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Hoover Daily Report | May 13, 2026 · Hoover Daily Report

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  Welcome to "the Hoover Daily Report". Ideas Advancing
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  Freedom. It's Wednesday, May 13th, twenty twenty six .
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  Today, the Hoover Institution congratulates Kevin Warsh on his
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  confirmation to serve as the next chairman of the Board of Governors of the
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  Federal Reserve System; Andrew Hall examines the likely political
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  implications of AI-driven job displacement; and H.R. McMaster speaks
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  with a human rights advocate about the dire humanitarian situation in Cuba and
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  the prospects for a change in governance that
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  could improve conditions for the Cuban people.
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  Hoover Institution Congratulates Kevin Warsh on Confirmation as Federal Reserve
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  Chair.
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  The Hoover Institution congratulates Kevin Warsh, the Shepard Family
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  Distinguished Visiting Fellow in Economics at Hoover, on his confirmation
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  by the US Senate to serve as chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal
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  Reserve System. "I have known Kevin for most of his adult life. I first met him
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  as a student in my international politics class at Stanford University, and it was
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  clear even then that he was exceptional,”
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  said former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Tad and Dianne Taube
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  Director of the Hoover Institution.
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  “Kevin is uniquely suited to lead the Federal Reserve at this moment. He is
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  battle-tested, principled, and brings the breadth of judgment this role demands.
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  Just as important, he understands how deeply international relations and
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  monetary policy are intertwined—a reality that will only grow more consequential in
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  the years ahead. He is the right person at the right time. On behalf of his
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  friends and colleagues at the Hoover Institution, we wish him well." In a
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  bipartisan vote on Wednesday, the US Senate confirmed Warsh, who will become
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  the Fed’s 17th chair when he is sworn in.
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  The Politics of Jobless Prosperity.
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  In a major new essay for the Free Systems Substack, Senior Fellow Andrew B. Hall
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  considers the political implications of an artificial intelligence–driven
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  economic shock. Hall says this future has not yet arrived, and is difficult to
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  forecast, but will likely feature rapid economic growth “even as jobs disappear,”
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  making the situation “more like the Industrial Revolution or the China Shock
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  than a normal recession, with mass disruption alongside the explosive
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  enrichment of a small class of elites at the top.” Hall predicts that backlash
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  will arrive when unemployment climbs by 2 percentage points alongside a clear
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  public narrative blaming AI. Hall also makes the case that frontier AI labs
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  can’t preempt the political backlash through the implementation of their own
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  social contracts, however ambitious in scope or clever in design. “Social
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  contracts tend to get extracted from the powerful by the affected,” Hall writes,
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  “not handed down from above to a public that has not yet decided what it wants.”.
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  Cuba at a Crossroads: Crisis and the Long Struggle for Liberty.
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  For the latest episode of Today’s Battlegrounds, Rosa María Payá, founder
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  of Cuba Decide and a commissioner on the Inter-American Commission on Human
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  Rights, speaks with Senior Fellow H.R. McMaster about US-Cuba relations, Cuba’s
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  deepening economic and humanitarian crisis, its internal challenges of
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  governance and repression, and prospects for a more peaceful and secure future for
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  the Cuban people. Reflecting on the current crisis in Cuba, Payá and McMaster
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  discuss worsening humanitarian conditions, including blackouts, food and
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  medicine shortages, and mass emigration. They examine the legacy of Payá’s father,
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  Oswaldo Payá, and democratic opposition movements such as
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  the Varela Project;
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  the Cuban regime’s use of repression and surveillance to maintain power; and the
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  role of young Cubans demanding political change. The conversation also explores US
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  policy toward Cuba; the effects of sanctions and international pressure;
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  Cuba’s relationships with authoritarian regimes including Venezuela, Russia,
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  China, and Iran; and the conditions Payá argues are vital for a democratic
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  transition in Cuba.
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  Will Trump Betray Taiwan?
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  Writing for Project Syndicate, Hoover Fellow Eyck Freymann considers how Taiwan
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  will figure in this week’s Beijing summit between US President Donald Trump and
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  Chinese President Xi Jinping. Freymann argues that in the decades ahead, China’s
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  leadership is likely to increase “gray-zone activity”—below the threshold
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  of armed conflict but detrimental to Taiwan’s independence. He notes that in
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  Xi Jinping, “Trump will be facing a patient, perceptive, and ambitious
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  leader.” The best way to signal American resolve on Taiwan and to deter a crisis,
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  Freymann says, “is to ensure Xi never receives the signal that patience is no
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  longer required—and that Taiwan never doubts who its friends are.”.
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  Hoover Hosts Mexican Scholars to Reinvigorate Continental Trade and
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  Security Ties.
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  The US and Mexico can strengthen ties by deepening automotive supply chains and
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  developing shared energy infrastructure, but better dialogue between both
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  governments and coordination in security issues may be necessary to advance with
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  further integration, speakers said at a Hoover Institution conference. The April
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  20 gathering was made possible by Hoover’s Program on the Foundations of
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  Economic Prosperity, which together with Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México
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  (ITAM) has formed the Mexico-USA Prosperity and Security Initiative.
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  Annual US-Mexico trade totals roughly $850 billion, with about 80 percent of
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  Mexican exports going to the United States. Participants argued that
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  bilateral trade has delivered tangible gains over the past several decades, even
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  as disputes have persisted in some areas.
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  Featured Hoover Publication: Notes on Freedom, A Hoover Institution Treasury.
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  Why has the American spirit prevailed over two and a half centuries? Notes on
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  Freedom: A Hoover Institution Treasury (available July 1, 2026) presents a vital
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  collection of wisdom from the Hoover Institution, exploring the enduring
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  values that illuminate our nation’s past, inspire our present, and offer hope for
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  our future.
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  That’s your Hoover Daily Report for Wednesday, May 13th, twenty twenty six.
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  Each weekday, we bring you research, analysis, and commentary focused on
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  public policy, national security, and the ideas shaping American society and
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  government.
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  The Hoover Institution at Stanford University is grounded in constitutional
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  principles with a commitment to sustaining the safeguards of the American
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  way of life.
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  Thank you for listening.
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  For links to all the articles and interviews mentioned today, visit
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  hoover.org slash, HDR.