

What else did this new group of critics, this new old group of critics, get angry about? Trump tweeted that if, Iran had not met these conditions, and were not going to negotiate then he would, destroy their civilization. 

It was pretty poorly worded. And they felt that this was beneath him, beneath the United States. They joined the Left in saying that this was out of outrageous. The Left took him literally, not figuratively, but I don’t think anybody believed he meant all of the Iranian people.

And we know that because, of course, as I had said earlier, no president has avoided dual-use civilian targets as much as Trump. We didn’t do it in World War II. We hit every civilian target we could from power plants to highways to water facilities to oil production in Germany and Japan. 

We did it again in Korea. We did it certainly in Vietnam. We took out all the bridges in the Danube in the 1999 bombing under [Bill] Clinton. And of course we knocked out the power grid of Belgrade, a million and a half people several times. We did the same thing in Libya. We denied we did it, but we hit civilian ships, we hit port facilities, we hit TV stations. 

Trump hasn’t done that except for one bridge, so he didn’t really, I mean, his record shows that he doesn’t believe he wants to destroy the civilization. In fact, it’s just the opposite, and I think his critics know that, or he wouldn’t have said, help is on the way. Help is on the way. 

The whole subtext of this entire campaign is while regime change is not the primary agenda, he hopes that by weakening and humiliating this theocracy, then the people will rise up. And that is why he’s selected targets that would allow them to rise up and not hurt the people. 

So was it an overstatement? Yes, but they should know better what he meant. Of course he did, because his deeds prove what he meant. 

So what’s going on here? I think part of the problem is in the intimacy that some people on the Right have cultivated and developed with Trump. In other words. If you’re going to campaign with Trump, if you’re gonna be a regular visitor at Mar-a-Lago with Trump, if you’re gonna be an intimate of the family and if you’re gonna work with him and you’re a news person, then you feel… It’s apparently Steve Bannon felt that way. 

Maybe Tucker feels that way. Maybe Megyn feels that way. Maybe Marjorie Taylor Greene felt that way. But if you feel that you have a special relationship, then you feel downcast or betrayed because not only your president, but your friend and associate that you’d helped, didn’t quite agree with you, but that it’s always better to have some distance so you can be empirical. 

And if you’re empirical, then the question is: What’s the alternative to Donald Trump’s MAGA agenda, because if you look at the border, it’s closed. If you look at illegal immigration, he has deported 500,000 criminals. Another million have self-deported, and he is in the process of probably finishing another 500,000 deportees. 

We should have two million. We’ve never done that before.

If you look at energy right now, the United States has never produced so much oil and gas, and we’re right on the verge of a nuclear energy renaissance, and we’re going in Alaska. We’re going offshore. We’re trying to get more oil and gas in California. For all practical purposes, at least for now, DEI is dead. 

No other president would’ve done that, this reverse racism or this tribal chauvinism that has so plagued the nation. Donald Trump ended that. He has put the universities on notice that they cannot continually defy civil rights laws and Supreme Court decisions. No one did that before. 

As far as transgenderism, they’re on the defensive now. The idea that biological men will dominate female sports and men with biological male characteristics will dress among women is over. 

So what I’m getting at is this: All of these critics agree with what Donald Trump has done on 80% of the issues. At least their record says they do. So why on one particular issue, in which you disagree, and it’s very doubtful that you can categorize this a forever or endless war. 

It’s much more in the flavor of the Venezuela, the [Qasem] Soleimani, the [Abu Bakr] al-Baghdadi, the ISIS bombing. It is not anything near fighting house to house in Fallujah or going into hostile villages in Helmand province. 

We’re not on the ground. We’re not fighting on the jihadist turf. We’re using our strength, air power and a distance from to mitigate casualties and inflict greater damage on the theocracy. 

It’s not a forever, endless war, and they know that.

So if you are apostates from the whole Trump agenda because of your disagreement about this one particular issue, and you feel that he betrayed you because you categorize it a forever or endless war, which he promised to avoid, then you’re nullifying the entire agenda. 

And what is the alternative? A Kamala Harris agenda? I don’t know, an Eric Swalwell agenda. A Gavin Newsom agenda that’s antithetical to everything these people have stood for and lobbied for and advanced for. 

And so if you sit out the midterms, or you oppose Trump de facto, whether you know it or not, you are favoring the alternate agenda. 

And that agenda is something that, at least in your recent positions, you have adamantly opposed. 

We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.

The post One Disagreement, Total Revolt? Victor Davis Hanson Calls Out MAGA’s New ‘Defectors’ appeared first on The Daily Signal.

President Donald Trump’s blockade of Iranian ports brings a tremendous amount of air and sea power to bear against the difficult task of ensuring that no ships enter or leave Iranian ports.

The post Three U.S. Carrier Groups, Two Marine Assault Ships, and Ten Destroyers Blockade Iran appeared first on Breitbart.

Honda is recalling a large number of its Odyssey minivans due to an airbag problem that is linked to a software programming issue.

The post Honda Recalls 440,830 Minivans Due to Airbag Malfunction Issue appeared first on Breitbart.

