The American Conservative Morning Briefing

Good morning! Today is Saturday, November 14th 2026, and this is The American Conservative's Morning Brief. Scott Greer surveys the revived amnesty push in Washington, arguing that despite Democratic supermajorities and a weakened president, Trump is more likely to sour on a deal than to betray the agenda he campaigned on. W. James Antle III dissects the political Gordian knot the Iran war has tied around the GOP, contending that Trump poured high-priced gasoline on an inflationary fire and paid the price with his own working-class coalition. and now for the details. We begin in Washington, where immigration reform is back on the table. President Trump, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, and leading Democrats have all floated the idea of working together on a possible immigration deal. With Democrats set to take over Congress in January with sweeping majorities, and with the President weakened politically, some in the party see the next two years as their best opportunity in a generation to enact a legalization of illegal immigrants. Mullin has told reporters the White House is open to legalizing so-called Dreamers, though he insisted any deal cannot be called an amnesty. Trump himself, in a recent 60 Minutes interview, raised the possibility of shielding certain workers, including hotel maids and landscapers, from deportation. In a follow-up interview with C-SPAN, he acknowledged his administration has largely left farm workers and waitresses alone during this term's enforcement push. Writing for The American Conservative, Scott Greer surveys the legislative landscape Democrats could draw from—ranging from Biden's 2021 proposal, which offered citizenship to every illegal immigrant in the country, to narrower bills covering Dreamers or agricultural laborers, to the bipartisan DIGNIDAD Act authored by Republican Maria Elvira Salazar and Democrat Veronica Escobar. Greer notes that Democratic majorities give the party leverage to tie amnesty to a budget deal, perhaps even dangling funding for Trump's White House ballroom project. But Greer concludes the most likely outcome is that Trump sours on the idea and moves on, as he has done before. Greer points out that amnesty also looked all but certain after the 2012 election—and in the end, nothing became law. Turning to the political fallout from the ongoing conflict with Iran. In the weeks before Democrats formally take over with majorities large enough to roll back what remains of the 1994 Republican revolution, W. James Antle III examines what he calls the political Gordian knot the war has created for the GOP. Antle argues that Trump's job approval numbers were already soft before the strike on Iran, but not so soft as to lose states like Kansas or Mississippi in the midterms. The decisive factor, he contends, was the war itself—and the energy shock that followed. Trump, Antle writes, poured high-priced gasoline on an inflationary fire that might otherwise have burned itself out. Antle recalls that George W. Bush spent down his post-9/11 approval ratings in the sands of Iraq, and his father lost reelection after a successful Gulf War once a recession set in. Trump, he argues, combined the political liabilities of both. The President never truly agreed with the Iran hawks about what victory would require, never sought congressional authorization, and never made a sustained public case—all signs, Antle says, that Trump did not expect a war of this duration. The deeper question Antle raises is what the Iran hawks themselves were thinking: why they believed Trump, reliant on working-class voters who could not absorb the economic costs, would be the vehicle to finish the war even George W. Bush would not start. The war, Antle notes, remains unpopular, the Iranian regime remains in place, and the voters who paid the price at the pump were, in many cases, Trump's own 2024 supporters. Those are today's highlights. For the full stories and more, visit theamericanconservative.com. Thank you for starting your morning with us.

