Latest / Hoover Daily Report / Hoover Daily Report | February 20, 2026

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Hoover Daily Report | February 20, 2026 · Hoover Daily Report

• 0:00
  - Welcome to the Hoover Daily Report
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  Ideas Advancing Freedom.
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  It's Friday, February 20th, 2026.
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  - This Friday, Stephen Kotkin reviews a new book on
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  influential 20th century communist Leon Trotsky,
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  and explains how the belief system
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  of Marxist revolutionaries led them to moral depravity.
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  Tom Church and Daniel Heel outlined the fiscal consequences
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  of social security benefits growing much faster
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  than program income.
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  And Larry Diamond shares his vision
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  of a future US foreign policy
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  that once again prioritizes the advancement of democracy
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  and the promotion of freedom.
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  - The moral squalor stemming from communist conviction at
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  the Washington Post Senior fellow Stephen Kotkin reviews The
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  Death of Trotsky, a new book by Josh Ireland.
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  Kotkin finds that the work begins inauspiciously
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  with a false quote from Stalin.
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  Death solves all problems, no man, no problem.
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  One of innumerable Stalin sayings that originate in novels
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  and course through the history books upon which
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  Ireland's narrative draws.
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  However, the eminent Stalin biographer finds
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  that when Ireland turns to the assassination plot itself,
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  the assassin's personalities
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  and the murky world of Stalin's Secret Police
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  or NKVD,
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  the latter's book acquires narrative force and allure.
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  Kotkin emphasizes how the beliefs of Trotsky
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  and his communist associates guided their lives
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  toward moral squalor.
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  Trotsky not only enacted terror massacres,
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  but also argued for them on moral grounds.
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  Kotkin says, as young Americans seem increasingly attracted
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  to communism, Kotkin suggests that a fresh look at Trotsky
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  as both perpetrator
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  and victim of Soviet communism could remind current
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  generations why that project imploded in IGN
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  nominee decades ago.
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  - The mystery of the Vanishing Trust fund.
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  Where has the Social Security Trust fund gone
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  in a new plot points analysis in freedom frequency policy
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  Fellows Daniel Hile
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  and Tom Church look into the upcoming insolvency
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  of the trust fund and show that this money wasn't stolen
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  as many taxpayers believe, instead,
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  insolvency means every dollar ever credited
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  to the trust fund will have been paid out in benefits
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  by the early 2030s.
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  This is why social security is already straining the federal
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  budget, even while it's still officially solvent.
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  The projected insolvency will force a reckoning when the
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  year 2034 rolls around church and heel warn.
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  Benefits must be cut under current law
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  unless some other solution tax increases
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  or benefit reforms comes along.
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  - How pro-democracy, foreign policy can survive Trump
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  and emerge stronger than ever in an essay for notice?
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  Senior fellow Larry Diamond explains why the US should
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  promote democracy through its foreign policy
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  and how the nation can do so better in the future.
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  The notion that America stands
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  for something other than naked mercantilism
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  and territorial aggrandizement has been a crucial element in
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  our economic success and geopolitical security
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  since World War ii.
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  Diamond argues he illustrates many reasons why Americans
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  and many of their leaders are not in short, ready
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  to give up on democracy promotion, including the value
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  of economic and scientific collaborations
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  with other democracies
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  and the persistent threats to US interests by autocratic
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  and non-democratic states.
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  Diamond says the US can help provide the populations
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  of authoritarian states with authentic information,
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  helpful analysis, democratic ideas,
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  and hope Diamond closes by reminding readers
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  of President Ronald Reagan's inspiring statement in London
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  in 1982, that Americans are a free people worthy of freedom
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  and determine not only to remain so,
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  but to help others gain their freedom as well.
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  - AI can help defend against cyber attacks.
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  Cybersecurity is becoming a contest between AI systems used
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  by attackers and their targets.
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  Writes distinguished visiting fellow Ann Neuberger at the
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  Wall Street Journal.
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  The decisive factor is which side has richer data
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  and better models and can act at machine speed.
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  Neuberger noting
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  that the US government is the largest purchaser
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  of information technology systems argues
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  that federal authorities should make defensive AI security
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  vetting a requirement of any public sector software purchase
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  warning that network security providers are in an arms race,
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  and that reliance upon human speed defense against machine
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  speed attacks will result in American cyber losses.
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  Neuberger concludes we must build a network
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  of continuously learning secure defensive agents
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  that can detect reason and react faster than any human.
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  - The book on and of Newsom a Bed.
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  Devilled City of Angels on the latest episode of Matters
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  of Policy and Politics.
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  Hoover Senior fellow Lee Hanian
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  and distinguished policy fellow Bill Whalen,
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  both contributors to Hoover's,
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  California on your mind online journal,
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  discuss the latest in the golden State, including
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  how Governor Gavin Newsom's autobiography squares
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  with his governance record
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  and the prospects of Los Angeles joining the ranks
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  of cities ruled by Democratic socialism, Hanian,
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  and Waylon examined Newsom's two trips
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  to Europe already this year,
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  plus his nationwide tour promoting his new memoir
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  and his presidential prospects.
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  Hanian and Waylon also discuss a late breaking plot twist in
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  an already contentious Los Angeles mayoral race, as well
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  as calls for the chair of LA's 2028 Summer Olympics
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  to resign over his ties to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal
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  - Featured research initiative,
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  technology policy accelerator.
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  The Hoover Institution Technology Policy Accelerator seeks
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  to understand the drivers
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  and dynamics of technological innovation in the
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  21st century.
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  Assess the opportunities
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  and risks that breakthrough technologies are creating
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  and develop governance approaches that maximize the benefits
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  and mitigate the risks for the nation and the world.
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  Facts and objective analysis are the keys to the approach.
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  - That's your Hoover Daily report for Friday,
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  February 20th, 2026.
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  Each weekday we bring you research, analysis,
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  and commentary focused on public policy, national security,
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  and the ideas shaping American society and government.
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  The Hoover Institution at Stanford University is grounded in
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  constitutional principles with a commitment
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  to sustaining the safeguards of the American way of life.
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  Thank you for listening. For links to all the articles
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  and interviews mentioned today, visit hoover.org/hdr.