# The Counterrevolution *By Victor Davis Hanson. Subtitle: The Fall and Rise of Donald Trump and the MAGA Movement. New York: Basic Books, 8 September 2026. Hardcover ISBN 978-1-5416-0782-8. A Hoover Institution classicist and military historian's account of Donald Trump's "wilderness years" (January 2021 to the 2024 nomination), his 2024 win, and the first year or so of his second term, which Hanson presents as a deliberate "counterrevolution" against fifty years of progressive gains in the universities, media, bureaucracy and culture. Sequel in spirit to his* The Case for Trump *(Basic Books, 2019).* > **What I actually read.** The book is in copyright (© 2026) and came out two months ago; there is no legal free copy, and I did not read it. The **table of contents** comes from the MARC 505 contents note in public library catalogs (Flatirons/Broomfield, Spokane, Fountaindale, Richland). Library catalogs do not give chapter start pages, so none are given here. The **chapter descriptions** are built from (a) Hanson's own exclusive excerpt in *The Free Press* (4 September 2026), (b) his interviews with the *Deseret News* and *The Daily Signal*, and (c) reviews that quote the text: PJ Media, *The Washington Times*, Kirkus, Michael Munger (Civitas Institute) and Hunter Baker (*WORLD*). Anything in quotation marks below is quoted as those sources quote it, and the source is named. I give no page numbers because I never saw a page. Where I used a third-party "key takeaways" summary (insta.page) to fill in chapter detail, I say so; treat those points as unverified. Related in this vault: the source video note [[Video Summaries/American Thought Leaders - The Epoch Times/Victor Davis Hanson What the Democratic Midterm Sweep Means for Trump MAGA and 2028]]. The same video also put the host's book, *Killed to Order* by Jan Jekielek, in the queue. ## 1. Book facts | | | |---|---| | Title | *The Counterrevolution: The Fall and Rise of Donald Trump and the MAGA Movement* (catalog variant title: *Fall & rise of Donald Trump and the Make America Great Again movement*) | | Author | Victor Davis Hanson (born 5 September 1953), Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow in Classics and Military History, Hoover Institution; professor emeritus of classics, California State University, Fresno | | First edition | New York: Basic Books, 2026; © 2026. "First edition." 485 pages, 24 cm. "Includes bibliographical references (pages 413-467) and index." LCCN [2026938464](https://lccn.loc.gov/2026938464); OCLC 1568202691; Dewey 973.934 ([Flatirons Library MARC](https://broomfieldkids.flatironslibrary.org/Record/.b3252707x); [Spokane Public Library MARC](https://catalog.spokanelibrary.org/catalog/Record/f84e46b7-0d02-48ec-be0c-9c448493dc52)) | | ISBNs | Hardcover 1541607821 / 9781541607828 (US$34.00; C$45.00); ebook US$19.99 (ISBN not confirmed); audiobook download 9781668658253 (US$38.99) ([Hachette Book Group](https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/victor-davis-hanson/the-counterrevolution/9781541607828/); [AudiobookStore](https://audiobookstore.com/audiobooks/the-counterrevolution-1)) | | Publication date | 8 September 2026 (US); 24 September 2026, £28 (UK, [Hachette UK](https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/victor-davis-hanson-2/the-counterrevolution/9781541607828/)) | | Structure | Preface; Part One, "The Fall" (chs. 1–4); Part Two, "The Rise" (chs. 5–9); Afterword; notes; index. The main narrative ends in January 2026, the afterword runs to April 2026 ([PJ Media](https://pjmedia.com/jennifer-rust/2026/09/07/the-counterrevolution-victor-davis-hansons-book-reviews-the-trump-fall-and-rise-n4956980)), and a "special note" dated 1 May 2026 acknowledges that events, such as the Iran war, had overtaken the text ([*WORLD*](https://wng.org/articles/a-book-before-its-time-1793127092/)) | | Audiobook | Unabridged, read by Bob Souer, 16 h 4 min, Basic Books / Hachette Audio, 8 September 2026 ([Audible](https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Counterrevolution-Audiobook/B0GL9FD963); [AudiobooksNow](https://www.audiobooksnow.com/audiobook/the-counterrevolution/10479602/)) | | Sales claim | "An Instant #1 *New York Times* Bestseller" (publisher and Amazon copy; I did not check the list itself) | | Blurbs | President Donald Trump ("Victor Davis Hanson explains it all, and better than ever before. Get his historically important book now."), Ben Shapiro, Sean Hannity, Devin Nunes; review excerpts from *The New Criterion*, *The Times* (UK), *The Washington Times*, *The Federalist*, *Commentary*, *American Thinker* (Hachette page) | | Open Library | Work [OL45032364W](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL45032364W), edition [OL61431501M](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL61431501M) (a pre-publication record giving 368 pages, which is wrong) | | Cover | [Hachette cover image](https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/9781541607828.jpg) | **Where it came up.** - Video: [Victor Davis Hanson: What the Democratic Midterm Sweep Means for Trump, MAGA, and 2028](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jwhzie7I7g), *American Thought Leaders* (The Epoch Times), host Jan Jekielek, published 2026-11-05, recorded the morning after the 2026 midterms. At **[0:36](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jwhzie7I7g&t=36s)** Jekielek introduces Hanson as the author of *The Counterrevolution*. Later in the interview Hanson lays out the book's thesis: Trump 2.0 goes after the sources of progressive power (universities, media, the administrative state, NGOs) with executive orders on the border, ICE, NPR/PBS, USAID and conditions on campus antisemitism. He also tells a story from the book about not speaking ill of Rob Reiner after his death (at [56:36](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jwhzie7I7g&t=3396s)). - Requested by Video Summaries on 2026-11-06. - Vault note: [[Video Summaries/American Thought Leaders - The Epoch Times/Victor Davis Hanson What the Democratic Midterm Sweep Means for Trump MAGA and 2028]]. ## 2. Book resources **Reference and catalog pages.