Victor Davis Hanson is warning Republicans that they risk repeating a costly political mistake from the past if they fail to aggressively challenge Democratic messaging on affordability ahead of the midterm elections.

Hanson argues that Democrats have successfully framed high prices as a failure of President Donald Trump even though he says the inflation behind those costs was inherited from the Biden administration.

"And yet here we are, four weeks before the midterms, and we hear affordability, affordability, affordability from the Democrats. And Trump did it. Trump did it. Trump did it," Hanson said.

He urged Republicans to spend their campaign resources explaining their economic case to voters rather than allowing Democrats to dominate the argument.

Trump's Sovereign Wealth Fund: What Could It Mean For Your Money?

"It's time to spend the money in the Republican war chest, all of it. Get the message out. Get people to get out and vote, and explain what happened under Biden and what the remedies are under Trump, and they can still win the midterms if they do that," Hanson said.

Hanson compared the current environment to the 1992 presidential election, arguing that President George H.W. Bush failed to effectively communicate an improving economic picture while Democrats successfully portrayed the country as being trapped in a severe downturn.

"You think it's possible that we're on the edge of a boom and we don't even know it, and we're not in a recession, or a downturn or the doom and gloom as the left and the Democrats have told us and assured us four weeks before the midterm," Hanson said.

He recalled that the recession preceding the 1992 election had already ended while key economic indicators were improving.

FREE Gun Law Map: Laws Don't Pause During Social Unrest

"But by the time of the November election, that recession had been over for 20 months, and the George H. W. Bush economy was pretty good," Hanson said.

According to Hanson, Democrats nevertheless controlled the political narrative.

"Carvel said famously, 'It's the economy, stupid, and they lost," Hanson said.

He argued that Republicans today are in danger of making the same mistake by failing to respond forcefully to Democratic claims about affordability.

"Democrats say affordability, affordability, everything's terrible. We can't afford anything. But when you actually look at what's happened, it's not true," Hanson said.

Hanson pointed to several economic indicators that he believes contradict that narrative, including GDP growth, stock market gains, job creation and unemployment.

"The Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta said that in the third quarter, they think when they revise their statistics, the economy will have grown by 5% in GDP. That's astounding," Hanson said.

He added that stock indexes have risen while employment has remained strong.

"Standard and Poor's stock indices for the year are up over 10%. So is the Dow Jones. We just had 160,000 new jobs. New jobs were created in the month of August. The unemployment rate is only 4.2%," Hanson said.

Hanson also cited income and poverty figures as evidence that the broader economy is performing better than the political rhetoric suggests.

"why did per capita income and per family income reach an. All-time historical high in 2025, and why did, for example, equally why did the poverty rate go down to an unknown, on never seen before? 10 about 10% of the population," Hanson said.

He attributed the economic performance to a series of Trump administration policies, including deregulation, reductions in the federal workforce, border enforcement, tariffs, and expanded energy production.

"It's an astounding business extravaganza renaissance, but we're not hearing anything about it, and it's a result of massive deregulation, 400,000 jobs cut in the bureaucracy, closing the border, deporting two to 3 million people, encouraging jobs for Americans only, targeted tariffs," Hanson said.

On affordability, Hanson said Republicans should directly explain that current price levels reflect inflation accumulated during the Biden years rather than simply the current rate of inflation.

"Well, to the degree that prices are expensive, it was because a year and a half ago Joe Biden finished his term with 21% aggregate inflation, and when you look at the things that people care most about-housing, Vehicles, insurance, food, healthcare prices in that mere four years went up 30%," Hanson said.

He argued that the Trump administration cannot simply reverse all previous price increases without causing severe economic damage.

"The only way to get back to where Donald Trump was in his first term would be to have a recession, a radical deflationary economy that receded, and all of the Biden inflation, the economy couldn't take a 20 to 30% cut in prices to make up for the inflation of the Biden years," Hanson said.

Instead, Hanson said Republicans should emphasize slowing inflation and increasing wages.

"All we can do is two things: cut the inflation rate radically, and they're doing that, and increase wages. In the first year of the Trump term, wages rose higher than inflation," Hanson said.

Hanson also argued that Republicans are failing to capitalize on what he sees as major foreign policy developments involving Latin America, the Middle East, Russia and China.

"They have flipped. The administration has flipped all of Latin America from an anti-American pink tide to a pro-capitalist, pro-Western, pro-American Western Hemisphere," Hanson said.

He said a potential collapse of Iran’s government would represent an even larger geopolitical shift.

"If the Iran regime falls within a year, it will be as tumultuous as the fall of the Berlin Wall. It will be the most significant foreign policy achievement since 1989," Hanson said.

Hanson also described Russia and China as weakened competitors while portraying the United States as positioned for renewed global dominance.

"The United States is poised once again to be the most powerful economic, military, social, and cultural force in the world," Hanson said.

His message to Republicans was that economic and foreign policy accomplishments mean little politically if voters never hear the argument.

"And yet here we are four weeks before the midterms, and we hear affordability, affordability, affordability from the Democrats. And Trump did it. Trump did it. Trump did it," Hanson said.

He again urged Republicans to make their case directly to voters before Election Day.

"It's time to spend the money in the Republican war chest, all of it. Get the message out. Get people to get out and vote, and explain what happened under Biden and what the remedies are under Trump, and they can still win the midterms if they do that."

WATCH:

The opinions expressed by contributors and/or content partners are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Objectivist. Contact us for guidelines on submitting your own commentary.