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. Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson. There’s about nine months left into the midterm elections in November. And how should we envision this with the current administration, its chances of retaining control of the House or Senate? Well, I think the best simile is that there’s a pathway over the mountains, like a pass, but on one side there’s a shear drop, and the other, there’s, on the right side, there is ample room, if you travel close to the mountains and not get near the precipice. Now, what is the precipice? There is a pathway to save the Republican Congress and thereby to save the Trump counterrevolution. We saw what the alternative was under Joe Biden, but it’ll be much worse in 2028 if a Kamala Harris wins and has a Democratic Congress waiting for her, which she could have, at least at the beginning of it in November. So, what do we have to look at? What are the perils that you’ll fall over the cliff as you go on the pass to the midterm? The first is these unforced errors. I don’t want to get into who did it or whose fault it is. I’m just suggesting that when you say Rob Reiner after his death, you say something untoward, I’m talking in a strict political sense now, it’s not good. Why? Because to repeat the Trump success in 2024, you must do three things. You must win black males at 26%. You must win Hispanic males about 55% and get them out to vote. And you must win or come break even with independents. That’s in addition to getting your base out. But if you make fun of Rob Reiner after he’s dead and not say, you know, not honor the old Latin warning [de mortuis nil nisi bonum], don’t say anything bad, don’t say anything unless it’s good about the dead, then you’re going to offend whom? The independents. And so, this week we had this strange little meme or video that President Donald Trump was sort of the Lion King, and all of his enemies were various animals that inhabit the jungle. And I think Joe Biden was an ape and all that. But there was the Obamas portrayed as primates. Now, you could argue two things. Well, Joe Biden was too, so it wasn’t racial or he didn’t care what you thought of it. He didn’t think it was racial. And the Obamas, remember, Barack Obama engineered, tried to engineer his destruction in August, September, October of 2015, before the election, when they called in John Brennan, James Clapper, James Comey, and said, ignore the intelligence, go after Trump. But that doesn’t matter. The matter is there’s a whole history of the United States of racism that equates people who are black with primates. So, whoever did it in the White House, or whether it was an ad for an upcoming TikTok video, it doesn’t matter, people don’t matter, the independents don’t like that. And you will either lose independent votes or you will lose a week of precious time trying to explain what I just did. And then finally, as you’re going toward the midterms, there’s a sheer drop, another sheer drop, and that’s called history. Only three times in the last hundred years has an incumbent president in his midterm, first or second—this is Trump’s second midterm—picked up seats. They usually lose seats. The problem is, in the House, he can’t afford more than four or five seats, depending on these special elections. He could even lose the Senate. I don’t think that’s possible, but it could happen. We saw what happened in 2020 in Georgia when he lost two conservative seats in one of the most conservative states, Georgia, to, not Democrats, but hard leftists. It’s possible. So, you have to break history’s pattern. George W. Bush did it. He picked up seats. And you can do it. FDR did in his first, I think, 1934 election. You can do it, but you have to do everything right, keep away from the precipice. So, what’s in his favor? In his favor is he has already enacted the architecture of a radical economic revolution that’s going to pay dividends in March, April, May, and just get better. And that’s based on, not speculation on my part, but fact. The biggest deregulation movement since the Reagan revolution. Tax cuts, and not just tax cuts for affluent people, for waitresses, for people on Social Security, etc. And then there’s energy development. We’re gonna get up to 14 million, 15 million barrels of oil. So, whatever’s gonna happen in the Middle East, we have a buffer that we’ve never enjoyed before. And then in addition to that, there’s, Trump says, $18 trillion in foreign investment. Just cut it in half and say $9 trillion. That’s nine times larger than Joe Biden’s trillion dollars over four years. So, we’re gonna see massive foreign capital coming in here, creating jobs. The gross domestic product is going to take off with tax cuts and deregulation. I know Kevin Warsh, he’s a wonderful, professional