The American Conservative Morning Briefing

The American Conservative
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A short morning synopsis of TAC's coverage

  1. 4h ago

    September 20, 2026

    Good morning! Today is Sunday, September 20th 2026, and this is The American Conservative's Morning Brief. Governor Greg Abbott's bid for a fourth term in Texas has tightened dramatically, with State Representative Gina Hinojosa now leading in a new poll and threatening what would be the first statewide Democratic win since 1994. U.S. Central Command puts the cost of the 204-day war with Iran at $43.6 billion so far, even as the Washington Post reports a higher American death toll than the Pentagon acknowledges and Secretary Hegseth pushes back hard. The United States and Denmark have reached a deal granting Washington expanded security authority over Greenland, barring adversary basing and investment while stopping short of President Trump's earlier demands for full control. and now for the details. We begin this morning in Texas, where Governor Greg Abbott's bid for a fourth term has turned into a closer contest than nearly anyone predicted a year ago. State Representative Gina Hinojosa, a 52-year-old attorney from Brownsville and a five-term Democrat from Austin, has begun to close the gap. A new poll released Thursday shows Hinojosa with a four-point lead over Abbott, within the margin of error, but a striking reversal from the seven-point Abbott advantage recorded in July. Hinojosa built her profile as one of the most persistent critics of Abbott's school voucher program, and she launched her campaign in the Rio Grande Valley, a region where Democrats have been hemorrhaging Latino support. She won her March primary outright with 58.5 percent against a nine-candidate field. Her pitch is kitchen-table: health care costs, affordability, and public schools, framed as a fight against, in her words, "billionaires and corporations." As Spencer Neale reports, Abbott still holds enormous structural advantages. He entered 2026 with more than $105 million on hand, and he outraised Hinojosa by $19 million in the second quarter alone, leaving him with $67 million to her $3 million. Her money comes overwhelmingly from small Texas donors, a compelling story but a hard way to compete across a state as vast as Texas. Neale notes that Hinojosa has done the two things a Texas Democrat must do to be competitive: consolidate the base in the primary, and hold Abbott under fifty percent, which could make Libertarian candidate Pat Dixon's two-point polling average a real headache. The models still favor Abbott, but by a much narrower margin than expected. A Hinojosa win would be the first statewide Democratic victory in Texas since 1994. Republicans, from Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana on down, are already reassessing what were supposed to be safe midterm maps. Turning to the ongoing war with Iran, now in its 204th day. On Friday, U.S. Central Command provided Congress with the first unclassified breakdown of the war's costs. The figure so far: $43.6 billion through September 3, with $28.1 billion of that going to replacing munitions. As Luke Nicastro reports, that number is almost certainly an undercount. It does not appear to include the cost of reopening damaged U.S. facilities across the Middle East, nor fuel expenses. On the same day, the Washington Post reported that 22 or 23 American service members have been killed during the war, four or five more than the Pentagon's official Defense Casualty Analysis System count of 18. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth denied the reporting, calling the Post, in his words, "worse than Iranian state media." Meanwhile, smoke and flames were observed Saturday near Riyadh International Airport following air raid alerts in the Saudi capital, apparently grounding flights, as fighting between Houthi and Saudi-backed forces intensifies in Yemen. AAA reports the average price of regular gasoline in the United States now stands at $4.47 per gallon. Also on Friday, the United States and Denmark confirmed a deal on the status of Greenland. President Trump, announcing the agreement on social media, described it as giving the United States "permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland." He said the arrangement will bar U.S. adversaries from establishing a military presence on the island or making, in his phrase, "sensitive investments" there. As Luke Nicastro reports, the full text has not yet been released, but the deal appears to stop short of the president's earlier demands for full American control. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a statement that the agreement recognizes the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark and the right of the Greenlandic people to self-determination. It is expected to be signed next week on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Nicastro notes that under a 1951 pact, the United States already holds extensive security rights in Greenland, including basing and access for its military with no expiration date. What the new agreement adds is language on adversary basing and investment, closing a gap t

