Editor’s note: This is a lightly edited transcript of today’s edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words” from Daily Signal Senior Contributor Victor Davis Hanson. Subscribe to Victor Davis Hanson’s own YouTube channel to watch past episodes. Sami Winc: Apparently, according to a Wall Street Journal article, they had a secret meeting in which they vented their frustration about Trump. They called it “Therapy Night.” But what the article said was they were discussing how to manage a breakup with the United States.  Do you think that—  Victor Davis Hanson: Promises, promises.  Sami Winc: I know. I was going to say, do you think that the Europeans would really break with the United States?  Victor Davis Hanson: No, I know they won’t. Why do I know that? Because I’m not stupid. Spain was—I think his name is Gonzalez. Isn’t he the prime minister of Spain?  Sami Winc: I think it’s [Pedro] Sanchez.  Victor Davis Hanson: Yep. Sorry. He was bragging that he was not going to spend over 2%, and he was bragging to his own people after he let in 500,000 illegal people from Africa who were going to be able to go all through Europe, given they were given green cards from the Spanish government.   But he was also bragging that he denied U.S. access to a NATO joint base, that he wouldn’t let them use airspace, and that kind of influenced everybody wanting to tag along.  “Well, I’m [Emmanuel] Macron. We’ll do the same. We won’t let them.”  And then Germany said, “Well, you know, I’ve already called it. It’s not our war. We’ll just kind of keep our bases away.”  And then [Georgia] Meloni said, “Oh, my defense minister said you can’t land much more in Sicily. It’s now closed.”  And then [Keir] Starmer said, “You can’t go to Diego Garcia unless it’s defensive.”  So then they all kind of backed off. That’s what they do. So when [Donald] Trump said, “Well, Spain is the worst offender. We’re just not going to trade, and we don’t have any ill feeling with them. We’re not going to trade with them.”  What was it? Twenty-four hours later, he approached Trump and said, “Please, please.”  And then, when Trump told [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy, “Yeah, [Joe] Biden wouldn’t let you hit anything. That’s kind of dangerous going in there. It’s a provocation, but go ahead. Go hit stuff like you’re doing with your drones.”  Biden never did that. That confused the Europeans.  “Hey, wait a minute. Trump is a neo-isolationist and he wants Russia to win, but he’s letting Zelenskyy do things that Biden didn’t do, that we cautioned him not to do? This is strange. But on the other hand, he killed the Wagner Group, and he raised sanctions on the oligarchs, and he gave them Javelin offensive weapons when [Barack] Obama didn’t. He got out of an asymmetrical missile deal, blah, blah, blah.”  So they talk a great game, but they have 500 million people in Europe. Four hundred fifty million, I think, are NATO and combined EU countries.  And they have a social welfare program that has been overrun by 30 or 40 million people from Asia, Africa, and the Western Hemisphere, and it’s not sustainable.   And it was paid for in the past because they were very, very smart economists, socialists though they were. But when you shut down the North Sea oil fields, you don’t let the French companies tap natural gas, and the Germans shut down their nuclear plants, and electricity costs in Britain or Germany are anywhere from twice to four times as high as here, you can’t afford it.  You cannot afford it. And then, when all this is predicated on a $200 billion trade surplus with us, it doesn’t work.  So Trump’s message wasn’t to punish Europe. It was always, “Please, please be a partner because we have another common enemy, and it’s called China. And we have other countries just like you that depend on us, like South Korea and the Philippines and Taiwan and Japan and Australia.  “And we can’t give good attention when we’ve got 75,000 troops tied down here on the border with [Vladimir] Putin, and we’ve got all this aircraft, and you’ll still be on the nuclear deterrent. But if you can just go up to 5%, maybe we can protect you with 30,000 or 40,000.”  But instead it was crazy.  It was like, “Eighty-three years after World War II, you dare take troops out of our country? You can’t do that, America. You’re 7,000 miles away. You’re right next to us. You can’t do that. You have no business doing that. And of course, we don’t want you to use our bases when we feel that it might be inconvenient, and you can’t use our airspace. But how dare you say that 82 years after World War II you’re going to take out any troops?”  That’s Donald Trump. Trump, Trump, Trump. It doesn’t work anymore, Euros. We’re tired of it.  And if you look at all the criticism that Trump and [JD] Vance have leveled, and you wade through all the rhetoric and the therapy, it’s basically:  “We want Europe to be a partner. It’s a Western tradition. It birthed our culture. We honor it. We like Europe. We want more Europeans to come to America, and we want to nudge them, force them, cajole them, plead with them to spend money to protect themselves so Vladimir Putin is deterred and he doesn’t attack them and then divert all of our resources over to Europe while China, in conjunction with Putin, stages a simultaneous attack on Taiwan.  “But that’s what will happen if you don’t defend yourself.”  And they had a secret little meeting saying,  “Oh my gosh, we can’t have trade surpluses with the United States anymore? It’s going to be reciprocal? Zero? Oh, he’s telling us that China is taking advantage  of us? He’s saying that his open borders, no more illegal immigration, and getting rid of DEI is a good formula for us? We should drill like he did? Oh my gosh, that’s an insult. We can’t take that.”  Well, what are you going to do about it? Nothing.  Nothing.  Get your Eurofighter. Get the Eurofighter and every—  Oh, I’m sorry, you canceled the Eurofighter.  Get Leopard tanks and every—  Oh, I’m sorry, you only had nine that worked at the beginning of the Ukraine war.  Let’s get your huge drone fleet.  Oh, I’m sorry, it’s Ukraine’s huge drone fleet, not yours.  So they have a lot of problems.  I like Europe. I like the Europeans. I like the Germans, the French, the British. Americans like them all. But they will never like us if they’re dependent on us.  In other words, if they think it’s their birthright to be subsidized in their defense, subsidized in their trade, subsidized in their rhetoric, and that allows them to pursue their utopian socialist dreams.  I mean, basically the country is run by [Zohran] Mamdanis and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortezs and [Darializa Avila] Chevaliers. That’s who runs Europe—socialists.  We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of the Daily Signal.

American truckers are expected to save $12 billion thanks to the Environmental Protection Agency and Administrator Lee Zeldin rolling back Biden-era regulations and addressing what he called a “nationwide disaster.” The administration plans to address manufacturers’ concerns, consumer pricing, and truckers’ safety by addressing system failures. “Americans depend on reliable trucks to move essential goods across the country. If finalized, these changes will help manufacturers keep improving their vehicles without being forced to rush products to market before they’re ready,” Zeldin said. “The Trump EPA is committed to making trucking safe and reliable again while protecting human health and the environment,” he continued. On Thursday, Zeldin announced a proposal estimated to save American truckers $12 billion through “commonsense” revisions. This proposal, to be implemented by 2027, would equal roughly $6,000 per heavy-duty truck and trickle cost savings down to the consumer. The EPA is proposing to roll back 2023 emissions warranty requirements, the largest single cost to the trucking industry. While keeping the underlying emissions standard in place, the agency can preserve nearly 90% of nitrogen oxide reductions. “So, we protect the air and we protect your pocketbook,” Zeldin told a crowd at the Great American State Fair. New Yorkers are showing up for @epaleezeldin at the Great American State Fair this afternoon for an exciting @EPA announcement. The line for the New York booth has looked this long for at least an hour. Tomorrow is the LAST DAY the fair is open! @DailySignal pic.twitter.com/EpVqAV3GLl— Virginia Grace McKinnon (@virginiagmck) July 9, 2026 “Even if you’ve never driven a truck in your life, when it costs less to move goods, it costs less to buy them. Those savings get passed down to you at the grocery store, at the hardware store, on nearly everything a truck delivers,” Zeldin continued. The agency also plans to extend manufacturing lead time. Zeldin said manufacturers will have time to make sure new technology holds up instead of rushing products to market. At the Great American State Fair, I just announced a proposed roll back of the Biden admin's overburdensome truck emission rules. This proposal, which includes a permanent and total elimination of Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) deratements, would save American truckers $12 billion.…— Lee Zeldin (@epaleezeldin) July 9, 2026 The ‘Nationwide Disaster’ of DEF The final point the proposal makes is something many Americans might not know about but that affects the entire supply chain. DEF, or Diesel Exhaust Fluid, is used to cut down on pollution in diesel engines. However, the systems that manage DEF are often unreliable. “When they fail, the engine does something called a derate. In plain English, the truck or tractor slows down or stops running altogether,” Zeldin explained. “The EPA, SBA, and USDA have made steady progress toward ending DEF deratements, removing unreliable sensor requirements, and offering operators more practical compliance options,” U.S. Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler said. “Today’s proposed rule is about locking in long-term reform and delivering a diesel framework that lowers costs, restores equipment reliability, and puts the hardest-working Americans first,” she continued. The EPA is opening a 45-day public comment period and will hold a public hearing to gather Americans’ comments on the proposal.