Good morning! Today is Friday, November 13th 2026, and this is The American Conservative's Morning Brief. On day 258 of the Iran War, President Trump declared the U.S. doesn't need a deal with Tehran, reassigning Vice President Vance away from the Iran file and siding with Secretary Rubio's blockade strategy. Andrew Day argues Rubio's apparent victory is a Pyrrhic one, as the Secretary of State now owns the administration's most unpopular policy while Vance is freed to pivot toward domestic concerns. Jack Hunter dissects Mark Levin's insistence that the Iran war didn't cost Republicans the midterms, placing it in a long tradition of neoconservative denial stretching back to Iraq, the PATRIOT Act, and waterboarding. and now for the details. We begin with the Iran War, now in its 258th day. President Trump took to Truth Social Thursday to announce that the United States, in his words, does not need a deal with Iran. The president reassigned Vice President J.D. Vance away from Iran diplomacy, directing him instead to focus on corruption and crime in Democrat-run cities and states. Trump wrote that the U.S. has seized hundreds of billions of dollars of Iranian money and controls the Strait of Hormuz. As Jude Russo reports, the announcement came amid intensifying diplomatic activity, including a potential meeting between Vance and Iran's Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Mohsen Rezaei in Doha. Russo notes that Trump's statement appears to confirm the president is siding with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who favor continuing economic warfare against Iran without a return to high-intensity combat. Meanwhile, the Iranians continue to harass traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, Israel struck a hospital in Gaza killing six according to Gaza's health ministry, and the Houthis continue their siege of Taiz in Yemen. Brent crude opened Thursday at just over ninety-two dollars a barrel, with national average prices at the pump reaching three dollars and ninety-one cents for gasoline and six dollars and ten cents for diesel. Our next story offers analysis of the political fallout from the president's Iran announcement. Andrew Day argues that Trump's declaration that "we don't need a deal" is actually an improvement over his previous "deal or war" framing, which Day contends was counterproductive to peace from the start. As Day reports, the president's move represents a short-term victory for Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has championed a naval blockade of Iranian ports as a middle course between war and diplomacy. But Day argues this is a Pyrrhic win. Middle East experts he consulted say Tehran is more likely to lash out than to back down as the blockade squeezes its economy, and the strategy risks an escalation spiral around the Strait of Hormuz, while also being expensive to maintain. Day's broader point concerns political ownership of the war. Until now, he writes, Rubio had cultivated distance from the administration's most unpopular policy by conducting little actual diplomacy. That distance has now collapsed. Vice President Vance, by contrast, had become associated with a diplomatic effort he could not complete, given Trump's refusal to offer the concessions Tehran demanded. Vance recently wrote bluntly that the Iran war was the reason Republicans lost last week's midterm elections. Day concludes that with Rubio now the public face of the war and Vance redirected to domestic concerns, the political calculus has shifted, though he harbors, in his words, zero optimism about the prospects for peace itself. Staying with the aftermath of the midterms, Jack Hunter examines the reaction of talk radio host Mark Levin, one of the most vocal cheerleaders for the Iran war. Hunter notes that before the election, Levin assured viewers that a Republican loss would not be attributable to the war. After the GOP's historic defeat, Levin insisted Iran wasn't even a major issue. The data, Hunter writes, tell a different story. Exit polls showed 74 percent of voters called the Iran war a crucial or major factor in their vote. A Gallup survey a week earlier found 77 percent of registered voters considered the war extremely or very important. POLITICO reported in June that Levin had been among a group of hawks advising President Trump on the war, including urging him to resist a peace deal. Hunter draws a longer historical line, recalling Levin's defense of the Iraq war, the PATRIOT Act, waterboarding, and warrantless surveillance during the Bush years, when Levin derided critics as "statists." Hunter argues that the same pattern of denying inconvenient reality to protect an interventionist agenda is on display today. He notes the irony that many conservatives who once accepted those civil liberties tradeoffs are now in revolt against intrusive surveillance tools like Flock cameras. Those are today's highlights. For the full stories and more, visit theamericanconservative

Good morning! Today is Wednesday, November 11th 2026, and this is The American Conservative's Morning Brief. As the Iran War grinds into its 256th day, President Trump signals the fighting is effectively over even while moving a third carrier into the region and tightening a naval blockade that experts warn is itself an act of war. Thomas Massie's new articles of impeachment against Pete Hegseth were punted to committee, but Jude Russo argues the White House should seize the moment, let Hegseth take the fall, and use it as an off-ramp to Tehran. James P. Pinkerton looks at J.D. Vance through the lens of Hubert Humphrey and Ronald Reagan, asking whether the vice president is doomed to inherit an unpopular war or whether Trump can still choose the Gipper's path out. and now for the details. We begin with the Iran War, now in its 256th day. President Trump said Monday that the threat from Iran has been subdued and the United States probably will not escalate. Writing