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Sheepdog Syndrome May Hurt Trump · Check with Chip

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Check with Chip, brought to you by Operation
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Blue Dot Red, turning the blue dot red one podcast
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: at a time. Conservative commentator Victor Davis Hanson has an
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  Speaker 1: interesting theory on why President Trump does not seem to
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  Speaker 1: receive the positive reaction from the American people that some
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  Speaker 1: of us think he deserves. Hanson says Trump may be
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  Speaker 1: a victim of his own success. Hansen is a scholar
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  Speaker 1: and professor at Stanford and Hillsdale, a classicist by training.
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  Speaker 1: That means he studied ancient Greece and Rome and their
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  Speaker 1: impact on Western civilization. It shapes much of his analysis
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  Speaker 1: of the modern situation. For instance, Hansen thinks the legacy
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  Speaker 1: of the classical tragic hero may apply to Trump. Look
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  Speaker 1: at the violence and chaos besieging France at the moment.
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  Speaker 1: and the rest of Europe over the last decade or
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  Speaker 1: two because of unchecked immigration. Trump's number one issue in
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  Speaker 1: the 2024 campaign was fixing the border and immigration crisis
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  Speaker 1: that President Biden had let spin out of control. During
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  Speaker 1: that campaign, Democrats in Congress floated a bill they said
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  Speaker 1: was the only way to fix the crisis. Trump said, no,
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  Speaker 1: don't do it. It's an amnesty bill and it's not needed.
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  Speaker 1: The president and the federal government have the tools they
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  Speaker 1: need to fix the crisis. Critics tore into Trump for
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  Speaker 1: preferring to perpetuate a crisis for campaign leverage rather than
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  Speaker 1: fix a problem for the good of the nation. Most
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  Speaker 1: Republicans in Congress refused to take the bait offered by
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  Speaker 1: the left. The bill died. Trump was elected. Upon taking office,
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  Speaker 1: Trump began to arrest and deport illegal immigrants. Meanwhile, within
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  Speaker 1: six months, the border was secure. Trump was right. Back
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  Speaker 1: to Victor Davis Hanson. He said whether it's an ancient
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  Speaker 1: Greek hero or a gunslinger in a modern American Western,
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  Speaker 1: often the fixer of the problem is a rough customer
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  Speaker 1: who makes polite folk uncomfortable. Once the problem is solved,
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  Speaker 1: people want the problem solver to go away. Thank you,
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  Speaker 1: but we don't need or want you anymore. Adios. Hansen
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  Speaker 1: thinks Trump solving the border and immigration crisis may reflect
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  Speaker 1: that streak in human nature. That issue alone should have
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  Speaker 1: him at at least 50% approval. He's generally down in
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  Speaker 1: the low 30s. But now that the border is secure
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  Speaker 1: and the machinery of government is working to reduce the
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  Speaker 1: number of illegal immigrants in America, Hansen wonders whether the
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  Speaker 1: public is now done with Trump. It's possible. Hansen has
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  Speaker 1: written numerous books on military history. I suppose General George
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  Speaker 1: Patton is a similar character. A bombastic and abrasive personality?
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  Speaker 1: but on numerous occasions he did what needed doing and
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  Speaker 1: what nobody else seemed willing or able to do. Some
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  Speaker 1: considered it poetic, maybe even divine providence, that Patton died
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  Speaker 1: from injuries resulting from an automobile accident soon after the
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  Speaker 1: end of World War II because he was agitating for
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  Speaker 1: immediate war with the Soviet Union and would not have
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  Speaker 1: fit in post-war society. I also thought of the famous
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  Speaker 1: speech by Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman about sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs.
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  Speaker 1: Grossman said most people are sheep. He did not mean
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  Speaker 1: it in a derogatory way. He meant most people are
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  Speaker 1: not violent or predatory and just want to live in peace.
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  Speaker 1: Some are wolves who prey on sheep. Then there are
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  Speaker 1: the sheepdogs, by whom Grossman meant law enforcement and military
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  Speaker 1: and and all who wield lethal force to protect the
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  Speaker 1: sheep from the wolves. Some sheep are nervous when the
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  Speaker 1: sheepdogs are around because they have teeth and claws and
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  Speaker 1: lethal capacity similar to wolves. I'm thinking of the white
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  Speaker 1: liberal Black Lives Matter protesters who vilify law enforcers and
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  Speaker 1: idolize wolves such as George Floyd and Michael Browne But
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  Speaker 1: in private life, away from the cameras and protests, they
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  Speaker 1: expect protection from the wolves by the sheepdogs. Like Patton,
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  Speaker 1: Trump is a sheepdog with a dangerous edge that to
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  Speaker 1: some may seem indistinguishable from that of wolves. But that's
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  Speaker 1: what allows a Patton or Trump to meet the moment,
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  Speaker 1: beat the wolves, and protect the flock. Trump sometimes does
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  Speaker 1: not help himself by engaging in what looked to the
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  Speaker 1: rest of us like gratuitous, unnecessary cheap shots. That, plus
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  Speaker 1: the success he has had in securing the border and
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  Speaker 1: deporting illegal immigrants and cutting inflation basically in half and
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  Speaker 1: crushing the threat of Iranian nuclear terror and restoring fair
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  Speaker 1: trade relations and bringing jobs and capital investment back to
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  Speaker 1: America from foreign locales and getting men the hell out
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  Speaker 1: of women's sports and personal spaces, all of that may
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  Speaker 1: have people thinking, okay, now that all of that has
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  Speaker 1: been accomplished, the negative Trump is becoming intolerable. The challenge
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  Speaker 1: for J.D. Vance will be to maintain the sheepdog edge
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  Speaker 1: in dealing with wolves without unduly scaring or aggravating the sheep.
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  Speaker 1: I think Marco Rubio is coming on as an alternative
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  Speaker 1: to Vance to succeed Trump because people see in Rubio
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  Speaker 1: the sheepdog tenacity and can-do ability without the negative baggage.
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  Speaker 1: We'll see how it plays out. Meanwhile, we have two
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  Speaker 1: more years of Trump. If Iran turns out well and
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  Speaker 1: gas prices come down and the border remains secure and
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  Speaker 1: the economic benefit of increased domestic investment and job creation
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  Speaker 1: takes hold, and there is further movement in the direction
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  Speaker 1: of cultural sanity on sexuality and other issues, then Vance
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  Speaker 1: or Rubio or whoever succeeds Trump as the Republican nominee
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  Speaker 1: for president will have Trump to thank for creating such
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  Speaker 1: advantageous conditions for the Republican candidate. That's Check with Chip.
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  Speaker 1: I'm Chip Maxwell. Thank you for listening.