** Publisher: [Hachette Book Group / Basic Books](https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/victor-davis-hanson/the-counterrevolution/9781541607828/) (also [HBG Academic](https://www.hbgacademic.com/titles/victor-davis-hanson/the-counterrevolution/9781541607828/) and [Hachette UK](https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/victor-davis-hanson-2/the-counterrevolution/9781541607828/)). Hoover Institution [book page](https://www.hoover.org/research/counterrevolution-fall-and-rise-donald-trump-and-maga-movement). Open Library: [work OL45032364W](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL45032364W). Google Books: [V_7T0QEACAAJ](https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Counterrevolution.html?id=V_7T0QEACAAJ) (bibliographic record only; no preview). WorldCat: [OCLC 1568202691](https://search.worldcat.org/title/1568202691) (the site blocks scripted checks; the number comes from the MARC record). Library of Congress: [LCCN 2026938464](https://lccn.loc.gov/2026938464). Goodreads: [246182018](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/246182018-the-counterrevolution). **Free (legal).** - **No legal free full text.** The book was published in September 2026 and is in copyright. Project Gutenberg: not applicable. - **Internet Archive lending / Open Library borrow: no.** There is no Internet Archive copy (advanced search for title "counterrevolution" by creator "hanson" returns nothing), and Open Library lists the work as "no ebook". - **Libby/OverDrive: yes, ebook and audiobook.** San Francisco Public Library has "EBOOK LIBBY" and "EAUDIOBOOK LIBBY" copies ([SFPL record](https://sfpl.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S93C7486069)), and the Metropolitan Library System (Oklahoma) has an [OverDrive Kindle-format record](https://metro-prod.groveforlibraries.com/OverDrive/kindle:961ef51a-6c8d-4ecc-8591-21dc3cc4f19c/Home). Search your own library in [OverDrive](https://www.overdrive.com/search?q=9781541607828). Expect holds: one public library showed 26 people waiting for 10 copies on order before publication ([Wake County](https://catalog.wake.gov/Record/818663)). - **Hoopla: ebook yes (at some libraries).** SFPL lists an "EBOOK HOOPLA" copy (same record). I found no Hoopla audiobook. - **Free excerpt:** Hanson's chapter-length excerpt on MAGA after Trump, in [*The Free Press*, 4 September 2026](https://www.thefp.com/p/victor-davis-hanson-after-trump-maga-vance-movement). It is partly paywalled. - **Print at your library:** widely held. The catalogs above, and Wake County, Fountaindale and Richland, all have copies. **Paid.** - **Amazon print.** [Hardcover, ISBN 1541607821](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1541607821) (Basic Books, 8 September 2026, 496 pp. per Amazon). No paperback yet. - **Kindle.** Yes: [ASIN B0GF1K43WM](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GF1K43WM), US$19.99 list. - **Audible.** Yes: [ASIN B0GL9FD963](https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Counterrevolution-Audiobook/B0GL9FD963), read by Bob Souer, 16 h 4 min (UK: [B0GL91YB7T](https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/The-Counterrevolution-Audiobook/B0GL91YB7T)). - **Other:** Barnes & Noble, Bookshop, Books-A-Million and Target are linked from the Hachette page; *The Daily Signal* has a [preorder page](https://www.dailysignal.com/the-counterrevolution-book/). ## 3. Author biography **Victor Davis Hanson** was born on 5 September 1953 and grew up on his family's farm near Selma, California, in the San Joaquin Valley. The land has been in the family since the 1870s, and he still lives and works there ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Davis_Hanson); the *Deseret News* says he is the fifth generation on land his great-great-grandmother acquired in 1870, [Deseret News, 12 September 2026](https://www.deseret.com/politics/2026/09/12/victor-davis-hanson-counterrevolution-donald-trump-maga/)). He took a B.A. in classics at UC Santa Cruz (1975) and a Ph.D. in classics at Stanford (1980). After four years farming full time (1980–84), he founded the classics program at California State University, Fresno, in 1984 and taught there until taking early retirement in 2004. He won the American Philological Association's Excellence in Teaching Award in 1991 (Wikipedia). His scholarship began with agrarian Greek warfare: *Warfare and Agriculture in Classical Greece* (1983), *The Western Way of War* (1989) and *The Other Greeks* (1995). Donald Kagan called the work on the small farmer and Greek democracy "the most important work in Greek history in my lifetime" (quoted on Wikipedia). Broader military histories followed: *Carnage and Culture* (2001, UK title *Why the West Has Won*), *A War Like No Other* (2005), *The Savior Generals* (2013) and *The Second World Wars* (2017). He also wrote a novel, *The End of Sparta* (2011), books on farming (*Fields Without Dreams*, 1996) and on immigration (*Mexifornia*, 2003), and, with John Heath, *Who Killed Homer?* (1998). His political books from Basic Books are *The Case for Trump* (2019), *The Dying Citizen* (2021), *The End of Everything* (2024) and this one. He is the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, where he chairs its working group on military history ([Hoover profile](https://www.hoover.org/profiles/victor-davis-hanson)), and a visiting professor at Hillsdale College. He received the National Humanities Medal from President George W. Bush in 2007 and the Bradley Prize in 2008, and served on the American Battle Monuments Commission in 2007–08. He wrote for *National Review Online* from 2001 to 2021, has had a syndicated Tribune column since 2004, and posts essays at [victorhanson.com](https://victorhanson.com/) (Wikipedia). Once a registered Democrat, he backed the Iraq War and later Trump. He is a registered independent and says he voted for Trump (Deseret News). His 2013 column "Facing Facts about Race" was widely criticized as racist; he answered that the criticism was "McCarthyite" (Wikipedia). Wikipedia also reports that he had surgery for a lung adenocarcinoma at Stanford on 31 December 2025, and that complications slowed his recovery. That was during the period covered by this book's afterword; he talks about his health in the Uncommon Knowledge interview (section 4). ## 4. Author interviews and talks - **Hoover Institution, *Uncommon Knowledge* with Peter Robinson, "The Counter Revolution" Part 1 (19 October 2026)**: [episode](https://uncommonknowledgehoover.podbean.com/e/the-counter-revolution-victor-davis-hanson-on-the-fall-and-rise-of-trump-part-12/). How prosecutions strengthened Trump, gains among Black and Hispanic men, Silicon Valley's swing, and the second-term agenda against universities and media. - **Same, Part 2**: [episode](https://uncommonknowledgehoover.podbean.com/e/the-counter-revolution-victor-davis-hanson-on-the-fall-and-rise-of-trump-part-22/) ([Hoover Plus page](https://www.hoover.org/plus/research/counter-revolution-victor-davis-hanson-fall-and-rise-trump)). Remaking Washington, the Iran war, China/Taiwan, NATO, and his own cancer recovery. - **The Epoch Times, *American Thought Leaders* with Jan Jekielek (5 November 2026)**: [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jwhzie7I7g). The source video: the 2026 midterm results read against the book's thesis. - ***Deseret News*, interview by Jennifer Graham (12 September 2026)**: [article](https://www.deseret.com/politics/2026/09/12/victor-davis-hanson-counterrevolution-donald-trump-maga/). Why he chose the title, the "causes, not symptoms" argument, the *Shane* tragic-hero frame, and the fact that he did not interview Trump or his staff for the book. - ***The Daily Signal*, *Midterm Report* premiere with Rob Bluey (12 September 2026)**: [transcript excerpt](https://www.dailysignal.com/2026/09/12/victor-davis-hanson-trump-comeback/). The "rock bottom" narrative: January 6, the lawfare timeline, deplatforming and debanking. - ***The Free Press*, excerpt (4 September 2026)**: [article](https://www.thefp.com/p/victor-davis-hanson-after-trump-maga-vance-movement). Hanson's own text on whether Trumpism will outlast Trump. - ***The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe*, ep. 504, "Victor Davis Hanson—The Counter Revolution"**: [episode page](http://thewayiheardit.rsvmedia.com/podcast/504-victor-davis-hansonthe-counter-revolution). Listed by search; date (around 22 September 2026) not confirmed, and I did not listen to it. - ***Pod Force One* with Miranda Devine, "Why MAGA is here to stay" (around 9 September 2026, per a podcast index)**: [listing](https://exa.ai/library/podcast/063g7m2xw7l/episode/jvcjxkrkbdt). Not opened. - **His own show**: *The Victor Davis Hanson Show* (podcast and YouTube) carries regular commentary. I did not pick out individual episodes. ## 5. Summary **Thesis.** Hanson calls Trump's return from January 2021 to January 2025 "the greatest political comeback in modern presidential history" (Kirkus quoting the book), and he makes two linked claims. **First, the comeback was largely made by Trump's opponents.** He argues that the second impeachment, the four criminal cases and the civil suits, the ballot-removal efforts, the Mar-a-Lago search, deplatforming and media hostility turned a discredited ex-president into a sympathetic figure. In his words, "Trump's supposedly clever and well-degreed opponents who orchestrated media narratives and conducted lawfare were not as astute as they believed. In fact, they proved oblivious to public opinion" (*Washington Times* quoting the book). **Second, those years explain why the second term is so different.** On this account the second term is not Republicanism-as-usual but a "counterrevolution" against a progressive "long march" through education, culture, media and the administrative state. In it Trump picks loyalists instead of establishment appointees (Mnuchin, Mattis, Tillerson and Bolton in the first term) and goes after the *causes* of progressive power rather than its symptoms (Deseret interview; Munger). Hanson says he is explaining, not advocating: "My interests are not in defending or attacking Trump but in offering an explanation of why he did not disappear from the political scene" (Deseret quoting the book). Reviewers disagree on how far he manages it (see "Reception"). **Outline (Basic Books, 2026; titles from the MARC 505 contents note; no page numbers).** *Preface: From One Trump Presidency to the Next.* Frames the "Trump Decade" (2015–2025) and the comeback (PJ Media). Hanson's statement of intent, "My interests are not in defending or attacking Trump…", is quoted from the book by the *Deseret News*, which does not say which chapter it is in. It probably comes from the preface, but that is unverified. **Part One: The Fall** - **Ch. 1, Rock Bottom.** Trump's position after the 2020 election and January 6: banned from Twitter and Facebook, impeached a second time, and blamed by Mitch McConnell as "practically and morally responsible" (Munger's framing of the opening puzzle). Hanson's promotional post for the book begins, "On January 7, 2021 the media pronounced President Trump inert, kaput, zapped. He was soon to be impeached a second time, and tried in the Senate as a private citizen" ([@VDHanson, 23 June 2026](https://twitter.com/VDHanson), as embedded by the *Deseret News*). His January 6 account, as Kirkus quotes it, says Ashli Babbitt was shot "apparently for the probable misdemeanor of unlawfully entering the Capitol through a previously broken window". It also points to "far more violent earlier attacks…such as the storming of the same Capitol on March 1, 1954, by armed Puerto Rican terrorists." Kirkus does not give the chapter; this placement is my inference. - **Ch. 2, MAGA Rebooted.** How the movement regrouped. According to the third-party summary (unverified), Hanson argues that Trump fused Buchanan, Perot and Tea Party populism into a class-based coalition that crossed racial lines, with four pillars: borders, industrial revival, a realist foreign policy, and rolling back DEI and "woke" policies. The *Washington Times* quotes his line that no prior Republican "had been so successful at substituting class solidarity for ethnic and racial tribalism to forge a new ecumenical coalition," with a "melting pot" set against a "patchwork quilt." - **Ch. 3, The New Jacobin Democrats.