WASHINGTON, July 9 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday terminated the last three members of the Election Assistance Commission, the ‌independent, federal commission that assists election administration officials nationwide, the White House confirmed. The remaining three commissioners of the four-member bipartisan commission were forced out of the commission on Thursday in different ways. The one Republican appointee resigned and the other two Democratic appointees were fired via an email from the White House Presidential Personnel ​Office, according to one person familiar with the decision and two other people briefed on the terminations. The fourth commissioner departed the commission ​in April. The terminations follow the recent Supreme Court decision that granted the president more power to fire members of ⁠independent agencies, and a push by Trump for more federal intervention in voting processes, traditionally the purview of the states, as midterm elections approach ​in November. “On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as Commissioner of the Election Assistance ​Commission is terminated, effective immediately. Thank you for your service,” the termination email, seen by Reuters, said. The White House confirmed the terminations after Reuters’ initial report. “The President, and head of the Executive Branch, reserves the right to remove individuals that may not be totally aligned with the important task of securing America’s elections and ensuring ​every legal vote is counted,” a White House official said in a statement, citing the Supreme Court decision as precedent. The official added that ​the Trump administration has been “working across all agencies and local partners to safeguard elections from fraud and abuse, and investing in a strong infrastructure to sustain ‌that mission ⁠especially in the midterm elections.” The Election Assistance Commission serves as a “national clearinghouse of information on election administration,” accredits testing laboratories and certifies voting systems, and maintains the national mail voter registration form developed by the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, according to the commission’s website. The terminations follow advocacy from Trump and top administration officials to change vote-by-mail requirements ahead of the midterm elections, and investigations into the 2020 presidential election outcome, which ​Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden. Commission’s Future Is Unclear The election commission was established by Congress in 2002 through the Help America Vote Act. The four commissioners are appointed by the president, are required ​to be evenly split with two Democrats and two Republicans, and ultimately need to be confirmed by ​the U.S. Senate. The three ⁠remaining commissioners who were forced out, Thomas Hicks, Benjamin Hovland and Christy McCormick, were all unanimously confirmed by the Senate. The 2002 law states the president can appoint replacements to the commission, but it is unclear how Trump will move ahead with the commission.