  2. 1d ago

    September 19, 2026

    Good morning! Today is Saturday, September 19th 2026, and this is The American Conservative's Morning Brief. Day two hundred and three of the war with Iran brings a Saudi Aramco crude cutoff to European customers, fresh tanker strikes in the Strait of Hormuz, and massive government-organized rallies in Tehran, with Brent near one hundred and four dollars a barrel. Scott Greer reports that likely 2028 challengers to Vice President Vance—Ted Cruz, Ron DeSantis, and Josh Hawley—are staking out ground as tech skeptics, betting that AI fears, data center backlash, and opposition to Flock cameras can chip away at the vice president's frontrunner status. Ted Galen Carpenter puts the Pentagon's paid social media influencer program in historical context, arguing it's only the latest chapter in a long, ugly history of collusion between the national security state and the news media. and now for the details. We begin with the ongoing war with Iran, now in its two hundred and third day. Saudi Aramco, the kingdom's state-owned oil giant, has told at least two European refining customers that it will not deliver any crude oil in October. That's according to reporting from Bloomberg cited by TAC. The pause follows a wave of escalating strikes on Saudi oil infrastructure, including an attack last week that shut down the vital East-West pipeline. Also on Friday, two tankers were reportedly struck by projectiles as they transited the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has claimed responsibility for one of the strikes, saying the Togo-flagged vessel had attempted what it called an "illegal passage" through the waterway. Inside Iran, government-organized rallies drew hundreds of thousands of participants on Friday, the largest public demonstrations since the war began nearly seven months ago. As Luke Nicastro reports in TAC's daily war brief, Brent crude was trading around one hundred and four dollars a barrel this morning, and AAA has the average price of regular gasoline in the United States at four dollars and forty-seven cents a gallon—just nine cents below this year's peak, set back in May. Turning to the shape of the 2028 Republican primary. President Trump has dismissed warnings that artificial intelligence could threaten humanity as a "sick conspiracy" and a "hoax," and Vice President J.D. Vance has likened the doomsayers to a "Trojan horse" for regulations that could hobble American industry. But as Scott Greer writes for The American Conservative, several likely challengers to Vance are moving in the opposite direction, staking out ground as tech skeptics. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, recently told CNN the warnings around AI are "scary as hell" and that Congress needs "substantially more regulation." That's a notable pivot for a senator who previously championed a federal ban on state-level AI rules. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has gone further, proposing an AI bill of rights for his state, signing legislation restricting new data center construction, and banning Flock license plate cameras from state highways over concerns about a burgeoning surveillance state. And Missouri Senator Josh Hawley has made AI criticism central to his brand, backing bills to limit data centers, launching a Senate investigation into Flock, and framing the fight as one on behalf of working people and children. Greer notes the polling backs up the strategy. A majority of Americans, including a majority of Republicans, believe AI could destroy humanity. Sixty-one percent of voters oppose data center construction, and nearly half of Americans oppose Flock cameras in their communities. Greer's conclusion: Vance's rivals aren't foolish to seize this issue—whether it's enough to overcome the vice president's apparent support from President Trump is another matter entirely. Those are today's highlights. For the full stories and more, visit theamericanconservative.com. Thank you for starting your morning with us.

