Victor Davis Hanson: The World Is Becoming More Pro-American Than It Has Been in Years

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
Welcome to The Daily Signal Podcast, where we provide intelligence for the intelligent. Now, without further ado, here's today's take.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:09)
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**Victor Davis Hanson** (0:35)
The Western Hemisphere is now staunchly pro-US and copying many of the protocols that we are such as tough on crime, pre-market economics, secure borders, and illegal immigration. They're not sending people out of insane asylums, or mental hospitals, or prisons into the United States. It's a radically different world.
Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson for The Daily Signal. The world that we're looking at today is radically different than that just five years ago. Radically different in the sense that it is much more in the interest of the United States. And I know that seems controversial because Trump is written off as someone who is too fluid, volatile, his tweets, his verbiage can put people off. But that's the art of the deal on predictability of his nature. Some of it can be a drawback, some an advantage, but overall, it doesn't help analysis to just look at what he says. It's more important to see what he's done. Let's go through the world abroad as it is today, systematically. Look at Latin America. Five years ago, the Chinese were controlling through their surrogate companies the entry and exit to Panama. Russia and China were the de facto rulers of Venezuela, the second largest oil reserves in the world. A slew of communist governments had taken over South America. Cuba was still defiant.
What's happened now?
There are no Chinese influencers in Panama. We have said that John Kerry was wrong. The Monroe Doctrine is not anachronistic. It's very much alive. There have been pro-U.S. changes in government in Venezuela, maybe not immediately yet, but there will be Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina. That's just a radical change. In other words, the Western Hemisphere is now staunchly pro-U.S. and copying many of the protocols that we are, such as tough on crime, free market economics, secure borders, and illegal immigration. They're not sending people out of insane asylums or mental hospitals or prisons into the United States. It's a radically different world. Look at Europe.
Five years ago, Europe had been jaw-boned by Donald Trump in his first term to at least spend 2%. Only six nations, he jaw-boned them, he threatened them. Six nations did so. Now almost 30 of 32 nations have agreed to spend 2% GDP, but more importantly, they have now all agreed to spend 5%. Even the two free-riders that are most notorious, Spain and Canada, yes, they do not spend 2%, and Spain has defied NATO's protocols and says it will not spend 5%. Canada, for all of self-righteousness, was running a $55 billion surplus with us. It was not patrolling its northern border as it should, and it was spending about 1.3% GDP on defense. And now, it has pledged to spend not just 2%, but work its way up to the projected and desirable 5%. It's working to reduce its surplus. Spain has stopped all of this bellicose verbiage that's going to resist the United States. Why? Because Trump said, go your own way. We don't need you, and we don't want your products, and we don't even want your NATO base. Just be happy and go off on yourself and create the Spanish Empire again if you want. It worked. Spain said, no, no, no, no, we're a NATO member. You misunderstood us. So if you look at Europe today, they are going to spend probably a half of trillion dollars in further defense readiness. More importantly, they're re-examining all of the things that weaken Europe. This green mania, they're going to bring back nuclear power, natural gas, oil production. It won't be rapid and there'll be resistance, but they know that that's the only recourse for them. They're going to secure their borders, and they're going to start deporting people from Europe.
In other words, Europe is going to be much stronger, and it will be more closely aligned with the United States, even though they might not say so. Russia, Russia is not getting sanctioned oil from Venezuela or Iran.
None.
It's been, there's been a radical change in the course of the Ukraine war, partly because Donald Trump said, all targets are up for grabs. Ukraine, I made my peace with Zelensky, and if you want to hit refineries with your drones, go ahead. And oh, by the way, we're going to let you produce Patriot missiles. We'll give you a license to do so, so you can protect your cities. Russia has lost its client in the Middle East, in Syria, and it's probably the weakest point economically, militarily, industrially in the last 50 years, especially vis-a-vis the United States, where the economy is growing at almost 2.5 percent GDP, and our military will now spend $1.5 trillion, almost 5 percent of GDP, and we've exceeded all of our recruiting targets. The same thing is true of China. China was creating an enclave in the Belt and Road agenda in Latin America. It's out now.