on Truth Social after what he called an excellent conversation with the prime minister of Qatar, Trump said the Gulf Arab states prefer the status quo to further escalation. He added that America remains, in his words, locked and loaded if circumstances change, but that further military action seems quite unlikely. Speaking to reporters, Trump said the war is, militarily, effectively over. Even so, the United States continues to move military equipment and an aircraft carrier into the region. Fresh polling from the Institute for Global Affairs at the Eurasia Group underscores why the president may be pulling back. Forty-four percent of Americans say a candidate's backing of the Iran War makes them less likely to support that candidate; only thirteen percent say it makes them more likely. Most Americans told pollsters the United States should prioritize avoiding higher prices at home, even if that means not achieving every military goal against Iran. Oil prices have plunged since early last week, and the national average price of regular gasoline has fallen below four dollars a gallon for the first time since July. Andrew Day has the story at The American Conservative. But antiwar voices should not exhale just yet. In a companion piece, Andrew Day reports that even as Trump downplays escalation, he intends to maintain a crushing economic pressure campaign against Tehran, including a naval blockade of Iranian ports. Under international law, Day notes, that blockade is itself an act of war, and the experts he spoke with warn the pressure campaign makes a return to full hostilities more likely, not less. Brett Erickson of Obsidian Risk Advisors told TAC there is little reason to think Iranian leadership will surrender in what it sees as an existential war, especially after what he called multiple American atrocities against the Iranian people. Rosemary Kelanic of Defense Priorities and Sina Toossi of the Center for International Policy made similar points: Tehran will absorb the economic pain and look to impose costs of its own, including through the Strait of Hormuz, where October was the worst month of the war for Iranian strikes on vessels. Day reports the administration has now stood up Task Force Iron Gate, led by Central Command's Admiral Brad Cooper, expanding the blockade to land routes and the Caspian Sea. By mid-November the U.S. will briefly have a rare three-carrier presence in the Middle East. Day warns that groups like the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which helped sabotage pre-war diplomacy, now back a strategy of economic strangulation that could lead to the regime-change war they have always wanted. On Capitol Hill, Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie has reintroduced articles of impeachment against Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, charging that the prosecution of the Iran War without a congressional declaration amounts to high crimes and misdemeanors. The House voted Tuesday night to refer the matter to committee, effectively killing it for now, though the incoming Democratic majority may well take another shot in January. Writing at TAC, Jude Russo makes what he calls the political argument against Hegseth. Russo argues that the conventional wisdom, that an impeachment is an embarrassment for the White House, misses an opportunity. The administration, Russo writes, has clearly decided it does not like this war very much. The president himself sounds less than eager to resume hostilities, and Vice President Vance is openly working toward a settlement. The sticking point is how to wrap things up without a damaging full-administration reversal. Russo's suggestion: let Hegseth take the fall. He catalogues a tenure marked by staffing turmoil, the Signalgate episode, and the secretary's televised enthusiasm for strikes on fishing boats. Firing Hegseth, Russo argues, need not change policy, since any secretary will carry out the president's orders, but it could be presented to Tehran as a substantive shift and help broker an of

Good morning! Today is Tuesday, November 10th 2026, and this is The American Conservative's Morning Brief. Luke Nicastro pushes back on the chorus declaring J.D. Vance politically dead after the midterms, arguing the vice president's early opposition to the Iran War makes him uniquely positioned for 2028. Qatar's prime minister meets with Trump and Vance in Washington today as Doha pitches a nuclear inspections-for-sanctions-relief framework to prevent the Iran war from reigniting. Diplomatic momentum is building on multiple fronts, with Vance set to travel to Qatar next week, Erdoğan urging restraint, and Brent crude sliding as markets price in a possible deal. and now for the details. In the wake of last week's midterm drubbing for Republicans, a chorus of commentators and GOP donors has begun writing the political obituary of Vice President J.D. Vance. A New York Times piece by Compact editor Matthew Schmitz dubbed Vance "the biggest loser" of the midterms, arguing he is too tied to President Trump to survive in 2028. The Wall Street Journal reports deep-pocketed donors are already floating Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and others as alternatives. But in The American Conservative, Luke Nicastro argues these reports of Vance's political demise are greatly exaggerated. Nicastro writes that the midterms turned decisively on the Iran War, with nearly three in four voters citing it as a crucial or major issue. That, he argues, makes a credible ability to disavow the war a near-prerequisite for winning in 2028—and on that front, Vance stands alone within the administration. Nicastro notes that Vance opposed the war at its outset, worked to make the Islamabad memorandum of understanding possible, and has grown more willing to speak candidly about the conflict. By contrast, Secretary of State Marco Rubio continues to defend the war in bellicose