** The Biden years as a radical turn, compared to the Jacobins of the French Revolution (PJ Media): rapid reversal of Trump's executive orders, "Bidenomics" and inflation, the Afghanistan withdrawal. Per the third-party summary (unverified), the chapter also covers identity politics on campus and the Democrats' abandonment of their 1996 platform (balanced budgets, border enforcement, trying violent juveniles as adults). Hanson repeats that last point in the source video at 1:01:20. PJ Media's reviewer "had dog-eared every other page of chapter three." - **Ch. 4, The Armies of Anti-Trumpers.** The institutional opposition, listed as "the Democratic establishment, the media, the administrative state, the Washington D.C. political and military hierarchies, academia, the Never Trump Republicans, the left-of-center popular culture, and the international community. No prior president had faced such a decade-long, organized opposition across so many influential institutions" (*Washington Times* quoting the book). Munger's summary includes first-term examples: Rosa Brooks's 2017 *Foreign Policy* essay that raised a military coup as a "fourth possibility"; mental-health professionals "diagnosing" Trump despite the Goldwater Rule; and public condemnations by retired officers such as McRaven and McCaffrey. Per the third-party summary (unverified), the chapter also covers the Russia-collusion investigation, the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story, and Tulsi Gabbard's 2025 declassifications. **Part Two: The Rise** - **Ch. 5, Nietzschean Trump.** The chapter carries the epigraph "What does not kill me makes me stronger" (PJ Media; *Washington Times*). Trump is presented as someone each attack only strengthened. After the 8 August 2022 Mar-a-Lago search he rose in the primary polls (PJ Media). Hanson sets out the 18 November 2022 "coincidences": Jack Smith's appointment as special counsel, Matthew Colangelo leaving the Justice Department for Alvin Bragg's office, and Fulton County special prosecutor Nathan Wade's billed meeting with the White House. PJ Media says he "drily recites these facts, leaving the reader to speculate." He also covers the cases' venues and outcomes, two assassination attempts, and the mugshot. In his Daily Signal interview Hanson goes further than the book is described as going: he calls it "coordinated." - **Ch. 6, The Campaigns of 2024.** Trump wins the nomination without debating; Biden withdraws and Harris is quickly installed; the general election. Per the third-party summary (unverified), the chapter covers polling misses, including the final Iowa poll, Trump's popular-vote win, his gains among Hispanic voters and Black men, and his being outspent. Munger notes that Hanson calls the result "overwhelming" although the margin was about 1.5 points. - **Ch. 7, The Road to a New Old America.** The first hundred days of the second term and the tactic of "flooding the zone" so that opponents cannot concentrate their resistance (PJ Media; Munger). Hanson describes the agenda as "reciprocal fair trade, closed borders, legal-only immigration, progress in curbing or at least no increasing deficits and debt, and a fierce effort to end the recent DEI orthodoxy and the anti-prosperity boondoggles of the Green New Deal" (PJ Media quoting the book). The measures aimed at universities include the cap on overhead for federal grants, endowment taxes, and scrutiny of race-based campus programs (Munger; Deseret interview). - **Ch. 8, "Like a Colossus" Abroad.** Foreign policy as "Jacksonian deterrence" (PJ Media; Raisina Hills). Per the third-party summary (unverified), it covers the 2025 NATO summit and Europe's contradictions, Hegseth's Pentagon and a recruiting rebound, cheap drones, the June 2025 strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, and ceasefire diplomacy. *WORLD*'s reviewer says that here Hanson warns that second-term foreign policy has "taken on a utopian cast unlikely to result in success" (the reviewer's paraphrase). - **Ch. 9, "Make America Great Again"—Without Trump?** Can MAGA outlast Trump? Hanson's *Free Press* excerpt, which appears to come from this chapter, opens with the question "Will Trumpism outlast Trump?" It notes that Trump would be 82 when he leaves office in January 2029, and says that "an administration's unique political and personal brand is likely to erode under the next presidency, even if it is from the same party." According to PJ Media, his answer is a qualified yes. Grounds for it: the base Trump built, the way his legacy will "haunt and obsess" Democrats, and his adoption of "now-abandoned Democratic issues" such as reciprocal tariffs and middle-class tax cuts. Unless Democrats find a Clinton- or Obama-type leader and move to the center, they "are likely to lose any election that pits them against a workman-like MAGA Republican candidate." The *Washington Times* adds the movement's distance from "the demagogic and racialist alt-right" (via Raisina Hills). *Afterword.* Events through April 2026 (PJ Media), with a special note dated 1 May 2026 on the fast-moving Iran war (*WORLD*). **Key ideas.** - **Overreach breeds reaction.** The book's main causal claim is that opponents' excesses produced both the comeback and the radicalism of the second term. Munger calls this "the most analytically interesting part" and points out that it "could in principle be tested against polling and primary data." The book does not do that test. - **Pendulum vs. dialectic.** Munger's gloss: Hanson sees post-1960s politics not as a left-right pendulum but as a progressive long march that ordinary Republicanism could not reverse. Trumpism is the antithesis. The title echoes Herbert Marcuse's *Counterrevolution and Revolt* (1972), which feared just such a reaction (Munger's connection, not necessarily Hanson's). - **Class, not race.