Ten House Republicans and one independent voted with Democrats on Thursday to allow more than 350,000 Haitian immigrants stay in the United States for another three years.

In a 224-204 vote, the House passed a bill that would require the Homeland Security secretary to designate Haiti for temporary protected status (TPS).

Haitians have had the designation in the United States since 2010, but the Trump administration has tried to terminate TPS, only to be blocked by federal courts.

The result of today’s vote was made possible by Republicans who broke with GOP leadership and voted yes on the measure.

“Who needs Democrats whenever you have a Republican tool vote for amnesty?” Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, told The Daily Signal just after the vote.

“The House just voted to codify, effectively, President Biden’s open-border policies for the Haitians,” he continued.

On Wednesday, six Republicans voted with Democrats to bring the measure to the floor. Even with pushback from the House Freedom Caucus, four more joined in breaking rank.

The six Republicans who voted to bring the bill to the floor included Reps. María Elvira Salazar and Carlos Giménez of Florida, Reps. Mike Lawler and Nicole Malliotakis of New York, Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania.

On Thursday, Republican Reps. Mike Turner and Mike Carey of Ohio, Rich McCormick of Georgia, and Mario Díaz-Balart of Florida joined them, along with independent Rep. Kevin Kiley of California. When votes were finalized, cheers could be heard outside the House chamber.

“Voters elected us to help the president mass-deport illegal aliens who are in our country,” Gill continued, noting that the president specifically called out the Haitian immigrant community as needing reform during the 2024 election.

“You don’t turn around and give those very same people we were voted to deport amnesty,” Gill said. “It’s just a great way to just piss in the face of our voters who elected us to actually keep our community safe and secure.”

Gill noted that 91% of Haitians protected under TPS originally came into the United States illegally, and 69% came during the Biden administration.

“It’s unacceptable to see some Republicans breaking ranks to advance this Democrat-led bill, betraying the mandate voters gave them and delivering de facto amnesty,” a Heritage Action spokesperson told The Daily Signal.

“Heritage Action will not support amnesty—no exceptions,” the spokesperson continued.

“That is what this bill is,” Gill told The Daily Signal. “It is de facto amnesty for people who came into the country illegally.”

The post 10 Republicans Break Ranks to Keep Protected Status for Haitians appeared first on The Daily Signal.

A gas station clerk in Detroit, Michigan, recently helped rescue a teenage girl from a suspected kidnapper with a dark criminal history.

The post WATCH: Detroit Gas Station Clerk Rescues Teen Who Mouthed ‘Help’ After Reported Kidnapping appeared first on Breitbart.

BELLEVUE, WA – The anti-gun-rights Brady group, which previously endorsed Eric Swalwell for Congress and honored him as a guest speaker at a 2024 gala awards event—the same night he allegedly assaulted his female aide—has erased his name from its website and a video of the event has reportedly vanished from its YouTube page, but the taint of their past association remains, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said.

The New York Post is reporting about Swalwell’s appearance at the Brady Campaign event, and what allegedly followed. When allegations surfaced about Swalwell, the Brady Campaign scrubbed all references to him, and called for his resignation. But CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb says the gun prohibition lobbying organization cannot erase history.

“Brady United and Swalwell were best friends until these lurid allegations surfaced,” Gottlieb stressed. “While Swalwell is entitled to a presumption of innocence and due process, that’s certainly not the way the Brady organization has treated gun owners in general.

“By pushing background checks, waiting periods and other extremist gun control measures,” he detailed, “Brady makes it clear they consider all gun owners and gun buyers guilty until proven innocent. Instead, maybe they should background check who they work with.

“The Brady group repeatedly endorsed Swalwell and worked with him, invited him to speak at their New York gala and happily supported his gun ban proposals,” Gottlieb continued, “but quickly abandoned him and tried to make their association disappear. We’re not going to let that happen.

“Maybe the Brady group should change its title to the ‘Brady Campaign to Prevent Sexual Violence,’” Gottlieb suggested, “especially since guns don’t commit violence, people do. They’re essentially shooting him in the back and burying him in an unmarked grave.

“What Swalwell allegedly did was despicable,” Gottlieb observed. “What the Brady Campaign is doing—making his name invisible on their website—is both cowardly and futile. History has recorded their past association, and that’s a stain you cannot wash away.”

Economic issues remain the top priority to Americans as the midterm elections approach, a weekly survey from the Economist/YouGov found.

The post Poll: Economic Issues Reign as Top Priority to Americans appeared first on Breitbart.

“Malcolm in the Middle” was one of those rare, modern-ish, long-running shows that never felt forced, as far as the writing went. If you grew up middle-class or with parents […]

The post 'Malcolm in the Middle' Reboot Review: Woke Garbage That Didn't Need to Be Made appeared first on The Western Journal.

President Trump pauses to answer the screeching press pool as he departs the White House.  Against the backdrop of a tenuous agreement with Iran that may lead to another round of negotiations, and against the background of a successful naval blockade, President Trump outlines the current status with the conflict. President Trump also spoke about […]

The post President Trump Impromptu Presser Departing the White House appeared first on The Last Refuge.