terms, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Nicastro writes, is war itself. As for DeSantis, Nicastro points to Scott Greer's recent TAC piece arguing the governor's sudden anti-war turn is a matter of political convenience rather than conversion. Nicastro adds that a Democratic-controlled Congress may actually benefit Vance, whose common-good conservatism and Senate experience position him to cut bipartisan deals on housing and healthcare. And he notes that among Republicans under forty-five, Vance remains the overwhelming favorite—with a new organization called American Ascent launching this week to push the party in a more populist, America First direction. Qatar's Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani meets with President Trump and Vice President Vance in Washington today, as the Gulf monarchy works to bridge the gap between American and Iranian demands for a peace deal. Jude Russo reports in The American Conservative that Qatar has proposed Iran allow UN inspectors into its nuclear sites in exchange for the United States lifting its naval blockade and unfreezing some Iranian assets. An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said Monday that Iran remained committed to its Nonproliferation Treaty obligations but could not honor them under current circumstances. Diplomatic activity has intensified amid concerns that fighting could resume following last week's midterms. U.S. Central Command on Saturday announced "Task Force Iron Gate," a new staff devoted to interdicting Iranian overland trade. But both sides are signaling reluctance to reescalate. In a 60 Minutes interview that aired Sunday, Trump said he did not intend to renew military action, saying, "I'm not looking to. I don't think there's any reason to." Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has given him a mandate to end the current "neither war nor peace" impasse, including through diplomacy. Russo reports that Turkey's President Erdoğan urged Trump over the weekend not to escalate, and that Vance and Iran's Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei will travel to Qatar next week for negotiations. The Washington Post's David Ignatius has reported that the Trump administration has even reached out to China for help brokering an end to the war. Energy markets responded positively to the diplomatic prospects. Brent crude tumbled from an open of $97.63, and AAA reported the national average for regular gasoline easing to $4.01 a gallon. Those are today's highlights. For the full stories and more, visit theamericanconservative.com. Thank you for starting your morning with us.

Good morning! Today is Saturday, November 7th 2026, and this is The American Conservative's Morning Brief. W. James Antle III argues GOP denials that the Iran War drove Tuesday's midterm wipeout amount to special pleading, with the war fueling persistent inflation and echoing hawks' 2006 attempts to blame earmarks instead of Iraq. Jack Hunter traces how Thomas Massie's warnings against foreign wars, deficit spending, and Israeli influence, which cost him his seat in the most expensive House primary ever, now read almost word-for-word like J.D. Vance's postelection prescription for the party. Andrew Day contends that beyond the war and the economy, demographic transformation enabled the Democratic sweep, with Georgia and Texas flipping and a permanent Democratic majority coming into view ahead of 2028. and now for the details. We begin with the aftermath of Tuesday's midterm elections, which handed Republicans one of the worst drubbings in recent memory. In the days since, a number of prominent GOP voices, including radio host Erick Erickson and outgoing Senator Thom Tillis, have insisted that the Iran War had little to do with the result. Vice President J.D. Vance has publicly pushed back, pointing to internal White House polling, since confirmed by the New York Times, showing that an end to the war in June would have salvaged significant Republican ground. As W. James Antle III writes, this denialism is an exercise in special pleading. Antle argues that Trump's first-term success came from limited military intervention, no new foreign wars, and a tariff regime compatible with inflation running below two percent. The second term, he writes, leaned into what he calls me-too progressive neoconservatism dressed in populist garb. Antle acknowledges tariffs have added to the affordability squeeze, particularly in farm states, but contends the Iran War is the single biggest driver of persistent inflation, keeping gasoline and diesel prices elevated and preventing the Federal Reserve from cutting rates. He compares the current moment to 2006, when hawks tried to blame earmarks rather than Iraq for Republican losses. The question Antle leaves hanging: how many more times will congressional Republicans listen to the same voices and get the same result. Staying with the midterm fallout, Vice President Vance posted on X this week a pollster's four-point list of what Republicans must do to win back defectors: end the war, focus on cost of living, put America First, and change the U.S. relationship with Israel. Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie replied with an image of a red cap reading "Massie Was Right About Everything," and offered to send one to the Vice President. As Jack Hunter reports, Massie had warned his party for years. He endorsed Donald Trump in October 2024 on the premise that Trump would prevent needless wars abroad. When the administration launched its war with Iran in March, Massie resisted, remained a fiscal hawk, and questioned Israeli influence on U.S. policy. For that, Hunter writes, Trump teamed with pro-Israel billionaires to defeat Massie in the most expensive House primary in American history this past May. After Democrats' strong showing in the 2025 off-year elections, Massie publicly urged Republicans to quit funding foreign wars, put farmers before corporations, reduce spending to control inflation, and put America before Israel. Hunter notes that list reads almost identically to Vance's postmortem. A number of Democrats, he observes, ran this cycle sounding more like the 2024 Trump, and more like Massie, than the current administration. Hunter concludes that the America First message remains viable, and largely untried. Our next story examines the demographic contours of Tuesday's result. Andrew Day writes that while the Iran War and its economic consequences drove voter frustration, the scale of the Democratic sweep was enabled by America's racial and demographic transformation over the past several decades. Day points to Georgia, once reliably Republican and now minority white, which returned Jon Ossoff to the Senate and elected Keisha Lance Bottoms as governor. He points to Texas, where only 37 percent of residents are white and where Hispanic voters not only shifted blue but turned out in large numbers. Kansas, Ohio, and South Carolina told similar stories. Day argues the Democrats are heading toward what he calls a permanent majority. He cites two facts for readers to weigh: no Republican presidential candidate since Herbert Hoover has won a majority of any nonwhite racial group, and America is projected to be majority nonwhite by around 2045. He acknowledges the factors that have slowed this trend, including a whiter voting electorate, Republican gains with Hispanic voters, working-class white realignment, and countermajoritarian institutions like the electoral college and the Senate. But he contends the 2024 multiracial coalition thesis was wishful thinking, noting that Trump's po

Good morning! Today is Friday, November 6th 2026, and this is The American Conservative's Morning Brief. After Tuesday's midterm rout, Ron DeSantis is reinventing himself as an Iran war critic ahead of 2028, but Scott Greer argues his long record of hawkish commitments and deep ties to pro-Israel donors will make that pitch a hard sell to a weary GOP base. Scott McConnell reads Abdul El-Sayed's Michigan Senate victory as a genuine rebuke to the foreign policy establishment, noting that AIPAC spent more than thirty-one million dollars to stop him and still lost, even among a majority of the state's Jewish voters. Together, the two races suggest the question of whether America should keep fighting open-ended wars on Israel's behalf is finally becoming a live debate in Washington. and now for the details. We begin with the fallout from Tuesday's midterms, which handed Republicans a sweeping defeat and gave Democrats strong majorities in both chambers of Congress. President Trump's Iran war loomed large over the results, and one prominent Republican is already positioning himself for 2028. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, in an interview with Stephen A. Smith and again at a Wednesday press conference, publicly broke with the administration, pointing to higher gas prices and what he called poor messaging from the White House and the GOP. As Scott Greer reports for The American Conservative, DeSantis is laying the groundwork for another presidential run, this time as a Trump critic from the right, with the Iran war as the centerpiece of his pitch. Greer notes the obvious tension: DeSantis bears no direct responsibility for Operation Epic Fury, but his record is hardly that of a non-interventionist. In his 2024 bid, DeSantis ran to Trump's right on Iran, pledged to turn the screws on Tehran from day one, attacked Trump for even mild criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu, and was a favored guest of hawkish commentators like Mark Levin. When Operation Epic Fury began, DeSantis praised it as justice for Americans killed in Iraq, and last year he backed bombing Iran as a necessary act of deterrence. Greer argues DeSantis is a shrewd enough politician to read the wind, and that distancing himself from the war offers a genuine opening against rivals tied to the administration and senators like Ted Cruz. But Greer concludes the governor will have a hard time convincing a weary Republican base that a man with a long record of hawkish commitments, and deep ties to pro-Israel donors, will be the one to steer the country away from more foreign interventions. Staying with the midterms, one of the most closely watched races was in Michigan, where Abdul El-Sayed won a Senate seat by a convincing margin after making opposition to the Iran war the center of his campaign. Scott McConnell writes for The American Conservative that, whatever his disagreements with El-Sayed on domestic questions, the victory represents a significant rebuke to the bipartisan foreign policy establishment. McConnell notes that AIPAC spent an astonishing thirty-one million dollars trying to defeat El-Sayed in the Democratic primary, and poured in millions more during the general election, framing him as unacceptable because of his opposition to Israel's war on Gaza. Despite that campaign, McConnell reports, roughly sixty percent of Michigan's Jewish voters backed El-Sayed. McConnell takes aim at the longstanding dynamic in which, as he puts it, American politicians of both parties have treated Jerusalem as the metropole and Washington as a client expected to supply money and arms. He points to Benjamin Netanyahu's own boasts that Israel has sought for twenty years to draw America into war with Iran, and to Miriam Adelson's Israeli newspaper now floating a potential Israeli war against Turkey. McConnell argues the stakes of El-Sayed's election are not symbolic. Until now, he writes, the question of whether the United States should fight indefinite wars to preserve Israel's nuclear monopoly in the Middle East was scarcely considered a fit subject for debate in Washington. That, he suggests, is finally beginning to change. Those are today's highlights. For the full stories and more, visit theamericanconservative.com. Thank you for starting your morning with us.

