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Hoover Daily Report | April 9, 2026 · Hoover Daily Report

• 0:00
  Welcome to "the Hoover Daily Report". Ideas Advancing
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  Freedom. It's Thursday, April 9th, twenty twenty six.
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  Today, authors warn the Trump administration not to accept a simmering,
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  low-level standoff with Iran like America did with Iraq between 1991 and 2003.
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  The GoodFellows invite you to attend a live episode taping later this month. And
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  the Reflections series explores how the Hoover Afghanistan Research & Relief Team
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  (HART) came to be in 2021.
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  How a Cease-Fire Can Lead to Disaster.
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  In Foreign Affairs, Visiting Fellow Samuel Helfont and Daniel Chardell warn
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  against approaching peace with Iran the way US presidents did with Saddam
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  Hussein’s Iraq after the success of Operation Desert Storm. Both George H. W.
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  Bush and Bill Clinton sought to “contain” Iraq, with no-fly zones, sanctions, and
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  diplomatic pressure. “Trying to contain Iran, as the United States did to Iraq in
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  the 1990s, will inexorably lead to repeated confrontations that tie up
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  American forces and harm the international economy, eroding what
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  little international support remains for U.S. policy in the region,” the authors
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  write. Instead, they say, the Trump administration should be prepared “to
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  take yes for an answer” from Tehran and accept a deal that offers diplomatic and
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  economic normalization in exchange for Iran’s de-nuclearization, limiting its
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  missile program, and ending support for its proxies.
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  Join the GoodFellows for a Discussion on the US Constitution.
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  The Hoover Institution invites you to join us for a special in-person taping of
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  GoodFellows the evening of Wednesday, April 22, at Hoover’s Hauck Auditorium.
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  Economist John Cochrane, historian Neil Ferguson, and geopolitical strategist and
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  scholar H.R. McMaster will be joined by moderator Bill Whalen to explore why the
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  US Constitution remains one of the most consequential frameworks ever devised for
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  governing a nation. This live taping brings the GoodFellows conversation from
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  the studio to the public stage, offering a rare opportunity to experience the show
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  in person. We’ll also have limited-edition GoodFellows merchandise
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  available on site for purchase (via credit or debit card only). During the
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  registration process, you can submit a question for the GoodFellows that may be
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  discussed during a portion of the event.
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  How the Hoover Afghanistan Research & Relief Team Came To Be.
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  In the latest video released for the Reflections series, Senior Fellow H.R.
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  McMaster discusses the origins and evolution of the Hoover Afghanistan
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  Research & Relief Team, established in the wake of the
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  chaotic US military withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, when the Taliban
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  regained power. McMaster
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  describes how a program that began as an emergency initiative to support and fill
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  gaps in the US government’s efforts to evacuate refugees transitioned to collect
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  and preserve historical materials on the war in Afghanistan, including oral
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  histories, at the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
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  US Grand Strategy and the China Factor with Nadia Schadlow.
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  On the latest episode of China Considered, Senior Fellow Elizabeth
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  Economy speaks with Nadia Schadlow, former
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  deputy national security advisor for strategy in the first Trump
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  administration and author of the influential 2017 National Security
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  Strategy.
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  Schadlow reflects on how the NSS was built around the accelerating great-power
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  competition with China and America's four core national security interests:
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  protecting the homeland and way of life; promoting American prosperity; preserving
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  peace through strength; and advancing American influence. The conversation
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  moves through key differences between the first and second Trump administrations,
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  including process, tone, and the role of ideology in foreign policy, before
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  turning to a substantive debate about the limits of multilateral institutions and
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  Schadlow's argument in a recent Foreign Affairs essay that state-centric
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  approaches can outperform global governance frameworks.
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  China’s Iran Calculus.
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  In a new edition of China Considered Quick Takes, Elizabeth Economy evaluates
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  how China is using observations of the US-Israeli war against Iran to inform its
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  own assessment of future challenges posed by the United States. While China has
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  publicly condemned US and Israeli strikes and reaffirmed its ties to Iran, Economy
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  shows that the more important story lies behind the scenes, where Chinese analysts
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  are debating what the conflict means for American credibility, military power, and
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  the broader strategic balance. She argues that the war is being read in Beijing
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  through several competing lenses: as evidence of US strategic overreach, as a
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  reminder of enduring American military superiority, and as a test of how
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  instability affects China’s own interests.
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  This Month in Hoover History: Hoover Hosts House Select Committee on China.
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  On April 6–7, 2023, the Hoover Institution hosted the US House Select
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  Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese
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  Communist Party. The bipartisan group of ten members exchanged ideas with numerous
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  Hoover fellows on issues concerning the conduct of the Chinese Communist Party.
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  That’s your Hoover Daily Report for Thursday, April 9th, 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.