  3. 2d ago

    September 18, 2026

    Good morning! Today is Friday, September 18th 2026, and this is The American Conservative's Morning Brief. W. James Antle III examines Trump's high-risk midterm strategy of putting himself at the center of the campaign, and warns that the very voters he's trying to activate may be the ones most alienated by the Iran war, the Epstein files, and a focus on legacy projects over affordability. As the Iran war reaches its 202nd day, Trump tells Axios he faces a "big decision" on whether to further escalate, while UN-commissioned investigators cite reasonable grounds to suspect U.S. war crimes, including a March strike on an Iranian girls' school that reportedly killed 168 civilians. Houthi forces press new gains along Yemen's Red Sea coast and toward its eastern oil and gas fields, as the national average gasoline price climbs to four dollars and forty-four cents per gallon. and now for the details. We begin with the state of the midterm campaign. President Trump has taken center stage at an unprecedented midterm convention, is spending heavily from his war chest to boost Republican candidates, and is starring in campaign ads himself. Vice President J.D. Vance is expected to be a regular presence on the trail as well. As W. James Antle III writes, there is a real logic to this strategy: anti-Trump voters turn out in droves whether or not the president is on the ballot, while many voters who like Trump personally don't bother to show up when they can't cast a ballot for him. Trump's presence is an attempt to neutralize that inherent Democratic advantage. But Antle notes that the strategy may be running into trouble. The latest New York Times/Siena poll shows Republicans outrunning Trump's job approval rating on issues like the economy and cost of living. And the low-propensity voters Trump is trying to activate may be precisely the part of his coalition most alienated by the Iran war and by the handling of the Epstein files. Outgoing Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana told the Dispatch that the president started a war he promised would last four weeks and is now in its fourth month, driving up gas, diesel, and fertilizer prices. Antle observes that Trump has increasingly turned his focus to legacy projects—the Middle East, the new AI economy, and international trade—rather than affordability. Pushing the AI boom, pressuring the Federal Reserve on rates before inflation is contained, and promoting reshoring over low prices all reflect priorities that in some cases run opposite to those of his voters. Antle concludes that Trump has fixes for the Republicans' problems, except for the ones most directly of his making. Turning to the Iran war, now in its two hundred and second day. President Trump told Axios on Thursday that he is approaching a major crossroads in the conflict. In his words, "I have a big decision coming up. Do I want to go in and annihilate Iran or do I not? It's a big decision. Anything could happen with me." Trump has recently suggested the conflict could end shortly after the November midterm elections, though it is unclear whether the contemplated escalation would change that timeframe. As Luke Nicastro reports, investigators commissioned by the United Nations said Thursday there are reasonable grounds to suspect the U.S. military committed war crimes during strikes on Iran, including a March attack on a girls' school in Minab that reportedly killed 168 civilians. The same investigators found that the Iranian government engaged in gross human rights violations and crimes against humanity during the repression of anti-regime protests in 2025 and early 2026. Their formal report is expected before the UN Human Rights Council on Monday. Meanwhile in Yemen, Houthi rebels have made major gains on the Red Sea coast and now appear to be threatening the country's eastern region, which hosts large oil and gas fields, in continued fighting with Saudi-backed government forces. AAA reports the average price of regular gasoline in the United States now stands at four dollars and forty-four cents per gallon. Those are today's highlights. For the full stories and more, visit theamericanconservative.com. Thank you for starting your morning with us.