** MAGA is presented as a multiracial working- and middle-class coalition, which the book uses to explain Trump's 2024 gains among Hispanic voters and Black men. - **Tragic outsider.** Trump is cast as the gunfighter of *Shane* or *The Magnificent Seven*: brought in to solve what a timid community cannot, then disowned (Deseret interview; Munger). Hanson calls him "a classically tragic figure" (Kirkus). Critics answer that classical tragic heroes fall through their own hubris. - **Lame-duck freedom and succession.** Ch. 9 leads into the source interview: after the 2026 midterm losses, Hanson expects Trump to govern by executive action, and he lists the Vance–Rubio alliance, DeSantis and others as possible heirs. **Reception, in brief.** Opinion split along partisan lines. Admiring: PJ Media ("as close to an objective observer as you can find in the world of commentary"), *The Washington Times* ("spot-on, readable chronology"), *The New Criterion*, *The Federalist*, *Commentary*, *American Thinker*, and *The Times* (UK), the last as quoted on the publisher's page. Mixed: Michael Munger, a Duke political scientist writing for the Civitas Institute, called it "largely a defense, sometimes slipping into embarrassing hagiography" but also "the best introduction to the current state of American politics" and assigned it for a Spring 2027 class. Hunter Baker in *WORLD* found it "lengthy, intelligent, and sometimes boosteristic" and published too early. Hostile: Kirkus ("Trumpite hagiography… a paean to all things Trump") and the *Irish Independent*, whose headline calls it "an aggressively partisan, revengeful, spiky and judgmental defence of Donald Trump" (I could see the headline only; the article would not load). ## 6. Fact-check Overall verdict: **mixed**. The chronology the book rests on (dates, cases, election results, assassination attempts) is largely accurate. Several characterizations are disputed or one-sided: that January 6 caused only one death, that the 2024 win was "overwhelming", that Trump insults only individuals, and the coordination implied by the 18 November 2022 timeline. The book's central causal claim is plausible but untested. I have not read the book; each claim below is attributed to the source that reports it. | Claim (as reported) | Verdict | Evidence | |---|---|---| | Published by Basic Books on 8 September 2026; ISBN 9781541607828; 485 pp. with notes on pp. 413–467 | Supported | [Hachette](https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/victor-davis-hanson/the-counterrevolution/9781541607828/); [Flatirons MARC](https://broomfieldkids.flatironslibrary.org/Record/.b3252707x); [LCCN 2026938464](https://lccn.loc.gov/2026938464) | | Trump's 2021–2024 return is the greatest comeback in (modern) presidential history | Opinion, but defensible | He is only the second president to win nonconsecutive terms, after Grover Cleveland (1884, 1892) ([Wikipedia: Grover Cleveland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grover_Cleveland)). Richard Nixon's 1962–1968 recovery is the usual comparison (Buchanan, *The Greatest Comeback*, cited by *WORLD*) | | Trump won the 2024 popular vote, the first Republican to do so since 2004 | Supported | Trump 49.8% to Harris 48.3%, a margin of about 2.3 million votes ([Wikipedia: 2024 election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_States_presidential_election)); George W. Bush won it in 2004 | | The 2024 victory was "overwhelming" | Disputed | A margin of about 1.5 points is "respectable but historically unexceptional" (Munger, [Civitas](https://www.civitasinstitute.org/research/trumps-dialectical-breakthrough)). The 312–226 Electoral College result was a clear win, but he got less than 50% of the popular vote | | Trump made major gains among Hispanic voters and Black men in 2024 | Supported | Pew validated-voter study: Trump won 48% of Hispanic voters (36% in 2020) and about 21% of Black men ([Pew, 26 June 2025](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2025/06/26/behind-trumps-2024-victory-a-more-racially-and-ethnically-diverse-voter-coalition/)) | | Ashli Babbitt was the only person to die on January 6, 2021 (as Kirkus describes the book's account) | Disputed | Babbitt was the only person killed by violence that day: a police shooting, ruled a homicide, and the officer was not charged ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Ashli_Babbitt)). Three other Trump supporters died at or near the Capitol that day: Rosanne Boyland (accidental amphetamine intoxication, after she was seen being crushed in the crowd) and Kevin Greeson and Benjamin Philips (natural causes). Officer Brian Sicknick died on 7 January (strokes, natural causes) ([D.C. Medical Examiner determinations via FactCheck.org](https://www.factcheck.org/2021/11/how-many-died-as-a-result-of-capitol-riot/); [ME findings PDF](https://www.justfacts.com/document/capitol_hill_riot_determination_cause_manner_death_dc_medical_examiner_4.7.21.pdf)). In the Daily Signal interview Hanson says the "only person that died violently, we think, was Ashley Babbitt" (his spelling as transcribed), which is the narrower and accurate version | | Armed Puerto Rican nationalists attacked the Capitol on 1 March 1954 | Supported (event); "far more violent" is a judgment | Four nationalists opened fire from the House gallery and wounded five members of Congress ([Wikipedia: 1954 Capitol shooting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_United_States_Capitol_shooting)). No one died in 1954, while January 6 involved far more attackers and about 140 injured officers, so "far more violent" depends on the measure used | | On 18 November 2022, three days after Trump announced, Jack Smith was appointed special counsel and Nathan Wade billed for a meeting with the White House | Supported (the records) / unverified (coordination) | Smith was appointed on 18 November 2022 ([CNN live coverage](https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-doj-investigation-special-counsel-11-18-22); [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Smith_(lawyer))). Wade's