economist, colleague of mine at the Hoover Institution, he’s absolutely independent, but he will look at this empirically in a way that his predecessor did not. And he will see that there is a lot of growth and there has been a lot—GDP’s up to 5.5, but the inflation rate has gone down. And he will cut interest rates, not radically, but insidiously and continually. And you put all that together and it’s gonna really make a big difference if the president and his team talk about it daily and compare it to the Biden disaster. The other thing is Trump’s biggest asset was immigration. He stopped it. He didn’t curtail it. He stopped illegal immigration. They said that was impossible, comprehensive immigration—no, he didn’t need any of that. He just followed the law. But now he’s getting these bad optics and these blue enclaves where it’s organized, the opposition is organized by left-wing money, Antifa, etc. And they want Immigration and Customs Enforcement to be portrayed as Nazis, they want to dox them. So, ICE wears masks. And you know the whole story. They’re looking, they want to encourage people, they being elected officials—Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. They want people to go out and confront them, and they actually want people to be hurt or worse, to be martyrs. Why not just stay in places like we saw last week in West Virginia? Four hundred or 500 criminals rounded up. People who are happy. Law enforcement, both state, county, and local, complied. Not in the news, except the dividends that it’s a safer place and the law was enforced. Doesn’t mean you’re going to neglect the blue states. You’re just going to until the midterms. Look at places like Arkansas or Wyoming or Montana. Just look at places where you have a receptive population and a compliant and cooperative law enforcement entity. And that will give you great publicity that there’s no violence, there’s no protest, but you’re deporting thousands of criminals. And if you go into a criminal enclave and there happens to be somebody there and you say, I have, by law, I have to ask you what’s your status, and he is here illegally, then deport them. Doesn’t mean you have to neglect the law. There’s another advantage that Trump has. They’ve raised, I think, $90 to $100 million. They’ve out-raised the Left by three or four times. And the billionaire class of Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, not to mention Marc Andreessen or Elon Musk, they have defected, and it’s really hurting the Democrats. What they’re looking at in California with this billionaire’s tax, you can be a billionaire and have property and investments, homes, but you might only have, I don’t know, $100 million. They’re gonna take $50 million from you on your aggregate worth. That’s not gonna go over well with the billionaire class. And there, that’s just a foretaste of what Kamala Harris will do if she has a Democratic Congress. So, they’re gonna be able to raise more money, not just from the rank-and-file MAGA people, but from the donor class, which has been historically Democratic. And finally, there’s known unknowns. We’re at the precipice of radical things that are going on in Ukraine and the Middle East. They could be very bad, but they could also be very good. Mostly, foreign policy does not change a midterm election unless it is dramatic, fundamental, and a peace in Ukraine where you’re not getting 10,000 or 20,000 people killed and wounded a week, total casualties, not just fatalities, or you see that Iran’s government is overthrown and there’s a popular uprising where the United States is not seen as it was in Iraq as an invading foreign occupier, but as a helper of popular descent, that could be enormous. Just to review, there’s a lot of pros that could disrupt the historical cycle and see the Republicans hang onto the Congress. But there’s a lot of dangers, and you can go over the cliff if you continue to go into places like Minnesota, where they don’t want you, and you don’t really want to be there, but you feel obligated. I can understand that. But do that after the midterms. And the same thing is true—ignore what history says. This is a whole new ball game. We’ve never seen politics like this, and you can win the midterms even though you’re an incumbent president. And don’t make errors that don’t need to be made. Just put a czar on social media and say anything that comes through to the public from social media, from the Cabinet, has to be looked at first. Put Don Jr. in it. Put Eric. Just tell him somebody has to be responsible so this doesn’t get out and lose constituencies that won you the election in 2024. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post Trump, Beware—These ‘Unforced Errors’ Could Hand Democrats a Midterm Win appeared first on The Daily Signal.

