“Trump Pulled Something Nobody Saw Coming... | Victor Davis Hanson”

Victor Davis Hanson breaks down the collision between cartels, Mexico, and U.S. politics — a crisis that is not only about crime but about sovereignty, economics, and demographics. With billions flowing south through remittances, trade imbalances, and cartel profits, America finds itself subsidizing the very forces destabilizing its own border. Meanwhile, sanctuary cities and partisan agendas complicate enforcement, turning law into a political weapon rather than a national standard. Hanson explains why Trump’s anger is not simply rhetorical: half of Mexico’s government is compromised by narco-money, cartels reach deep into American communities, and intimidation travels thousands of miles through networks of fear. The response, he argues, cannot be endless foreign entanglements but must begin with restoring deterrence — at the border, inside the U.S., and abroad. From immigration to the census, from fentanyl to Ukraine, Hanson connects the threads of how American policy, weakness, and political gamesmanship create openings for adversaries. At stake is not just one border or one administration, but whether the United States can still defend its sovereignty in a world eager to test it.