The Case for Trump

by Victor Davis Hanson

Overview

A New York Times bestseller and “a brilliant and bracing analysis” (Mark R. Levin) of Donald Trump, his presidency, and his vision of America’s future—now updated for 2024
 
In The Case for Trump, award-winning historian and political commentator Victor Davis Hanson explains how a celebrity businessman with no political or military experience triumphed over sixteen well-qualified Republican rivals, a Democrat with a quarter-billion-dollar war chest, and a hostile media and Washington establishment to become an extremely successful president. 
 
Trump alone saw a political opportunity in defending the working people of America’s interior whom the coastal elite of both parties had come to scorn, Hanson argues. And Trump alone had the instincts and energy to pursue this opening to victory, dismantle a corrupt old order, and bring long-overdue policy changes at home and abroad. After decades of drift, America needed the outsider Trump to do what normal politicians would not and could not do. 
 
Now updated for the 2024 election with a comprehensive new introduction, this is the essential book on what Donald Trump means for America. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781541673557
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	03/17/2020
Edition description:	Revised ed.
Pages:	480
Sales rank:	62,749
Product dimensions:	8.20(w) x 5.40(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Victor Davis Hanson is a senior fellow in military history and classics at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and a professor emeritus of classics at California State University, Fresno. He is the author of over two dozen books, including The Second World Wars, The Dying Citizen, and The End of Everything. He lives in Selma, California.

Table of Contents

Preface 1

Introduction Meet Donald J. Trump 17

Part 1 What and Who Created Trump?

Chapter 1 The Two Americas 33

Chapter 2 Trumpism 78

Chapter 3 "Modern Day Presidential" 120

Part 2 An Establishment Without Answers

Chapter 4 Democratic Tribalism 151

Chapter 5 Republicans Lose While Winning 173

Chapter 6 The Ancien Régime 197

Part 3 Trump Metaphysics

Chapter 7 Trump on Decline 249

Chapter 8 Never Hillary 273

Chapter 9 The New/Old Crude Messenger 296

Part 4 The Ordeal, Triumph-And Ordeal-Of President Trump

Chapter 10 End Tramp! 325

Chapter 11 Trump, the Tragic Hero? 368

Chapter 12 Mr. Trump Goes to Washington 401

Part 5 Epilogue

Trump Trudges On: 2020 and Beyond 429

Index 443

Editorial Reviews

01/28/2019

Yes, President Trump is vulgar, petty, cruel, and occasionally incoherent, but he is also a political maestro with an impressive record in office who champions forgotten Americans, argues this enthusiastic apologia. Hanson (The Second World Wars), a Hoover Institution scholar of classics and military history and National Review columnist, credits Trump’s tax cuts, deregulation initiatives, and hard-line stances on trade and foreign policy with igniting an economic boom and advancing America’s national interests. Trump has also, he argues, revolutionized American politics with crude, blunt rhetoric and a populist vision that addresses the beleaguered white working class that feels threatened by globalization, mass immigration, and left-wing identity politics. Hanson is shrewd and insightful on Trump’s appeal—even the dyed hair and tan bespeak an endearing authenticity, he notes, “proof that even aging billionaires were patched-together, creaking everymen and insecure humans”—and on the disdain with which liberal (and Never-Trump Republican) politicians, media, and celebrities portray Trump’s supporters as bigots and losers. He’s less cogent when dubbing Trump a “tragic hero” like Achilles or Dirty Harry, and when he cursorily dismisses the importance of welfare initiatives like Obamacare to working-class people of all races. But this is one of the smartest conservative defenses of Trump yet published. Agents: Glen Hartley and Lynn Chu, Writers’ Representatives. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"As a great historian, Victor Davis Hanson makes the case for President Trump with unique insights and historic understanding and clarity. A must-read for everyone who supports the President or wants to understand this moment in history."—Newt Gingrich

"I come across books now and then, and I heartily recommend those I really like. But I'm just flat-out telling you to get this one. If you believe in Donald Trump, if you believe in the whole 'Make America Great Again' agenda, if you want to read some of the most intelligent defense of Trump, the most intelligent defense and explanation of Trump's agenda...the book is tremendous.... If you love Trump and if you're looking for ways to help other people who don't understand Trump to understand, this book is gonna be ideal."—Rush Limbaugh

"A brilliant and bracing analysis from one of the great thinkers and writers of our time, and a farmer to boot - Victor Davis Hanson. Hanson understood the circumstances that gave rise to Donald Trump early on, how the president has made long overdue changes, and why his enemies seek to destroy him."—Mark R. Levin

"Hanson is shrewd and insightful on Trump's appeal... one of the smartest conservative defenses of Trump yet published."—Publishers Weekly

"A well-researched explanation of how Mr. Trump beat all odds to win the presidency, and also an account of his first two years in office."—Washington Times

"Hanson sets out calmly, cogently, urgently a corrective to the anti-Trump hysteria."—The Times (UK)

"A necessary and important addition to the already existing body of literature on why and how President Trump defeated first his Republican rivals and later Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton... a timely and revealing book."—Washington Book Review

From the Publisher