The Justice Department sued Maryland over the state’s sanctuary policies, alleging the state has interfered with immigration enforcement and allowed criminal illegal aliens to roam free. “When sanctuary jurisdictions enact laws to shield illegal aliens from federal law enforcement, it is not merely federal law that is violated, but the voices of everyday American voters are silenced,” Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. said in a statement Thursday. Woodward added that “this department will never stand for such lawless action from blue state leaders.” In May, Maryland enacted the Community Trust Act, which prevents local law enforcement from detaining or prolonging the detention of an individual for immigration enforcement purposes. The law also restricts the ability of local agencies to provide information to federal immigration authorities. “These provisions intentionally obstruct the sharing of information and rendering of other assistance envisioned by Congress, thereby impairing federal detention of removable aliens, including dangerous criminals, as required by federal law,” the DOJ complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Maryland, states. It says Maryland’s refusal to cooperate with federal immigration authorities has had negative consequences, with state and local officials refusing to facilitate the transfer of illegal aliens to federal custody even when presented with a routine detainer. “By directing local employees to refuse to transfer such aliens to federal officials in a secure environment, the Community Trust Act has the natural and foreseeable result of releasing such aliens onto the streets, where they all too often reoffend and commit serious crimes,” the complaint adds. A spokesperson for Gov. Wes Moore said that Maryland is not a sanctuary state, and the Community Trust Act does not completely prohibit law enforcement from coordinating with federal immigration enforcement. “While we cannot comment on active litigation, Governor Moore has been clear: Maryland will work with the federal government when that coordination makes our people safer – but we will not let Donald Trump’s untrained, unqualified, and unaccountable ICE agents deputize our law enforcement officers to do immigration work,” spokesperson Rhyan Lake told the Daily Signal.  “While Trump’s ICE has ripped mothers out of cars and detained five-year-olds, Maryland’s law allows our law enforcement to continue working with federal officers to get violent offenders off our streets, remain focused on the work that has helped drive historic reductions in violent crime, and protect fundamental civil rights,” Lake added. “Maryland will always protect constitutional rights and give law enforcement the tools they need to keep people safe.” The Daily Signal contacted the office of state Attorney General Anthony Brown. The office did not respond by publication time. The Justice Department has filed 20 other lawsuits against cities and states with sanctuary policies, including Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, and New York. Sanctuary policies vary by jurisdiction, but generally state that state or local law enforcement cannot assist federal immigration officers, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, in detaining or transferring illegal aliens. The complaint against Maryland contends the state’s policy seeks to “thwart the constitutional obligation of the president of the United States to take care that the immigration laws enacted by Congress are enforced.” DOJ-Maryland-1_2026.07.09_complaintDownload This article was updated with a statement from the office of Gov. Wes Moore.

The Trump administration’s record on “values issues” is key to winning the upcoming midterm elections, Assistant Secretary of Health Brian Christine told the Daily Signal. Christine said the Department of Health and Human Services, in the lead-up to the November elections, is emphasizing its actions on social issues such as protecting kids with gender dysphoria from life-altering procedures, protecting women’s sports, and ending taxpayer-funded abortion. He called the actions “some of the best things the Trump administration has done.” “I think these values issues are really, really important,” Christine said in an interview with the Daily Signal. “I do believe they’re winning issues. I do believe these are issues the vast majority of Americans agree with us on.” The Office of the Assistant Secretary of Health last month terminated $67 million in teenage pregnancy prevention grants for “sexually explicit” curricula that promoted pornography, contraception, gender ideology, and abortion to middle and high school-aged audiences. “Ultimately, we in the administration, are here to serve, we’re here to serve our republic and the people, the citizens of our republic,” Christine said. “People do care about these things, so we are putting emphasis on these things.”  On June 10, the HHS office revised a grant program to treat frozen embryos created through in vitro fertilization as human children. Christine also promised to make sure federal dollars aren’t funding abortion.  “Federal dollars, obviously, should never ever go to abortion, abortion counseling, abortion services,” he said. “Federal dollars should be used to promote the health of the country and the health of the citizens in this country.” Christine slammed Planned Parenthood for offering so-called gender-affirming care to minors but not supporting detransitioners, people who regret altering their bodies in an attempt to change their sex. The Department of Health and Human Services issued a report last May on the dangers of experimental transgender medical interventions referred to as “gender-affirming care.” “It illustrates so much of what’s happening from Planned Parenthood, for instance, ‘No, we can’t help you now that you have these problems after, after you’ve been sold the lies of gender-affirming care,’ but we’ll be happy to provide you more hormones or more surgery,’” he said. “Really perverse, really perverse.”