As Americans insist on law and order and a restoration of sovereignty, a concerted effort unfolds among prominent church leaders and theologians. These church officials quite brazenly seek to “guilt” believers into accepting a lax immigration agenda—and even the lunacy of porous borders. But guilt is not gospel. Emotional manipulation does not flow from authentic pastoral authority.  So, what are the actual, legitimate principles of Christianity that should guide the consciences of Gospel followers when it comes to this foundational issue? First, as a two-thousand-year-old faith, we always harken back to the timeless wisdom of the ages, rather than fixate on the latest headlines or a prelate’s social media posts. In this regard, Thomas Aquinas provides particularly valuable insights, as one of the most esteemed fathers of the Church. In Summa Theologica, Aquinas wrote: “Man’s relations with foreigners are twofold, peaceful and hostile, and in directing both kinds of relation the Law contained suitable precepts.” He knew that for a society to pursue national benefit, civil leaders must employ prudential judgment in setting immigration standards that promote the common good for existing citizens. Aquinas understood that immigration is not an unquestioned noble goal. He sought to balance the prerogatives of citizens against any arguments for indiscriminate openness. His Thomistic vision gave weight to the timeless maxim that “charity begins at home.” Aquinas observed: “Man is debtor chiefly to his parents and his country, after God. Wherefore just as it belongs to religion to give worship to God, so does it belong to piety, in the second place, to give worship to one’s parents and one’s country.” On the question of when and how foreigners are to be integrated, Aquinas warned: “If foreigners were allowed to meddle with the affairs of a nation as soon as they settled down… many dangers might occur, since the foreigners, not yet having the common good firmly at heart, might attempt something hurtful to the people.” For Aquinas, the highest priority is not the preferences of foreigners, but the obligations owed to one’s own citizenry. Among Christian believers, this moral clarity resonates. Consider the 2024 presidential election. Immigration enforcement and border control formed the backbone of the Trump campaign, and it delivered: now-President Donald Trump carried every swing state and won the popular vote—the first Republican to do so in 20 years. He romped among Christian believers. White evangelicals made up 29% of his voter base, with Trump winning 84% of church-attending evangelicals. Among Catholics–the largest denomination in America–Trump jumped from a tie in 2020 to a decisive +12% margin. That surge powered his popular vote victory. As CatholicVote aptly noted: “The American people sent a clear message: the disaster at our southern border, and its shockwave effects throughout the nation, cannot continue.” What many church officials present as virtue often devolves into suicidal empathy—the impulse to feel generous without regard for order or consequence. But real compassion is never a blank check. And it must never override a nation’s duty to protect its people. Unfettered access to the United States is not a human right. Open borders are not necessary, not smart, and not sustainable. No serious country leaves the barn doors wide open for one and all. That’s not compassion–it’s recklessness from a government charged with defending its citizens in every way: physically, economically, and culturally. At the heart of any functioning nation is a solemn covenant between government and citizens: protection in exchange for allegiance. This bargain isn’t abstract. People count on this protection. They build their lives, raise their families, and work under the belief that their leaders will guard their safety, borders, and national integrity. When government abandons that duty in favor of globalist sentimentality, it breaks the bond of trust. Lax immigration practices bring human suffering—from contraband smuggling to the sexual exploitation of trafficked children. A mass zone of lawlessness violates the Christian understanding of civil order and undermines the national benefit we are morally obligated to preserve. In my latest battleground poll of North Carolina, Trump’s immigration approval rating among Protestants is +21%. Among the religiously unaffiliated (“nones”), it’s -22%. That’s the divide: those grounded in tradition demand enforcement; those adrift in secularism reject it. And increasingly, Americans see immigration enforcement as an affordability solution. After the damage of Bidenomics, working families are struggling. But thanks to 2.5 million illegals leaving during Trump’s first year, real wages began climbing, and rents hit a four-year low. These are pro-family, pro-worker results—fully aligned with a Christian vision of national stability. America has every right—and every obligation—to guard its borders and expel those who enter illegally. That is not only constitutional. It is Christian. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.  The post Christianity and Immigration Enforcement appeared first on The Daily Signal.

