nypost.com/2025/05/16/opinion/trump-is-taking-on-long-festering-ills-no-one-else-would-via-his-knock-down-drag-out-counterrevolution/

Trump’s ‘knock-down-drag-out counterrevolution’ is tackling long-festering ills no one else would

By 

Victor Davis Hanson

 

 

Published May 16, 2025

 

 

Pundits are confused about what to make of the first 100 days of the second Trump administration.

Supporters talk of “flooding the zone,” believing President Donald Trump is making so many changes so quickly that his opposition is reduced to deer-in-the-headlights infancy.

They must be right when the nation suffers daily Democratic potty-mouth videos, vandalism of Teslas, infantile meltdowns at congressional witnesses, rioting against federal agents to protect illegal-alien felons, protesting on behalf of women beaters, M-13 gangbangers, human traffickers and assaulters, and visa-holding violent students praising Hamas terrorists.

In contrast, opponents either claim Trump’s first three months are either directionless chaos or a Hitlerian nightmare or both.

But what is really happening?

One, Trump is finally addressing the problems that proverbially “cannot go on forever, and so they won’t go on.”

When, if ever, would the left have closed the southern border?

After 10 million, 30 million, 50 million illegal aliens?

How many more criminal illegal entrants was the Biden administration willing to allow into American neighborhoods — 500,000?

1 million?

3 million?

How long was the world simply going to ignore the human destruction on the doorstep of Europe?

Would former President Joe Biden or former Vice President Kamala Harris have sought a Ukraine War cease-fire?

Or would it have taken another 1.5 million, 3 million or even 5 million more dead, wounded, and missing Ukrainians and Russians?

Nor did past administrations ever seek a solution to the massive national debt, much less the uncontrollable budget and trade deficits.

All prior presidents passed the day of judgment on to some vague future presidency, assured that their money printing would at least not blow up on their watch.

All moaned that China was piling up huge trade surpluses while denying its own population the usual modern safety net.

They knew Beijing’s aim was to use the trillions of dollars in trade surpluses to build a new massive military, a greater arsenal of nuclear bombs and a new imperial Belt and Road overseas empire.

Yet no administration did anything but greenlight American offshoring while ignoring Chinese trade cheating and technology theft.

Indeed, prior presidencies appeased and enriched China on the foolish belief that such indulgence would lead to Chinese prosperity, and with such Western-style affluence, soon a globalized, democratic and supposedly friendly China.