invoice for that date reads "Interview with DC/White House," eight hours ([House Judiciary letter, 12 January 2024](https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/2024-01-12-jdj-to-wade-re-fulton-da-1.pdf); [Washington Times, 9 January 2024](https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/jan/9/georgia-special-prosecutor-on-trump-case-met-with-/)). What was discussed is not public, and no evidence of directed coordination has been produced | | Matthew Colangelo left the Justice Department for Bragg's office the same day | Partly supported | Colangelo joined the Manhattan DA's office in December 2022 (widely reported; e.g. [The National Pulse](https://thenationalpulse.com/2024/06/21/this-is-the-day-the-biden-lawfare-began/), a partisan source). I found no independent confirmation that he resigned on 18 November itself | | Trump faced four criminal cases (about 91 felony counts) plus civil suits; the cases collapsed or were dismissed | Mostly supported, with qualifications | The federal cases were dropped after the election under DOJ policy ([Wikipedia: classified documents case](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_prosecution_of_Donald_Trump_(classified_documents_case))). The Georgia case was dismissed in November 2025 after Willis was disqualified ([AP](https://apnews.com/article/georgia-trump-election-indictment-fani-willis-b9000b28e65fc8ebe57f6f9cca5cc3ef)). The roughly $500M civil-fraud penalty was voided on appeal in August 2025, but the fraud liability finding stood ([Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/huge-win-trump-court-throws-out-half-billion-dollar-fraud-penalty-2025-08-21/)). The New York criminal case ended in a conviction on 34 counts and an unconditional discharge, not a collapse ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosecution_of_Donald_Trump_in_New_York)). The E. Jean Carroll verdicts were upheld on appeal | | States tried to remove Trump from the ballot | Supported | Colorado's Supreme Court disqualified him in December 2023, and the U.S. Supreme Court reversed 9–0 in *Trump v. Anderson* (4 March 2024) ([opinion](https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/23-719_19m2.pdf)) | | FBI searched Mar-a-Lago on 8 August 2022, after which Trump rose in primary polls | Supported (date); plausible (polls) | [Wikipedia: FBI search of Mar-a-Lago](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FBI_search_of_Mar-a-Lago). Contemporary primary polling shows Trump's lead over DeSantis widening in late 2022 to 2023. I did not test whether the search caused it | | Two assassination attempts in 2024; at Butler one spectator was killed, two were injured and Trump was wounded | Supported | [Butler, 13 July 2024](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attempted_assassination_of_Donald_Trump_in_Pennsylvania) (Corey Comperatore killed); [West Palm Beach, 15 September 2024](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attempted_assassination_of_Donald_Trump_in_Florida) | | Trump insults individuals, not "the citizen poor, minorities, women, or any particular racial or religious group as a whole" (Kirkus quoting the book) | Disputed | Counterexamples are well documented: the June 2015 campaign launch on Mexican immigrants ("They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists"), the 2018 "shithole countries" remark, and the 2023 claim that immigrants are "poisoning the blood" of the country. Hanson's defense rests on "citizen", since most of these targets were noncitizens or foreign countries | | Polls overstated Harris; the final Iowa poll missed badly | Supported | The final Selzer/*Des Moines Register* poll had Harris ahead 47–44, and Trump won Iowa by about 13 points, a miss of about 16 points ([Wikipedia: 2024 Iowa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_States_presidential_election_in_Iowa)). The book's own figure, reported as "13 points" by a third-party summary, is unverified | | Trump's administration capped university overhead on federal grants at 15% | Supported (attempted); blocked | NIH announced the 15% cap in February 2025. Courts blocked it, the First Circuit affirmed in January 2026, and the administration dropped the fight ([Justia, 1st Cir. No. 25-1343](https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca1/25-1343/25-1343-2026-01-05.html); [Higher Ed Dive](https://www.highereddive.com/news/nih-indirect-cost-cap-appeal-struck-down/808925/)). The book is described as covering the policy, and how far it covers the court defeat is unknown | | Military recruiting rebounded under Hegseth (third-party summary) | Partly supported; causation disputed | The Army met its FY2025 goal of 61,000 four months early ([army.mil](https://www.army.mil/article/286027/army_meets_fiscal_year_2025_recruiting_goals_four_months_early)), but it had already exceeded its FY2024 goal under Biden ([army.mil](https://www.army.mil/article/280028/army_exceeds_fy_2024_active_duty_recruiting_goals)), so the recovery began before the change of administration | | Gabbard's 2025 declassifications showed Obama-era intelligence chiefs manufactured the Russia findings (third-party summary) | Disputed | Gabbard made the allegation in July 2025. The bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee report (2020) found the 2017 assessment sound and free of political pressure ([SSCI report](https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/2020/08/18/publications-report-select-committee-intelligence-united-states-senate-russian-active-measures/); [CNN analysis](https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/22/politics/how-tulsi-gabbard-is-trying-to-rewrite-history-of-the-russia-investigation); [Reuters factbox](https://www.reuters.com/article/world/factbox-key-findings-from-senate-inquiry-into-russian-interference-in-2016-us-idUSKCN25E2OY/)) | | Only 15% of Americans had great confidence in the Ivy League by mid-2025 (third-party summary) | Unverified | I did not find the survey behind this figure | | Opponents' overreach caused both the comeback and the more radical second term | Unverified (plausible, untested) | Munger: testable "against polling and primary data" but not tested in the book. Hanson concedes in interviews that Trump's own choices (Iran, tariffs, affordability) explain his 2026 slump ([Deseret](https://www.deseret.com/politics/2026/09/12/victor-davis-hanson-counterrevolution-donald-trump-maga/)) | | Hanson wrote it without interviewing Trump or his advisers | Supported (self-report) | Deseret interview ("I didn’t want to go the White House. I didn’t want to talk to him…", sic) | **Claims made in the promotional interviews (not necessarily in the book).