Victor Davis Hanson: Democrats’ Radical Changing of the Guard

In this six-minute video from The Daily Signal, Victor Davis Hanson presents the major power shift taking place within the Democratic Party. Old-school leaders like Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and Dick Durbin are being pushed aside after losing control of the presidency, Congress, and courts in 2024. Rising far-left figures — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, “The Squad,” and activists like David Hogg — are gaining influence, calling for radical policies like the Green New Deal, open borders, and higher taxes. Watch as Hanson explains why establishment Democrats are more afraid of their own left flank than of Republicans, fearing a full-blown internal civil war within the party.

Editor’s Note: The transcript that follows was automatically generated and lightly edited, so please be aware there could be typos or other small errors. The Stream is working toward a transcription service that does fast, accurate, and reliable work; thank you in advance for your patience!

(00:00) We’re watching a metamorphosis of the Democratic party that is out of power. And we see that with Joe Biden and the Biden generation is over with. The old guard, Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, Chuck Schumer, Dick Durban. That old guard did not deliver the 2024 election and they lost the House. They lost the Senate.

(00:21) They don’t have a majority in the Supreme Court. They lost the popular vote. They lost the electoral college. So, in the eyes of the Democratic youth, they’re discredited. The Republicans are not afraid. They’re not afraid of the squad and the Jacobins and this new corridor, the David Hogs of the world.

(00:36) But you know who’s terrified of them? Dick Durban, Nancy Pelosi, and Chuck Schumer, because they don’t know how to handle them. Hello, this is Victor Davis Hansen. I’d like to talk today if I could about the changing of the Democratic Guard. There was some news lately that Senator Dick Durban from Illinois, he was the author, remember, of the Dream Act.

(01:07) He was a hardcore liberal. You could even say he was left of center. He’s stepping down. He’s in his 70s and he’s there’s a changing of the guard. Uh Chuck Schumer in some polls is running, I cannot believe it, behind AOC for his upcoming senatorial bid by 20 points and more in a primary. And then as sort of a force multiplier of this, I just saw Nancy Pelosi.

(01:32) She was at a public event. I think she’s 85 turning 86. She was as incoherent as Joe Biden. So what’s Victor trying to say? We’re watching a changing of the guard both due to aging and we see that with Joe Biden and the Biden generation is over with and Nancy Pelosi. And then the next cohort in their 70s, the septuagenarian, they’re terrified.

(01:58) Dick Durban’s terrified of being primaried and so is Chuck Schumer. He took the dignified way out. Chuck Schumer will probably fight to the very end and be humiliated by AOC. And who are these people? Well, the squad remember traditionally was Ilhan Omar, the Somalian who allegedly had married her brother to gain citizenship access to the United States.

(02:21) There was Ayanna Presley. She was the radical African-American congresswoman. We had of course AOC was was a prominent member. And uh we have also in addition to Rashid Talib, she was a member of the squad. She was the Michigan kind of pro Hamas congresswoman. Then we had the DNC and we had Ken Martin won the DNC chairmanship.

(02:46) He’s very much to the left and really to the left is his subordinate David Hog the vice chairman. He was the he went through the he was a survivor of the Parkland shooting remember in 2018 and he transmogrified into a gun uh anti-second amendment but then he got even more and more and more radical.

(03:07) I don’t think he’s ever really done anything except raise money. But here’s my point. We’re watching a metamorphosis of the Democratic Party that is out of power. The old guard, Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, Chuck Schumer, Dick Durban, that old guard did not deliver the 2024 election and they lost the House. They lost the Senate.

(03:34) They don’t have a majority in the Supreme Court. They lost the popular popular vote. They lost the electoral college. So, in the eyes of the Democratic youth, they’re discredited. But here’s the key. They didn’t lose the 2024 election because they were too far. They didn’t go far left enough.

(03:55) They lost it because Kamala Harris and her supporters tried to move her from her hard left. And can I make a parenthesis here? She had the most leftwing voting record in the US Senate to the left of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. And she couldn’t even move a little bit to the center. Although she tried. She said, remember that she was for fracking and she wanted the border wall and she was for deportation. That was all untrue.

(04:22) But the point I’m making is the party tried in a very anemic fashion to move to the center where they knew the votes were. But this new cohort is saying you lost the election because you didn’t go far left enough. And maybe we represent 20% of the Democratic registered cohort, but we’re young and we’re charismatic and we’re dynamic and we’re going to take this party uh in the 2026 midterms and the 2028 to victory.

(04:54) And we’re going to do it by a socialist agenda and a radical radical new new new green deal and an open border and a trans banner on every campaign event. That’s what who we are and a disarmament and we’re going to raise taxes on the billionaires and they all that’s their message. It has no public support.

(05:15) So even though they think they’re charismatic and they’re youthful, we get back to the old proverb of the 8020 paradigm. The Republican party has been on the 70 to 80% on the border of of where the people are on the border on foreign policy on the economy on social and cultural issue. These people, these Jacobin French revolutionaries, they’re 20 they’re pulling 20% to 30% on this issue.

(05:41) I’ll leave you with a final thought. The Republicans are not afraid. They’re not afraid of the squad and the jackabins and this new courtor, the David Hogs of the world. But you know who’s terrified of them? Dick Durban, Nancy Pelosi, and Chuck Schumer. Because they don’t know how to handle them.

(05:59) They’re part of themselves. It’s an incestuous relationship. And they’re saying to them, “But we’re the old guard.” And they’re saying, “You may be the old guard, but we’re going to guillotine you and get rid of you, and we’re coming in with a revolutionary fervor.” They’re terrified of This is Victor Davis Hansen for the Daily Signal.