Victor Davis Hanson, the conservative commentator, historian, and longtime ally of President Donald Trump, is urging the president to "clean up" corruption in the federal government — including within his own administration.

In a video published by The Daily Signal on Tuesday, Hanson argued that corruption weighed heavily on voters in last week's midterm elections, and warned that even the perception of it is causing Republicans to "lose the moral high ground."

Hanson, author of The Case for Trump, opened his remarks with familiar Democratic targets — Hunter Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Ilhan Omar — before turning his fire on his own side of the aisle.

"But we as conservatives can't just say it's Hunter or Pelosi or Ilhan Omar," he said.

Corruption within right-wing circles is especially damaging, he argued, because the MAGA movement and other conservative currents are premised on attacking "the aristocratic classes and the corruption at the highest levels of government."

Hanson pointed to corruption the administration has been targeting in various states, but argued that the same mindset must be applied to some White House officials and to Trump's own family.

"Some of us have been very worried about the Trump administration, that there are members associated with some of the Trump family that are very active in the Middle East, investing and helping people who are investors in the Middle East find receptive avenues in the United States that they might not otherwise find. … I don't know if that's illegal, but it seems highly unethical," he said.

Both Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump are involved in Middle East-related business ventures.

Hanson also named the president's former attorney, Alina Habba Mildon, saying that although he had "a lot of regard for" her, she "is alleged to have obtained pardons" for people convicted of serious crimes, in some cases with "an alleged quid pro quo for over $50 million." Habba Mildon reportedly took on a $50 million contract from the family of a Venezuelan man who later received a Trump pardon. Allegations tied to pardons draw particular scrutiny because clemency for federal offenses is among the broadest powers the Constitution grants a president.

He brought up Steve Bannon, whom he said he personally likes, and cited Bannon's admission that donations raised for the border wall were diverted to other uses. Bannon was charged federally over the "We Build the Wall" fundraising campaign in 2020 — a case Trump ended with a January 2021 pardon — and Bannon later pleaded guilty to a New York state fraud charge tied to the effort in 2025.

Hanson also pointed to Susie Wiles, who co-managed Trump's 2024 presidential campaign and was moved out of the chief of staff role by Trump last week, raising what he called "allegations, not proven," that her daughter, a lobbyist, may have charged people to steer them to the right officials.

"That's unethical. I don't know if it's illegal or not, but it's unethical," Hanson said.

As a remedy, Hanson said Trump should proactively support a bill banning members of Congress from trading on the stock market, and then establish similar rules within his own administration. Lawmakers from both parties have repeatedly proposed barring members of Congress from trading individual stocks in recent years, though no outright ban has been enacted; under the STOCK Act of 2012, current law prohibits members from trading on nonpublic information but stops short of banning trading itself. Whether Trump takes up the measures Hanson outlined — for Congress and for his own administration — remains to be seen. Conservatives, he argued, must be "beyond suspicion of corruption."

"It's time to clean up the language, clean up behavior, stop the hate speech, and stop the graft and obvious corruption."

Source: Alternet