** In the Daily Signal interview Hanson says the 18 November 2022 events show "it was coordinated"; that is unverified, see above. He says the Secret Service "returned fire" at would-be assassins on four occasions; that is unverified. He says E. Jean Carroll's account copied a *Law & Order* plot and that her dress "wasn't even made then". That is disputed: the defense raised the dress argument, the jury found Trump liable anyway, and the verdicts were upheld on appeal. The source video's own claims check (midterm statistics, Iran war figures) is in the vault note. ## 7. Citations and references **What the book draws on.** I could not see the 55-page notes section (pp. 413–467). From the reviews and excerpts, the book draws on: - Classical and literary frames: Thucydides on civil strife at Corcyra, Latin tags (*primus inter pares*, *damnatio memoriae*, *bellum omnium contra omnes*), Shakespeare, Nietzsche, Aristophanes, and Edmund Burke (Kirkus; PJ Media). - The Western films *Shane* (1953) and *The Magnificent Seven* as the tragic-outsider template (Deseret; Munger). - First-term "resistance" documents: Rosa Brooks, "3 Ways to Get Rid of President Trump Before 2020" (*Foreign Policy*, 2017); the "Duty to Warn" petition and Bandy Lee's edited volume; statements by Gens. Tony Thomas and Barry McCaffrey and Adm. William McRaven (as summarized by Munger). - The legal record of the Trump cases (Bragg, Willis/Wade, Smith, James, Carroll), the 2024 campaign record, polling (RealClearPolitics averages in interviews), and second-term executive orders. - Hanson's own earlier books, especially *The Case for Trump* (2019) and *The Dying Citizen* (2021). - Claims in the book beyond those above are not traced here. **Related works.** Victor Davis Hanson, *The Case for Trump* (Basic Books, 2019); Herbert Marcuse, *Counterrevolution and Revolt* (Beacon, 1972); Patrick J. Buchanan, *The Greatest Comeback* (Crown Forum, 2014). **Links this note used:** - Catalogs and bibliographic: [Flatirons Library MARC](https://broomfieldkids.flatironslibrary.org/Record/.b3252707x); [Flatirons grouped work](https://broomfieldkids.flatironslibrary.org/GroupedWork/496681a3-b3b5-246b-5332-7bf630bb39b3); [Spokane Public Library MARC](https://catalog.spokanelibrary.org/catalog/Record/f84e46b7-0d02-48ec-be0c-9c448493dc52); [Fountaindale](https://link.fountaindale.org/resource/yAEF_qesV60); [Richland Library](https://www.richlandlibrary.com/catalog/detail/2469004); [Metropolitan Library System](https://metro-prod.groveforlibraries.com/GroupedWork/97bb1945-d763-128f-1844-8fc5b52f3b5d-eng/Home); [Wake County](https://catalog.wake.gov/Record/818663); [SFPL](https://sfpl.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S93C7486069); [LCCN 2026938464](https://lccn.loc.gov/2026938464); [WorldCat 1568202691](https://search.worldcat.org/title/1568202691); [Google Books V_7T0QEACAAJ](https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Counterrevolution.html?id=V_7T0QEACAAJ); [Open Library OL45032364W](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL45032364W); [OL61431501M](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL61431501M); [Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/246182018-the-counterrevolution). - Publisher and shops: [Hachette Book Group](https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/victor-davis-hanson/the-counterrevolution/9781541607828/); [HBG Academic](https://www.hbgacademic.com/titles/victor-davis-hanson/the-counterrevolution/9781541607828/); [Hachette UK](https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/victor-davis-hanson-2/the-counterrevolution/9781541607828/); [Hoover book page](https://www.hoover.org/research/counterrevolution-fall-and-rise-donald-trump-and-maga-movement); [Amazon hardcover](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1541607821); [Kindle B0GF1K43WM](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GF1K43WM); [Audible B0GL9FD963](https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Counterrevolution-Audiobook/B0GL9FD963); [Audible UK](https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/The-Counterrevolution-Audiobook/B0GL91YB7T); [AudiobooksNow](https://www.audiobooksnow.com/audiobook/the-counterrevolution/10479602/); [AudiobookStore](https://audiobookstore.com/audiobooks/the-counterrevolution-1); [Daily Signal preorder page](https://www.dailysignal.com/the-counterrevolution-book/); [OverDrive search](https://www.overdrive.com/search?q=9781541607828); [Metropolitan Library OverDrive record](https://metro-prod.groveforlibraries.com/OverDrive/kindle:961ef51a-6c8d-4ecc-8591-21dc3cc4f19c/Home); [cover image](https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/9781541607828.jpg). - Reviews: [PJ Media, Jennifer Rust, 7 September 2026](https://pjmedia.com/jennifer-rust/2026/09/07/the-counterrevolution-victor-davis-hansons-book-reviews-the-trump-fall-and-rise-n4956980); [Kirkus, 20 July 2026](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/victor-davis-hanson/the-counterrevolution/); [Michael Munger, Civitas Institute, 6 October 2026](https://www.civitasinstitute.org/research/trumps-dialectical-breakthrough); [Hunter Baker, *WORLD*, 27 October 2026](https://wng.org/articles/a-book-before-its-time-1793127092/); [*Washington Times*, 29 September 2026](https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/sep/29/book-review-counterrevolution-fall-rise-donald-trump-maga-movement/) (quoted