Good morning! Today is Thursday, November 5th 2026, and this is The American Conservative's Morning Brief. Democrats swept Tuesday's midterms in a historic rout, flipping both chambers of Congress and governorships in Ohio, Texas, Georgia, and Nevada, with Vice President Vance publicly blaming the Iran War for the loss. Ann Coulter names Benjamin Netanyahu and Rupert Murdoch as chief architects of the Iran War disaster, pointing to collapsed public support for Israel and a CPI shock rivaling the invasion of Ukraine. Seventy years after Soviet tanks crushed the Hungarian Revolution, Doug Bandow revisits Imre Nagy's doomed stand and the enduring warning it offers about the price of socialist rule. and now for the details. We begin with the political earthquake from Tuesday night. Democrats swept the midterm elections, picking up at least fifty-four seats in the Senate and two hundred twenty-eight in the House, taking control of both chambers. Democratic senators were elected in nearly every battleground state, including Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, James Talarico in Texas, Sherrod Brown in Ohio, and Josh Turek in Iowa. The party also flipped the governorships of Ohio, Texas, Georgia, and Nevada. As Luke Nicastro reports for The American Conservative, the scope of the Democratic victory is historic, with wins in deep-red states like Texas, Kansas, and South Carolina. Nicastro notes that compared to 2024, voters across virtually every demographic shifted toward Democrats, with Hispanic voters moving twenty-eight points and voters under thirty shifting thirty-two points. Exit polling pointed to the economy as the top issue, followed by the state of democracy. President Trump said he is, quote, "absolutely willing" to accept the results and looks forward to working with Democrats. Inside the administration, the finger-pointing has already begun. Vice President J.D. Vance on Wednesday blamed the Iran War for the Republican Party's losses, writing on X, quote, "The reason we lost is the war." Donald Trump Jr. publicly agreed with the vice president. President Trump, in a Tuesday night interview with the Wall Street Journal, acknowledged the war contributed to the poor performance but said he does not regret launching it. Andrew Day reports for The American Conservative that the war, now in its ninth month, has driven up gasoline prices and general inflation because of fighting around the Strait of Hormuz. Iran said Wednesday that four more oil tankers had caught fire after hitting sea mines. Day notes that Brent crude dropped sharply following the Democratic victories, dipping to around ninety-four dollars per barrel, its lowest level since September. The average price of regular gasoline stood at four dollars and twelve cents per gallon. Iranian negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf framed the election as a rebuke, saying Americans had said no to war. Columnist Ann Coulter takes a hard look at who she says bears responsibility for the Iran War and the political wreckage it has produced. Writing for The American Conservative, Coulter names Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Fox News and New York Post patriarch Rupert Murdoch at the top of her list. She points to polling data showing a dramatic collapse in American support for the war and for Israel itself: a Pew survey this spring found sixty percent of Americans hold an unfavorable view of Israel, and Gallup polling indicates that for the first time since 2001, more Americans sympathize with the Palestinians than with Israel. Coulter argues that voters consistently told pollsters the top election issues were the Iran War, gas prices, and the cost of living—and that gas prices and inflation are themselves consequences of the war. She cites the month after the bombing began, when the seasonally adjusted Consumer Price Index spiked nine-tenths of a percent, a jump comparable to the shock from Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Coulter also recounts how war hawks at the New York Post and Fox News attacked Vice President Vance's June attempt to end the conflict through a Memorandum of Understanding, an effort she argues might have averted Tuesday's rout. She points to the Iowa Farmers Union endorsing every Democrat running for Congress for the first time in its history, citing doubled diesel prices—and notes that Iowa Democrats on Tuesday swept the Senate, governorship, attorney general, and three of four House seats. Those are today's highlights. For the full stories and more, visit theamericanconservative.com. Thank you for starting your morning with us.