  4. 3d ago

    September 17, 2026

    Good morning! Today is Thursday, September 17th 2026, and this is The American Conservative's Morning Brief. Ann Coulter argues that the AI industry's loudest doomsayers — from Anthropic's Dario Amodei to OpenAI's Sam Altman — are running a decades-old playbook in which incumbents beg for regulation to smother their smaller competitors. Secretary of State Marco Rubio wraps up his third South America tour, courting a new class of right-leaning governments in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru with minerals deals, nuclear cooperation, and cartel crackdowns. Joseph Addington reports that with U.S. military attention stretched thin abroad, rewarding willing hemispheric allies has become Washington's most efficient path to progress on crime, drugs, and migration. and now for the details. We begin this morning with the fight over artificial intelligence regulation, and a pointed argument from Ann Coulter about who really benefits when Washington steps in. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman have been leading a chorus of warnings that AI poses an existential threat to humanity, with figures like Barack Obama and Pete Buttigieg echoing calls for sweeping federal rules. A former Anthropic employee, Jacob Coxon, has taken to the airwaves warning that AI could, in his words, "kill us all." As Coulter reports, this catastrophizing follows a well-worn pattern first identified by Nobel laureate economist George Stigler more than fifty years ago: large incumbents love regulation because compliance costs act as a moat, blocking smaller competitors from entering the market. She traces the same script through the old airline cartel, the licensed taxi industry's war on ride-sharing, and Philip Morris's lobbying for the tobacco control law that became known as the "Marlboro Monopoly Act." Coulter notes that American tech has generated some thirty trillion dollars in value over the last fifty years, roughly seventy times what heavily regulated Europe managed, largely because Silicon Valley grew up unregulated. She also points out that Coxon spent three years at OpenAI before his brief stint at Anthropic, and that his vested equity could be worth tens of millions when OpenAI goes public next year — a detail she says interviewers have curiously failed to raise. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has wrapped up his third tour of South America, working to solidify ties with a new generation of right-leaning governments across the hemisphere. Since 2024, conservative governments have come to power in Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, and Honduras, several with President Trump's explicit endorsement. As Joseph Addington reports, the centerpiece of the trip was Colombia, where newly elected President Abelardo de la Espriella — an American citizen who campaigned on strengthening ties with Washington — has joined the administration's hemispheric security coalition, the Shield of the Americas. Rubio arrived bearing a critical-minerals agreement aimed at reducing U.S. dependence on Chinese supply chains, along with a memorandum of cooperation on a civilian nuclear program for Colombia. In Ecuador, which now suffers one of the world's highest murder rates as cartels overrun its ports, Rubio announced a ten-million-dollar initiative against gang recruitment and money laundering, designated the cartel Los Tiguerones as a foreign terrorist organization, and pledged Coast Guard cutters and interceptor vessels for drug interdiction. The tour concluded in Peru, where new President Keiko Fujimori announced her country would also join the Shield of the Americas. Addington argues that at a moment when American military resources are stretched thin elsewhere, rewarding voluntary allies in the Western Hemisphere is an efficient way to advance shared priorities on crime, drugs, and migration. Those are today's highlights. For the full stories and more, visit theamericanconservative.com. Thank you for starting your morning with us.

