Victor Davis Hanson: Hamas in ‘No Way’ Would Have Invaded Israel under Trump

Hamas’s unprecedented invasion of Israel would in “no way” have transpired under the presidency of Donald Trump, according to world-renowned military historian and professor Dr. Victor Davis Hanson, who also argued that Russia would not have invaded Ukraine and China would not have sent spy balloons over the U.S., as he urged America to take back its international standing.

Speaking on former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia John Anderson’s “Conversations” podcast Wednesday, Dr. Hanson suggested that “to his credit,” former President Donald Trump demonstrated American deterrence and determination through his assassination of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani and destruction of the Islamist terror group ISIS. 

In response, “Iran did not do anything,” and “there would be no way Hamas was doing this between 2017 and January of 2021,” he argued. “They had a small war, but they never did anything like this.”

According to Hanson, additional countries would have also been deterred under a Trump presidency.

“I don’t think Vladimir Putin would have gone into Ukraine, and I don’t think that China would have sent a balloon,” he said, attributing that to Trump’s reputation for being “unpredictable” and the nations’ conviction it would be a “dangerous thing” to tempt the United States. 

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“And I think we want to get back to that,” he added.

While noting that “Trumpian rhetoric” was not essential, Hanson declared that the former president “set a model” whereby, during his presidency, Tehran was “suddenly” quiet for four years after having perpetually issued threats, and Russia “did not move” in Ukraine.

In addition, he highlighted how President Trump was warned against moves that would unleash mayhem, yet his unyielding approach proved to be most effective:

Everybody said if you move the embassy to Jerusalem, if you say that the Golan Heights shall be Israeli, if you cut off the $700 million to the Palestinians, if you say that you’re not going to give one dime to [the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East] — you can’t do that.

“And he did it all, and nothing happened,” he added. “And that was because we were strong and reliable. And I think we’ll be that way again.”

According to Hanson, if America projects strength, her allies “can be assured that they don’t have to go out on a limb.”

“That’s the real issue, isn’t it?” he said. “Because when we step back, then Japan and Australia and Taiwan — they’re confronted with a China that’ll say, ‘Look, the United States is in decline, [so] you better cut a deal with us or at least understand that we’re here.’” 

He then asserted that the U.S. cannot demand countries lacking the “wherewithal to stand up to these global bullies” do so:

When we step back, we put them in an impossible situation; but when we step up, and we say, “We’re not asking you to be at the front of the steer, but we’re asking all of us to have shared interests and to sacrifice together in deterring these people,” then we’re always surprised how many allies we have.

“I don’t know why we don’t understand that lesson,” he added. “Some presidents understand it, some don’t.”

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Hanson, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, insisted that one cannot “put allies in a position where they have to profess 110 percent solidarity with the United States when the United States doesn’t believe in itself, and it’s going to put them in jeopardy for that fealty — and that’s just a law of diplomacy.”

“And I think, to our blame, we didn’t understand that. We used to understand it, but we lost that, and I think it will come back again — that we won’t do that again. I’m hoping,” he said.

On Friday, Hanson argued:

The more a bankrupt America appeases the Middle East, sends aid and money, takes in its refugees, and lectures democratic Israel, all the more the Arab world shows contempt, and all the closer we get to a theater-wide war — predicated on the idea that a loud but contemptibly weak America is at the mercy of unstable governments and unhinged throngs.

He also called to:

Vastly increase our defenses, prepare for the worst, return to maximum fossil fuel production, stop importing oil and hatred of America from the Middle East, cease unrestricted immigration and yank visas, enforce our immigration laws—and allow Israel to defend itself from pre-civilizational murderers.

Earlier this month, Hanson accused the Biden administration of bolstering Hamas and its “SS murderers” while calling on Americans to demand “not one more American cent” be transferred to the Palestinians.

The current conflict between Israel and the terrorist Hamas organization follows the latter’s execution of the worst terror attack in Israel’s history on October 7.

The unprecedented attack saw some 2,500 terrorists burst into Israel by land, sea, and air and gun down participants at an outdoor music festival while others went door-to-door hunting, torturing, shooting, and kidnapping Jewish men, women, and children in local towns. 

The terrorists also burned homes with families inside while proceeding to murder soldiers and infants alike, all while showering thousands of rockets down on Israeli civilian centers.

The attack has, so far, resulted in around 1,200 deaths, the vast majority of them civilians, more than 5,300 injured, and at least 222 hostages of all ages taken captive in Gaza, including several Americans.