VDH: The Left's Anger Is Proof The Counter-Revolution Is Working

Victor Davis Hanson opens with a claim that sounds hyperbolic until he backs it up: we are watching the greatest counter-revolution in 90 years. No president has attempted to fundamentally restructure the nature of American government since FDR's New Deal in the mid-1930s. Trump is doing it — and the left is losing its mind because it's working.

The scoreboard is hard to argue with. Trump closed the border — something critics said couldn't be done. Over 675,000 illegal aliens have been deported, more than 400,000 of them charged with or convicted of crimes, and an estimated 2.2 million have self-deported (Department of Homeland Security). He declared war on DEI and is winning. He barred biological males from women's sports with full public support. Universities are now rushing to cut deals — agreeing to stop gouging the federal government on grant surcharges exceeding 40-50%, to follow Supreme Court rulings on race-based preferences, and to restore free speech on campus.

Abroad, Iran no longer poses an immediate nuclear threat. H-z-b, H-m-s, and the Houthis are in disarray or severely degraded. There's progress on Ukraine.

And the economic doomsayers? Wrong across the board. VDH notes the ???????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????????? news page predicted a recession. Critics said tariffs would crash the stock market. Instead, foreign investment commitments have surged past $9.6 trillion (White House), with tariff revenue projected at $194 billion for 2026 alone (Tax Foundation).

But VDH's sharpest insight is about why this time is different from Trump's first term. In term one, he was surrounded by people who thought they knew better — Rex Tillerson, Jim Mattis, Bill Barr, the anonymous op-ed writers — all either blocking or reinterpreting the MAGA agenda from within. This time, the team is aligned. And instead of treating progressive overreach as a set of individual policy disputes, Trump is going after the infrastructure itself.

That's the part the left really can't stomach. PBS and NPR — defunded. Cable and network news — facing court ramifications when they lie and defame. Universities — hit with fines, endowment taxes, and scrutiny over a $1.7 trillion student loan program, campus segregation in dorms and graduation ceremonies, and discriminatory hiring practices. The Department of Education itself is being questioned. And the foundational progressive assumption — that residency equals eventual citizenship — is being dismantled. If you came here illegally, you face deportation, even without a violent criminal record.

VDH's framework is elegant. The left holds power even when it doesn't control a single branch of government. It does this through the bureaucracies, the media, the universities and popular culture--even though its actual constituency is only about 40% on most issues. Trump is the first president to recognize that fighting the policies without dismantling the power structure that produces them is a losing game.

His warning is worth hearing. The resistance is coming, and it's going to be "????????????????????????????, ???????????????????????? ???????????? ???????? ????????????????." The left knows that if this counter-revolution succeeds, it will be very difficult to force an unpopular agenda on a country that never wanted it. VDH's advice is two words: brace yourself.

They're not angry because he's failing. They're angry because he's not.