  5. 4d ago

    September 16, 2026

    Good morning! Today is Wednesday, September 16th 2026, and this is The American Conservative's Morning Brief. Zelensky grows increasingly isolated as anti-corruption probes close in on his inner circle, prompting a purge of top generals, sanctions against a former press secretary turned peace advocate, and the theatrical ouster of a scandal-tainted prosecutor general. The Iran War hits day two hundred with Foreign Minister Araghchi heading to Beijing, a Pentagon inspector general report flagging munitions shortfalls, and diesel hitting a record six dollars and twenty-seven cents a gallon. Congressman Thomas Massie forces a House vote on articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over unauthorized military operations in Iran, putting vulnerable Republicans in a political bind. and now for the details. We begin in Ukraine, where President Volodymyr Zelensky is increasingly isolated as corruption scandals close in around his government, and Western support shows signs of cracking. In recent weeks Zelensky has sacked his defense minister, his commander-in-chief, and the chief of his general staff. This past Sunday, he slapped sanctions on his own former press secretary, Iulia Mendel, who had become a prominent voice calling for peace. And on Monday, he publicly ousted his prosecutor general, Ruslan Kravchenko, who was already under scrutiny after anti-corruption investigators raided his office and uncovered a scheme involving racketeering and money laundering. As Andrew Day reports for The American Conservative, the anti-corruption inquiries are creeping closer and closer to Zelensky himself. Day spoke with analyst Balazs Jarabik of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, who suspects Zelensky orchestrated Kravchenko's departure as political theater—allowing him to leave the country in an official car in exchange for signing a last-minute notice of suspicion against the head of one of the very anti-corruption watchdogs investigating him. Meanwhile, President Trump has publicly told Zelensky to stop striking Russian oil refineries, envoy Jared Kushner has blamed Kyiv for the lack of diplomatic progress, and the European Union has postponed a deadline for extending sanctions against Russia. Ukraine also faces a twenty-seven billion dollar budget shortfall heading into what promises to be a brutal winter of Russian air attacks. As Jarabik told Day, "This is the tragedy of Zelensky, in the end. He remains alone, he has no team left." Turning to the Iran War, which today marks its two-hundredth day. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi travels to Beijing on Wednesday, after Chinese President Xi Jinping offered over the weekend to help mediate the conflict. But as Jude Russo reports, a diplomatic resolution still looks distant. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's National Security Council, dismissed President Trump's suggestion that talks could be imminent, writing that there would be "no talks until Iran's conditions are met." The Pentagon's inspector general has released its first report to Congress on the war, covering April through June. The report found that munitions expenditure in Operation Epic Fury has, in its words, "resulted in strategic inventory shortfalls and revealed industrial base bottlenecks for munitions resupply." It also flagged difficulties in securing naval basing in the Persian Gulf and the strain of relying on Diego Garcia for logistics. Bloomberg reports the UK government is weighing intervention to help Saudi Arabia against Yemen's Houthis, who have made significant gains on the Red Sea coast. Combined with pro-Iran Iraqi militia strikes on the Saudi East-West Pipeline, energy markets are feeling the pressure. Brent crude opened Tuesday at one hundred six dollars a barrel. AAA reports the national average at four dollars and thirty-three cents for regular gasoline and a new all-time record of six dollars and twenty-seven cents for diesel. On Capitol Hill, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky introduced articles of impeachment Tuesday against Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, accusing him of high crimes and misdemeanors over the continued military operations in Iran without congressional authorization. As Spencer Neale reports, Massie introduced the measure as privileged, meaning the House will be forced to take up the resolution—though it is unlikely to pass in the Trump-controlled chamber. The maneuver will put Republican lawmakers on the record over Hegseth's handling of the war. Neale notes the vote could pose a difficult political choice for Republicans such as Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Tom Barrett of Michigan, both of whom have joined Democrats and Massie in voting for recent measures to curb the president's war powers, and both of whom face competitive reelection contests in November. Massie himself lost his Republican primary in May to a Trump-backed challenger for whom Hegseth had campaigned. Those are today's highlights. For the full st

  6. 5d ago

    September 15, 2026

    Good morning! Today is Tuesday, September 15th 2026, and this is The American Conservative's Morning Brief. President Trump's recent broadsides against British sovereignty over the Falklands and Northern Ireland have alienated even his staunchest allies on the British right, with Nigel Farage, Kemi Badenoch, and Rupert Lowe all publicly breaking with him. Charlie Nash argues there is a profound irony in a supposedly nationalist administration failing to understand the nationalism of its closest ally, risking permanent damage to a partnership no transactional alliance can replace. On day 199 of the Iran War, Trump floated a permanent American claim on Iranian oil while signaling openness to negotiations, as Brent crude opened at 108 dollars a barrel and diesel hit a record 6 dollars and 23 cents per gallon. and now for the details. We begin this morning across the Atlantic, where the special relationship between Britain and the United States is under significant strain. In recent weeks, President Trump has issued a series of statements that have alienated even his staunchest British allies. The president suggested the United States would not necessarily come to Britain's aid should Argentina again move on the Falkland Islands, a remark that emboldened Argentine President Javier Milei to escalate Buenos Aires's sovereignty campaign and threaten sanctions against companies operating in the islands. Days later, Trump said he would like to see Northern Ireland severed from the United Kingdom and unified with the Republic of Ireland, calling it something that would be, in his words, a great feather in everybody's cap. The response from Britain's right was swift. Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe called the remarks unacceptable and insulting. Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch declared the Falklands British regardless of what Trump says. Reform UK's Nigel Farage, who campaigned onstage for Trump in both 2016 and 2020, publicly broke with the president, saying the people of Northern Ireland neither want a referendum nor unification. Tensions rose further after reports that the Trump administration used U.S. Marines to remove an alleged pedophile diplomat from the London embassy, and news that Washington plans to sell Black Hawk helicopters to Argentina. As Charlie Nash writes in The American Conservative, there is a profound irony in a supposedly nationalist administration failing to understand the nationalism of its closest ally. Nash argues that just as Britain is rediscovering the importance of national sovereignty, the Trump administration risks permanent damage to a partnership that no transactional alliance can replace, a relationship rooted in shared institutions, language, military tradition, and cultural inheritance. Turning to the Iran War, now in its 199th day. President Trump told reporters during his visit to Ireland on Sunday that the United States would consider a permanent interest in Iran's oil industry. In his words, we'll ultimately get out unless we decide to stay and keep the oil, like Venezuela. The president again predicted the war would wind down after the American midterm elections, at which point, he said, oil prices would come tumbling down. Trump also reiterated that he would not intervene in the conflict between Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Houthis, who made significant territorial gains against the internationally recognized Yemeni government last week, increasing their ability to threaten Red Sea shipping. On Tuesday morning, Trump said in a social media post that he was open to the concept of negotiating with what he called the failing Nation of Iran. Meanwhile, a planned meeting on the future of the Strait of Hormuz between the Gulf nations and Iran was postponed. Jude Russo reports that Brent crude opened Monday at 108 dollars per barrel, with AAA reporting a national average of 4 dollars and 32 cents for regular gasoline, and a new all-time record of 6 dollars and 23 cents per gallon of diesel. Those are today's highlights. For the full stories and more, visit theamericanconservative.com. Thank you for starting your morning with us.

