Victor Davis Hanson: Democrats Cried ‘Insurrection’—Now They’re Encouraging One

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🗓️ 25 November 2025

⏱️ 9 minutes

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Summary

Six Democrat lawmakers urged members of the military to openly defy their commands from President Donald Trump and War Secretary Pete Hegseth last week. Their video sent shock waves through the political narrative as Trump called their actions “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH” on Truth Social. But this Democrat insurrection is not new, as they’ve spent the past year openly encouraging defiance of federal law, from sanctuary cities to calls for soldiers to ignore orders. Victor Davis Hanson breaks down this disturbing trend on the left on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.” “ We have 600 jurisdictions in which blue cities and states say that the federal law no longer applies in their jurisdiction. That's sort of neo-Confederate nullification that's prompted the Civil War. And you know, when Jefferson Davis, when he ordered South Carolina troops to fire on Fort Sumter, all he was doing was saying that the federal government is at war with the state. That's what our mayors are doing in these blue jurisdictions.” (0:00) Introduction(0:11) Historical Context (3:10) Nullification by Local Authorities(7:40) The Left's Broader Agenda Daily Signal today. You’ll be notified every time a new piece of content drops: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/dailysignal?sub_confirmation=1⁠ 👉Want more VDH? Watch Victor’s weekly, hour-long podcast, “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words,” now! Subscribe to his YouTube channel, and enabling notification: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@victordavishanson7273?sub_confirmation=1⁠ 👉More exclusive content are available on Victor’s website: ⁠https://victorhanson.com⁠ 👉The Daily Signal cannot continue to tell stories, like this one, without the support of our viewers: ⁠https://secured.dailysignal.com/⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'd like to talk about insurrection chic. By that I mean this phenomenon of the Democrats,
0:05.2	maybe the left in general, it's talking about ways of undermining the jurisdiction of our own
0:10.5	federal government. Did you ever see the movie Seven Days in May, 1964, about an officer,
0:16.0	General Scott, I think he was played by Bert Lancaster, and he said, basically, we're going
0:20.4	to nullify the
0:21.5	presidential directives and not abide by a treaty of the federal government. This is very ironic
0:26.7	because the left lectured us on insurrection, insurrection, insurrection. But what's going on now
0:31.7	is quite scary. Most recently, we had a number of Democratic Congress people and senators who were addressing
0:39.5	soldiers and they said, you have the right to disobey an order if it's unlawful.
0:45.4	What was the point of telling 1.3 million soldiers that are now on active duty that you
0:50.3	have the right to disobey a superior's order. Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson for the Daily Signal.
1:07.0	I'd like to talk about insurrection chic.
1:10.0	By that I mean this phenomenon of the Democrats in particular and maybe the left in general.
1:16.4	It's talking about ways of undermining the jurisdiction of our own federal government.
1:21.4	I don't know what their model is.
1:22.9	Is it Jefferson Davis who ordered South Carolina state troops to fire on the federal fort at Fort Sumter,
1:31.5	in 1861, that ushered in the Civil War.
1:35.0	Or maybe it's George Wallace, standing in the door step of the University of Alabama saying,
1:40.8	we're not going to hear in Alabama obey state law on segregation and racial discrimination.
1:47.8	Or maybe did you ever see the movie seven days in May, 1964, about an officer, General Scott.
1:56.0	I think he was played by Bert Lancaster.
1:58.1	And he said, basically, we're going to nullify the presidential directives
	...

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