via search extracts and Raisina Hills; the page blocked direct fetch); [*Irish Independent*](https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/books/book-reviews/the-counterrevolution-is-an-aggressively-partisan-revengeful-spiky-and-judgmental-defence-of-donald-trump/a/162378561.html) (headline only); [The Raisina Hills roundup, 3 October 2026](https://theraisinahills.com/the-counterrevolution-victor-davis-hanson-book-review/); [insta.page "key takeaways"](https://www.insta.page/the-counterrevolution-key-takeaways) (third-party summary, used only where flagged). - Author: [Wikipedia, Victor Davis Hanson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Davis_Hanson); [Hoover profile](https://www.hoover.org/profiles/victor-davis-hanson); [victorhanson.com](https://victorhanson.com/); [Deseret News, 12 September 2026](https://www.deseret.com/politics/2026/09/12/victor-davis-hanson-counterrevolution-donald-trump-maga/). - Interviews and excerpt: [The Free Press excerpt, 4 September 2026](https://www.thefp.com/p/victor-davis-hanson-after-trump-maga-vance-movement); [Daily Signal, 12 September 2026](https://www.dailysignal.com/2026/09/12/victor-davis-hanson-trump-comeback/); [Uncommon Knowledge Part 1](https://uncommonknowledgehoover.podbean.com/e/the-counter-revolution-victor-davis-hanson-on-the-fall-and-rise-of-trump-part-12/); [Part 2](https://uncommonknowledgehoover.podbean.com/e/the-counter-revolution-victor-davis-hanson-on-the-fall-and-rise-of-trump-part-22/); [Hoover Plus](https://www.hoover.org/plus/research/counter-revolution-victor-davis-hanson-fall-and-rise-trump); [The Way I Heard It 504](http://thewayiheardit.rsvmedia.com/podcast/504-victor-davis-hansonthe-counter-revolution); [Pod Force One listing](https://exa.ai/library/podcast/063g7m2xw7l/episode/jvcjxkrkbdt). - Fact-check evidence: [Wikipedia, 2024 election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_States_presidential_election); [Wikipedia, 2024 Iowa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_States_presidential_election_in_Iowa); [Wikipedia, Grover Cleveland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grover_Cleveland); [Pew validated voters, 2025](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2025/06/26/behind-trumps-2024-victory-a-more-racially-and-ethnically-diverse-voter-coalition/); [Wikipedia, Killing of Ashli Babbitt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Ashli_Babbitt); [FactCheck.org](https://www.factcheck.org/2021/11/how-many-died-as-a-result-of-capitol-riot/); [D.C. ME determinations PDF](https://www.justfacts.com/document/capitol_hill_riot_determination_cause_manner_death_dc_medical_examiner_4.7.21.pdf); [Wikipedia, 1954 Capitol shooting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_United_States_Capitol_shooting); [CNN, 18 November 2022](https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-doj-investigation-special-counsel-11-18-22); [Wikipedia, Jack Smith](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Smith_(lawyer)); [House Judiciary letter to Wade](https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/2024-01-12-jdj-to-wade-re-fulton-da-1.pdf); [Washington Times, 9 January 2024](https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/jan/9/georgia-special-prosecutor-on-trump-case-met-with-/); [The National Pulse](https://thenationalpulse.com/2024/06/21/this-is-the-day-the-biden-lawfare-began/); [Wikipedia, classified documents case](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_prosecution_of_Donald_Trump_(classified_documents_case)); [Wikipedia, Georgia prosecution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_election_racketeering_prosecution); [AP, Georgia case dismissed](https://apnews.com/article/georgia-trump-election-indictment-fani-willis-b9000b28e65fc8ebe57f6f9cca5cc3ef); [Reuters, civil-fraud penalty voided](https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/huge-win-trump-court-throws-out-half-billion-dollar-fraud-penalty-2025-08-21/); [Wikipedia, New York civil investigation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_civil_investigation_of_The_Trump_Organization); [Wikipedia, NY criminal case](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosecution_of_Donald_Trump_in_New_York); [*Trump v. Anderson*](https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/23-719_19m2.pdf); [Wikipedia, Mar-a-Lago search](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FBI_search_of_Mar-a-Lago); [Wikipedia, Butler attempt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attempted_assassination_of_Donald_Trump_in_Pennsylvania); [Wikipedia, Florida attempt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attempted_assassination_of_Donald_Trump_in_Florida); [Justia, 1st Cir. 25-1343](https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca1/25-1343/25-1343-2026-01-05.html); [Higher Ed Dive](https://www.highereddive.com/news/nih-indirect-cost-cap-appeal-struck-down/808925/); [army.mil FY2025](https://www.army.mil/article/286027/army_meets_fiscal_year_2025_recruiting_goals_four_months_early); [army.mil FY2024](https://www.army.mil/article/280028/army_exceeds_fy_2024_active_duty_recruiting_goals); [SSCI 2020 report](https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/2020/08/18/publications-report-select-committee-intelligence-united-states-senate-russian-active-measures/); [CNN on Gabbard, 22 July 2025](https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/22/politics/how-tulsi-gabbard-is-trying-to-rewrite-history-of-the-russia-investigation); [Reuters SSCI factbox](https://www.reuters.com/article/world/factbox-key-findings-from-senate-inquiry-into-russian-interference-in-2016-us-idUSKCN25E2OY/); [Wikipedia, Goldwater rule](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldwater_rule). - Source video: [American Thought Leaders, 5 November 2026, 0:36](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jwhzie7I7g&t=36s); [[Video Summaries/American Thought Leaders - The Epoch Times/Victor Davis Hanson What the Democratic Midterm Sweep Means for Trump MAGA and 2028]].