World leaders are assembling in Germany for the annual Munich Security Conference this weekend as memories of Vice President JD Vance’s stern rebuke one year ago still hang in the air. Instead of Vance, foreign leaders will hear an address from Secretary of State Marco Rubio Saturday morning. The speech will focus on how “a strong America is good for our nation, but also for our European allies,” according to the State Department. “I think it will be well received. We’ll see,” Rubio told the press as he prepared to depart Washington, D.C., for Europe on Thursday. Rubio declined to give any specifics about his planned speech or comment on whether it would be more “conciliatory” than Vance’s address last year, but the secretary said Europeans “want to know where we’re going.” “The world is changing very fast right in front of us. The old world is gone—frankly, the world that I grew up in—and we live in a new era in geopolitics, and it’s going to require all of us to sort of reexamine what that looks like and what our role is going to be,” Rubio said. The Munich Security Conference is a leading forum for world leaders and experts to debate security policy. Wolfgang Ischinger, who chairs the Munich Security Conference, told reporters Monday he views transatlantic relations as “in a considerable crisis of trust and credibility.” Europeans became acutely aware of a new tone out of Washington, D.C. last year, when Vance addressed European leaders at the conference and expressed concern over the “threat from within, the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values.” Vance named multiple European countries and detailed instances in which those governments curtailed freedom of speech and expression, including in the United Kingdom, where Vance said the “backslide away from conscience rights has placed the basic liberties of religious Britons, in particular, in the crosshairs.” “In Britain, and across Europe, free speech, I fear, is in retreat,” Vance said after telling the story of a man who was found guilty of breaking the U.K.’s “buffer zones” law while praying silently outside an abortion clinic. Vance also criticized Europe over its immigration policy. “In Washington, there is a new sheriff in town. And under [President] Donald Trump’s leadership, we may disagree with your views, but we will fight to defend your right to offer it in the public square, agree or disagree,” Vance told the crowd. Vance and Rubio are commonly flanking Trump during high profile meetings with world leaders. Across D.C., the two are viewed as the frontrunners for the 2028 presidential election, though neither has confirmed any plans to run for president. Rubio, like Vance, has proven to be a clear communicator and is expected to bring a direct message to Munich, though as Rubio told the press, the world will have to “wait till Saturday” to find out just how direct. European leaders are “most nervous about being criticized on issues such as mass migration and freedom of speech … which is exactly why Secretary Rubio should be raising these issues,” says Nile Gardiner, director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at The Heritage Foundation and former aide to Lady Thatcher. On the eve of Rubio’s speech, Wilson Beaver, a senior policy advisor for defense budgeting and NATO policy at The Heritage Foundation, said “the majority of European leaders and American leaders are both trying to strike a more conciliatory tone this year.” Much of Europe has changed in regard to defense spending since Vance delivered his speech last year, as Beaver points out. “Conservatives have been criticizing Europe for years and years, and some of us are so used to doing it that they haven’t stopped,” Beaver said. “But actually, European behavior has changed quite a bit.” In June 2025, Trump received a commitment from nearly every NATO country to increase defense spending to 5% of their GDP by 2035. Discussion over Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine is inevitable, as is conversation related to Trump’s expressed desire for the U.S. to own Greenland, which Beaver predicts will be the most likely issue contributing to “heated rhetoric from the Europeans” in Munich. Speaking from a U.S. defense perspective, Beaver says he will be watching to see if Rubio makes the “case for the American national security shift in the Western Hemisphere,” adding Rubio needs “to make the case to Europe about how it’s good for everyone that we’re reasserting ourselves in our backyard.” Additionally, Beaver hopes Rubio will challenge Europeans to sever close ties with China. The post One Year After Vance Rebuked Europe, World Leaders Brace for Rubio’s Message appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Advocating for an election reform measure that passed the House this week, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said elections are a basic infrastructure responsibility for her department.  “It’s a fact that non citizens have been voting in our elections,” Noem said Firday during a press conference in Phoenix. “They’ve been registered, and they have voted from state to state.” She called on Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which cleared the House this week. Short for Safeguard American Voter Eligibility, the proposal requires proof of citizenship to register to vote and mandates nationwide voter ID.  Democrats and opponents of the SAVE America Act say voter ID and proof of citizenship requirements would impose an unnecessary burden on voters.  Noem referenced an example of an illegal alien from who was registered to vote in Maryland and was employed as a school superintendent in Iowa. She cited another illegal alien who not only voted, but was also elected mayor of a Kansas town.  Noem was flanked by placards showing 84% support for voter ID, and support for the SAVE America Act.  Noem rebutted what she called “conspiracy theories” from opponents of the bill that it would lead to vast disenfranchisement of women, minorities, and U.S. military service members. “Each of the arguments that have been out laid out to criticize this bill are baseless speculation from the radical left, because they want illegal aliens to vote in our elections,” Noem said. “They want to disenfranchise American citizens by telling them that their votes don’t matter. There’s only one reason that anyone would oppose this bill and that’s because they would want to cheat. They want illegal people and aliens in this country to be able to vote for them, and to rob the United States citizens of their vote.” Arizona also requires proof of citizenship to vote in state elections, but cannot do so in federal elections because of national rules laid out under the 1993 National Voter Registration Act, better known as the “Motor Voter” law.  “As it stands, current guidelines for the National Voter Registration Act effectively stops states from going forward and checking citizenship during registration,” Noem said. “The SAVE America Act will fix this. It would make sure that we close those loopholes and that we ensure, in American elections, only Americans vote.” Arizona has been a hub for illegal immigration, and concerns about election integrity because it has been a battleground state. The state voted twice for Donald Trump in 2016 and 2024, and once for Joe Biden in 2020.  Noem said some Arizona residents have voter registration addresses at mobile homes, and boats on lakes in different states.  “Your state has been an absolute disaster on elections. Your leaders have failed you dramatically, by not having systems that work by disenfranchising Americans who wanted to vote, they had to stand in lines for hours because machines failed, or software failed,” Noem said.  The post ‘Want to Cheat’: Noem Rips ‘Conspiracy Theories’ Against SAVE America Act appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Across generations, the American Dream has been sustained by one simple idea: Hard work and smart decisions can lead to a better life. That belief shaped my own family’s story, and it’s what drives my work today. My parents came legally to America from Nigeria, believing this country would give them and their future children a chance to accomplish more than they ever could dream. They were right. My father, who became a college professor, saved every penny he could and used it to change the lives of me and my sisters. When he passed away, he left us a modest sum of money that helped me and my wife and purchase our first house together and form the foundation of our adult lives. That act of foresight changed everything for me. It showed me that real, lasting wealth is not only about income, but about intentional planning. Now, with three young children of my own, I think often about how to give them the same chance to thrive. For millions of parents across America, Trump Accounts are a powerful new tool. These tax-advantaged savings accounts, from the Working Families Tax Cuts initiative, help working and middle-class families save, invest, and build generational wealth for kids. Let’s clear up some confusion: Kids under 18 with a Social Security number qualify for family contributions up to $5,000/year, growing tax-free until 18. The $1,000 government boost is only for babies born between 2025 and 2028 via IRS Form 4547. Older kids still get core benefits. We’re signing up our son (born last year, eligible for both) and our two daughters, who also qualify. Under recent Treasury and IRS guidance, eligible Americans can open a Trump Account if they earn income under certain thresholds and file tax returns consistent with working-family deductions. Contributions to these accounts can be invested in a broad-based index of American equities, giving everyday Americans a way to participate in the long-term success of the U.S. economy. What makes these accounts especially meaningful is that the interest earned or investment gains grow tax-free if withdrawals follow the program’s qualified-use rules. Families can contribute up to specified yearly limits, and employers are encouraged to match or supplement those contributions as part of an employee benefit package. In short, it’s a simple, effective way to turn hard-earned wages into lasting wealth–something traditionally available only to those with specialized financial tools or expensive advisors. State financial officers have an important role to play in ensuring families know about this opportunity. Leaders like Mississippi Treasurer David McRae have already stepped forward to help spread the word. As a father of three, McRae understands that financial literacy isn’t just about dollars and cents. It’s about self-determination. He recently called Trump Accounts “a chance for parents to invest in their children’s future with purpose and pride.” I couldn’t agree more. The State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF), which I lead, is proud to join that effort by encouraging our treasurers, auditors, and other financial officers to partner with employers, community leaders, and schools to promote these accounts as financial literacy tools. We are also leading by example, as we plan to make Trump Accounts an SFOF employee benefit complete with matching contributions. But the greatest impact will come when families themselves take the first step. Opening a Trump Account doesn’t require great wealth or financial expertise. It only requires an intentional effort. Parents can set aside what they can each month and watch that investment grow alongside their children. It’s a simple act of preparation that says, “I believe in your future,” while teaching personal finance in the most practical way possible. For my wife and me, it means setting up accounts for each of our three children and contributing regularly, just as my father once invested in my future. We want our children to enter adulthood with the confidence that comes from financial stability, not the anxiety of debt or the uncertainty of starting from zero. Like so many American parents, we’re building not just a financial account, but a legacy. Very few presidents have been able to influence wealth building for everyday Americans in such a direct, material way. Policies come and go, but tools that empower families to save and invest can outlast any administration. Trump Accounts have the potential to be one of President Trump’s most enduring legacies because they give American families a real shot to change the financial future of their children. The promise of this country has always been that each generation can reach higher than the last. With Trump Accounts, that promise has a tangible form, one savings plan at a time. The opportunity is here. It’s time to make the most of it. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post From My Father’s Gift to My Children’s Future appeared first on The Daily Signal.