  7. 6d ago

    September 14, 2026

    Good morning! Today is Monday, September 14th 2026, and this is The American Conservative's Morning Brief. On day 198 of the Iran war, Xi Jinping offers Beijing's "due role" in Middle East peace at the BRICS summit, even as U.S. officials accuse Chinese entities of feeding Tehran satellite imagery used in a deadly strike on American troops in Jordan. A vessel struck in the Strait of Hormuz and today's Iran-Gulf talks in Oman underscore how fragile the world's most vital energy chokepoint has become ahead of the September 24 Trump-Xi meeting. From a Copenhagen coffee shop, Peter Van Buren contrasts the ghoulish arithmetic of American retirement with a Danish system whose modestly higher taxes buy something Americans rarely know: the absence of constant financial fear. and now for the details. We begin with the ongoing war with Iran, now in its 198th day, and growing signs that China is drawing closer to the conflict. Speaking at the BRICS summit in New Delhi over the weekend, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Beijing is willing to play what he called its "due role" in helping bring peace to the Middle East, warning that the war has caused serious losses across the region. Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian and Russia's Vladimir Putin were also in attendance, with the eleven-country bloc issuing a joint statement urging restraint and criticizing sanctions not authorized by the United Nations. But as Andrew Day reports, Washington is also seeing fresh evidence that Beijing has been quietly assisting Iran's war effort. Citing U.S. officials, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Chinese entities provided Tehran with high-resolution satellite imagery of an American Air Force base in Jordan ahead of a deadly attack that killed three American troops and wounded four more. Beijing denies the allegation. The revelations come just ahead of a scheduled White House meeting between Xi and President Trump on September 24. Meanwhile, an Iranian commercial vessel was struck in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, leaving one dead and four wounded. Iran and Gulf states are set to meet in Oman today to discuss the strait, a chokepoint for global energy trade that Tehran effectively closed at the outset of the war. Turning to matters closer to the American kitchen table, a dispatch from Copenhagen raises hard questions about the anxieties that shadow ordinary American life. Peter Van Buren writes from a Danish coffee shop, where he found himself calculating whether his retirement savings would outlast him, weighing nursing home costs, inflation, and the solvency of Social Security and Medicare. Looking around the room, he realized none of the Danes near him carried that same weight. Every Dane, he notes, receives universal healthcare, free public schools and universities, pensions, generous unemployment insurance, subsidized child care, and near cost-free elder care. Van Buren describes trying to explain the American healthcare maze, with its HMOs, PPOs, deductibles, IRMAA surcharges, and Medicare Parts A through D, to Danes who laughed in disbelief. He walks through the ghoulish calculations Americans make about when to claim Social Security or whether to leave a pension for a surviving spouse. According to OECD figures Van Buren cites, the average American tax wedge sits at about 30 percent; the Danish figure is 36 percent, but in exchange Danes receive comprehensive benefits and five or more weeks of paid vacation. Van Buren's argument is not a call to import Scandinavia wholesale, but a challenge to a system that, he writes, places so much emphasis on making the right private choices or personally suffering the consequences, while delivering comparatively little for what Americans already pay. What he envied in Copenhagen, he concludes, was not the architecture or the bicycles, but the absence of constant financial fear. Those are today's highlights. For the full stories and more, visit theamericanconservative.com. Thank you for starting your morning with us.