Good morning! Today is Wednesday, November 4th 2026, and this is The American Conservative's Morning Brief. As Trump weighs renewed strikes on Iran after a bruising midterm defeat, Tehran is signaling that the next phase of war would reach deep into Europe, with Germany, Italy, Portugal, and the UK named as potential targets. With Democrats seizing both chambers of Congress, Luke Nicastro argues the incoming 120th Congress faces an urgent task: reclaiming its constitutional war powers and the power of the purse from a White House that has spent nine months waging an undeclared war. and now for the details. With the midterms behind him and Democrats taking control of Congress, President Trump faces a renewed decision point on Iran. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been pressing for what he calls "devastating strikes," and the Pentagon has continued moving troops and materiel into the region. The question now is what happens if the war resumes in earnest. As Andrew Day reports for The American Conservative, Iran is signaling that any next phase of the conflict would reach well beyond the Gulf, with Europe squarely in its sights. Ellie Geranmayeh of the European Council on Foreign Relations told TAC that Tehran has explicitly warned that any country facilitating American attacks will expose itself to Iranian counterstrikes. Sina Toossi of the Center for International Policy noted that European bases, including British facilities, have reportedly been used to support operations against Iran, and Tehran increasingly views them as legitimate targets. On Saturday, Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei instructed his commanders to drop any geographical limitations on retaliatory planning. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi singled out German Chancellor Friedrich Merz for having endorsed the American-Israeli attacks, warning that "red lines are a thing of the past." Former Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki named Germany, Italy, Portugal, and the United Kingdom as potential targets—all countries that have, to varying degrees, allowed U.S. bases on their soil to support operations against Iran. Day notes the strategy cuts two ways. Threatening Europe could backfire by drawing Western allies directly into the war—an outcome Trump himself has repeatedly called for. But it may also give European capitals pause about hosting American strike operations. Geranmayeh told TAC that many European governments are likely to be more hesitant than they were earlier this year, unwilling to be embroiled in an American war in the Middle East that lacks an exit strategy. With Democrats seizing both chambers in Tuesday's midterms, attention turns to what the incoming 120th Congress will actually do with its mandate. Writing for The American Conservative, Luke Nicastro argues that the urgent task before the next class of lawmakers is nothing less than the resuscitation of their own institution. Nicastro begins with the war. The United States has now entered the ninth month of a conflict with Iran prosecuted, he writes, in open defiance of the Constitution, which reserves to Congress the power to declare war. He calls for an "all of the above" approach: war powers resolutions, defense authorization provisions requiring the removal of U.S. troops, and above all the use of the power of the purse. Nicastro points to the Vietnam-era Case-Church Amendment as a model—legislation that prevented any Pentagon money from being used to fight in Indochina—and argues something similar belongs in this year's defense appropriations act. Beyond the war, Nicastro faults Congress for letting the executive branch essentially write its own budget, abandoning regular appropriations in favor of reconciliation to ram through partisan priorities. He singles out a recent bill projected to add $4.7 trillion to the national debt by 2035, passed over the objections of fiscal hawks who wilted under executive pressure. His final request is simpler: that members conduct themselves with a modicum of decency, end the hearings staged purely to generate viral clips, and actually pass legislation. Nicastro concedes the odds are long, but argues that until voters begin demanding more from their representatives, the country will continue to suffer what he calls a clownish and castrated Congress. Those are today's highlights. For the full stories and more, visit theamericanconservative.com. Thank you for starting your morning with us.

Good morning! Today is Tuesday, November 3rd 2026, and this is The American Conservative's Morning Brief. Jude Russo argues today's midterms will be remembered not for shifting Washington's balance of power but for marking the close of the Trump era and the opening of a bruising succession fight between Cruz, Hegseth, and Vance. On day two hundred and forty-eight of the Iran war, markets rallied as Qatari-mediated talks in Doha pointed toward reopening the Strait of Hormuz, even as two tankers were struck over the weekend and Tehran held firm on its conditions. and now for the details. We begin with today's midterm elections, which Jude Russo argues will be remembered less for what they change in Washington than for what they signal about the end of an era. Writing in The American Conservative, Russo notes that Republicans have no real legislative agenda heading into the vote; the administration's signature moves have all been executive-branch exercises, from the war with Iran to trade policy to the overhaul of the Kennedy Center. Even if Democrats sweep both chambers, they will fall well short of veto-proof or impeachment majorities. What makes today different, Russo contends, is that this is the last election cycle Donald Trump will lead the Republican Party into. From today forward, the fight over what comes after Trump begins in earnest. Russo lays out the likely contenders. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, he writes, is positioned to be a unity candidate, pairing populist style with Chamber of Commerce substance. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth would offer a more hardline posture. Secretary of State Marco Rubio continues to signal he is not interested in 2028. And Vice President J.D. Vance, in Russo's analysis, remains the best available vehicle for an America First conservatism, though his viability depends heavily on how the Iran war is resolved. Russo returns to Michael Anton's 2016 essay "The Flight 93 Election," arguing its logic only holds if the Republican Party is actually challenging deindustrialization, the erosion of national identity, and imperial adventurism abroad. If instead it settles back into business as usual with tax cuts attached, he writes, the America First project will need a new and more disciplined champion than the one it has had for the past decade. Turning to the Iran war, now in its two hundred and forty-eighth day. Markets rallied Monday on word of progress in Qatari-mediated negotiations in Doha, where U.S. and Iranian officials are reportedly working on a two-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian officials offered positive public comments about the talks. Brent crude opened the week at about one hundred eleven dollars and sixty-nine cents a barrel, down sharply from Friday's close of one hundred seventeen sixty-four, and has continued to slide. AAA reported slight easing at the pump, with national averages at four dollars seventeen cents for regular gasoline and six dollars twenty-nine cents for diesel. Stocks rose and bond yields fell. As Jude Russo reports for The American Conservative, however, the shooting has not stopped. The UK Maritime Trade Operations Center said two tankers were struck near the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, and Tehran reiterated that its conditions for reopening the waterway remain unchanged. The link between the war and American household budgets, Russo has argued elsewhere, is direct: so long as Middle Eastern energy exports are constrained, the cost of fuel, credit, and nearly everything else stays elevated. Those are today's highlights. For the full stories and more, visit theamericanconservative.com. Thank you for starting your morning with us.

Good morning! Today is Monday, November 2nd 2026, and this is The American Conservative's Morning Brief. As the midterms approach, Peter Van Buren argues the press has lapsed into apocalyptic fascism talk that bears little resemblance to 1930s Germany and more to the economics of clicks and Democratic turnout strategy. On day 247 of the war with Iran, President Trump floats finishing off remaining nuclear sites while Vice President Vance opens a direct diplomatic channel with Tehran and Doha talks shorten the timeline for reopening the Strait of Hormuz. and now for the details. With tomorrow's midterm elections on the horizon, the national press has returned to a familiar refrain: that American democracy itself is on the brink of collapse. The New Republic has run a cover declaring President Trump is planning a November coup. Former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin warns November 3rd could be a defining test for the rule of law. Nobel laureate Paul Krugman predicts a Hitlerian decree if Republicans lose. New books forecast a Blue-Red civil war, and Art Spiegelman, author of Maus, now describes the current moment as worse than most things he knows. In a recent poll, 59 percent of Democratic respondents said they would feel positive about a junta removing Trump from power. As Peter Van Buren writes for The American Conservative, Germany in the 1930s was a radically different place: ravaged by world war, reparations, hyperinflation, and years of street violence by brownshirts before Hitler was ever appointed chancellor. Van Buren argues the word "fascism" has become shorthand for anything from ICE enforcement to an unfavorable court ruling, displacing more precise terms like illiberal, populist, or constitutionally aggressive. He sees two forces at work: the economics of attention, where Nazi comparisons generate clicks, and a political strategy that treats fear as a tool to herd reluctant voters toward the Democratic Party. Van Buren concludes that democracy, properly understood, is the system by which a republic corrects ugly politics and bad presidents, and he urges the press to show a little more faith in the American people. The war with Iran enters its 247th day with President Trump signaling that American forces may yet strike additional nuclear sites. Speaking to reporters on Saturday after a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said the United States had knocked out Iran's nuclear program but still needed to take care of one or two sites, specifically mentioning Pickaxe Mountain, and claimed the job could be done in ten minutes. Iranian officials responded with sharp warnings. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, promised devastating blows using new weaponry, and Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei instructed commanders to drop geographical limitations on retaliatory strikes. As Andrew Day reports for The American Conservative, Vice President J.D. Vance has opened a diplomatic channel to Rezaei, proposing direct talks, and Trump has backed the outreach even as he weighs new strikes after Tuesday's midterms. Negotiations in Doha, mediated by Qatar, entered a third day on Sunday. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Al Jazeera that delegations had shortened the timeline for reopening the Strait of Hormuz from seven days to two, and he called America's diplomatic initiative a positive step. Day notes that analysts have pushed back on Netanyahu's claim that another round of strikes could topple the Islamic Republic, and recent assessments from the Associated Press and the Wall Street Journal have found that Iranian strikes on U.S. assets in the region grew more effective as the war progressed. Gasoline prices remain elevated, averaging $4.17 a gallon. Those are today's highlights. For the full stories and more, visit theamericanconservative.com. Thank you for starting your morning with us.