Victor Davis Hanson: How Trump Came Back From Rock Bottom

Welcome to the "Midterm Report," the Daily Signal's new election podcast. Every Saturday between now and Election Day, Rob Bluey breaks down the biggest stories in politics with the interviews, insights, and analysis you won't get from legacy media.

On our first episode, pollster Brent Buchanan joins the show to discuss the first-ever RNC Midterm Convention in Dallas, explaining the split inside the GOP base between Trump Republicans and traditional Republicans, and a 26-point enthusiasm gap between them. He walks through why affordability is dominating voter behavior, why only 88% of Trump 2024 voters are committing to a Republican for Congress, why the "socialist" label alone won't win races, and the one number you should actually watch in every poll from now to November.

Then, historian Victor Davis Hanson joins us on his brand-new book, "The Counterrevolution: The Fall and Rise of Donald Trump and the MAGA Movement." Hanson explains what "counterrevolution" really means, how Trump's second term targets causes instead of symptoms, and how a man written off after Jan. 6 mounted what he calls the greatest political comeback in modern American history. He also compares Trump to Reagan, walks through the lawfare and debanking years, explains how Trump won on class instead of race, and gives his odds for the House and Senate this November.

About The Daily Signal
The Daily Signal is a conservative news and commentary outlet founded in 2014 by The Heritage Foundation and now an independent media organization with its own board and leadership as of June 2024. Based in Washington, D.C., the Daily Signal covers politics, policy, and culture with reporting, interviews, investigations, and documentaries, including the stories the national press leaves alone.

About Victor Davis Hanson
Victor Davis Hanson is a classicist and military historian, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford, and a senior contributor to the Daily Signal. He is the author of more than two dozen books, including "The Case for Trump," "The Dying Citizen," and "The End of Everything." He hosts "Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words."

CHAPTERS:

00:00 "It's 70-30 they lose the House"
00:29 Welcome to the Midterm Report
01:39 The GOP is actually two coalitions
02:54 The 26-point enthusiasm gap
03:54 Affordability: insurance, gas, property taxes
05:03 Why 12% of Trump 2024 voters are defecting
05:53 The $5,000 Trump dividend problem
07:13 Socialism polling, the label isn't enough
08:22 Communism, China, and voters under 45
09:09 Re-flipping the diploma divide
10:22 The one poll number to actually watch
11:30 Preventable: the Gorman family documentary
12:39 Victor Davis Hanson joins The Daily Signal
13:33 What "counterrevolution" actually means
16:32 The wilderness years and the 360-degree agenda
19:00 Reagan vs. Trump
22:02 Bush, McCain, Romney and the retreat from Reagan
24:18 Rock bottom: how far Trump fell
26:17 The three days that started the lawfare
27:50 Mar-a-Lago, E. Jean Carroll, and $500 million
31:21 Biden, the 2020 deal, and "a gift that kept on giving"
33:56 Deplatformed and debanked
35:56 The DeSantis lose-lose
37:11 McDonald's, Madison Square Garden, and the middle class
39:42 Class over race: the Hispanic and Black male vote
43:15 How Trump remade the Democratic Party
46:58 Why Republicans still trail in the polls
49:13 Iran, DOGE, and the message they never sent
51:52 The winning message no one is delivering
53:16 70-30 on the House, 50-50 on the Senate
54:51 The Iran wildcard that could flip everything
56:10 Legacy, the third term, and 2028
58:28 Why the next nominee will be MAGA
1:00:08 Apostates, antisemitism, and the J.D. Vance test
1:02:34 Victor Davis Hanson on The Counterrevolution

Order “The Counterrevolution: The Fall and Rise of Donald Trump and the MAGA Movement” NOW: https://amzn.to/4oZIFay

NEW FILM from The Heritage Foundation: “Preventable: The System That Failed My Daughter.” Available now:

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