  8. Sep 13

    September 13, 2026

    Good morning! Today is Sunday, September 13th 2026, and this is The American Conservative's Morning Brief. Amid record-low approval for President Trump's foreign policy, Luke Nicastro argues the administration has quietly succeeded in the Indo-Pacific, pursuing strategic stability with China through realism, rapprochement, and Elbridge Colby's balance of denial defense and active diplomacy. As the Iran War enters its 197th day, Trump has rebuffed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's push for strikes on the Houthis, even as the Iran-backed group seizes strategic territory near the Bab al-Mandab Strait and gasoline prices climb to $4.31 a gallon. and now for the details. We begin with a look at one bright spot in an otherwise troubled foreign policy landscape. A Quinnipiac poll released last week found just 33 percent of Americans approve of President Trump's handling of foreign affairs, the worst figure of either term. More than six months of war with Iran, a spiraling trade fight with Canada, ongoing bloodshed in Ukraine, and a hardening posture in Latin America have all taken their toll. But writing for The American Conservative, Luke Nicastro argues there is one region where the administration has quietly succeeded, and that is the Indo-Pacific. Nicastro reports that the White House is pursuing what its National Defense Strategy calls a "decent peace" with China, deemphasizing security provocations, expanding military-to-military dialogue, and shifting the frame of the relationship toward economics. He credits Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby, a committed realist, with balancing diplomatic engagement against a strong denial defense along the first island chain. Jennifer Kavanagh of Defense Priorities told Nicastro that Trump has made "very positive moves" by prioritizing stability over confrontation. A tariff truce is holding, and Xi Jinping is expected to visit the United States later this month. Not everyone is satisfied. The New York Times editorial board has accused the president of going wobbly. And analysts Nicastro spoke with warn that 80,000 U.S. troops near China's shores may still preclude lasting stability, and that a future administration may reverse course on Taiwan. Still, Nicastro concludes, the approach marks a dramatic improvement, rooted in Trump's willingness to treat Beijing as a geopolitical peer with legitimate interests. Turning to the Middle East, the Iran War has entered its 197th day. Andrew Day reports that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in two phone calls Thursday, urged President Trump to launch strikes against the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen. According to Axios, Trump declined, though the commander of U.S. Central Command traveled to Saudi Arabia for meetings. Speaking to reporters Saturday, Trump said the Houthis "called us, and they don't want to fight with us," and offered assurances that things will "work out fine and dandy." The stakes on the ground are rising. Day reports that the Houthis have seized strategic territory near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a critical chokepoint for global trade and energy. With Iran already restricting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, Houthi control of the Bab al-Mandab would give Tehran additional leverage. The Saudi Energy Ministry has also shut down its East-West oil pipeline after drone attacks launched from Iraq. Gulf Arab states are set to meet with Iran in Oman on Monday to discuss the Hormuz situation. Meanwhile, in a September 11th commemoration ceremony, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth linked the terror attacks to the ongoing war, vowing that "we will finish this fight." The cost at home is measurable at the pump. The average price of gasoline in America stood at $4.31 per gallon Saturday, up from $2.98 before the war began. Those are today's highlights. For the full stories and more, visit theamericanconservative.com. Thank you for starting your morning with us.

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