Victor Davis Hanson Shares Update on ‘Rare’ Lung Cancer Battle

Veteran conservative commentator Victor Davis Hanson on Monday shared an update on the major health issue that he announced at the end of 2025 that forced him to step away from his podcast and other media appearances.

Hanson started his update — which he shared on X — with some good news, saying the removal of a cancerous lung mucinous adenoma carcinoma and the lower right lung lobe in early January was successful.

But he said his recovery has been “slowed” down by a post-operation aneurism, which has led to “low red blood counts, fatigue, and bouts of arterial fibrillation.”

“The bottom line is that I’m hoping to come back as soon as possible,” Hanson told his followers. “But I don’t know exactly when I’ll be back to near normal.”

Hanson said “this type of nonsmoker’s lung cancer has a rare genetic/mutation profile” where it recurs about 40% of the time, even after successful surgeries. He said he is debating whether to start chemotherapy and immunotherapy, which he said offers a 5-10% “edge” on stopping recurrences.

“I’ll do a cost-benefit analysis, depending on how quickly I regain energy, to determine whether to start the preventative drug regimens,” Hanson said.

In the meantime, he said he will occasionally post on X when he is feeling well. He ended his message by thanking his fans for their concern, which he also mentioned at the beginning of his post.

Monday’s update comes after Hanson said in December he was stepping away from his show after suffering a “serious” health problem.

He did not reveal at the time he was battling lung cancer, but he shared that detail later in mid-January, when he said he was “recovering” well from surgery. 

Hanson has been a fixture on Fox News for years, as well as on a number of other right-leaning outlets.

He has been an outspoken supporter of President Donald Trump and called him the outsider politician America needed after “decades of drift.” Hanson wrote The Case for Trump in 2019 — a book that, as you might expect, makes the case for Trump being the best man to lead the U.S. and “dismantle a corrupt old order.”

The 72-year-old commentator has been critical of Democrats and liberal policies as well. He told Mark Levin in 2022 that the U.S. was dealing with an outbreak of “craziness” with  Joe Biden as president.

“We’re in a revolutionary situation,” Hanson said. “It’s out to destroy a particular person, Donald Trump.”

Hanson joined The Daily Signal in January 2025 and is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. The California native has a Bachelor’s degree in Classics from UC Santa Cruz and a Master’s degree in the same field from Stanford University.

Jack Fowler, his co-host on the Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words podcast, has been anchoring the program solo for the last month.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!