Victor Davis Hanson Says Democrats Echo Jacobins on race and borders
Victor Davis Hanson says the current Democratic Party is no longer truly democratic and now resembles the Jacobin Party of the French Revolution. In his telling, the party’s shift has made support for Israel and calls to stop institutionalized antisemitism on campuses a political liability, while Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman is the only vestigial Democrat left in Congress.
He tied that claim to a long list of examples: racial dorms and graduation ceremonies, hiring and promotion by race, support for race-based reparations, and tolerance for free speech restrictions labeled as disinformation and misinformation. Hanson also said Democrats have welcomed in 10 million to 12 million illegal aliens, backed biological men in women’s sports, and accepted cashless bail for violent felons who are back on the street hours later.
Hanson's Jacobin comparison
Hanson wrote that today’s party has a new spirit and methods that resemble the radical Jacobins of the French Revolution. He contrasted that with a Democratic tradition that he described as predictable for the past century, and he pointed back to the 1970s, when Democrats still deplored antisemitism and had rejected segregationists while championing civil rights.
He said the comparison is not just rhetorical. In his column, he argued that what was once a party that backed working Americans, labor, defense, and civil rights has moved toward positions that now punish dissent on race, immigration, campuses, and Israel.
Campus unrest and antisemitism
One of Hanson’s sharpest examples was campus unrest. He said the new Jacobins make excuses for pro-Hamas campus violence, including incidents that target Jewish students, while also treating free speech as disinformation or misinformation.
He also wrote that street theater and violence have focused on Tesla dealerships, ICE officers, conservative campus speakers, and sometimes journalists covering the unrest. In the same column, he said Black Lives Matter was a Jacobin ancillary, tying the movement to the broader political culture he was criticizing.
Border, abortion, and climate claims
Hanson extended the comparison to immigration and social policy. He said the new Jacobins destroyed the southern border, welcomed in 10 million to 12 million illegal aliens, and support radical abortion on demand until birth while opposing organized Christianity.
He also said radical green agendas warred against fossil fuels until recent pushbacks and cost the working classes billions of dollars through sky-high fuel and electricity costs. On those fronts, he described the party’s newer positions as part of a broader break from the older Democratic coalition.
Fetterman, Mamdani, and Platner
To make the contrast concrete, Hanson said Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman is the only vestigial Democrat left in Congress. He also pointed to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, whom he described as a rich Ugandan, and to Maine senatorial candidate Graham Platner, whom he described as a self-described communist who attended one of the most elite and expensive prep schools in the United States.
He closed the argument with a historical warning. Hanson said that forty years ago any Democrat with a Nazi tattoo would have been political toast, but today such a figure can become the party’s nominee for the Maine Senate race. That contrast is the standard he uses to argue the party’s internal rules have changed more than its slogans.
