May 18, 2026

The American Conservative Morning Briefing · May 18, 2026 · 6m

Good morning! Today is Monday, May 18th 2026, and this is The American Conservative's Morning Brief. Scott Greer warns in TAC that America's debt crossing 100 percent of GDP went unmourned because the country has lost the spirit of sacrifice, with voters demanding more services, lower taxes, and no entitlement reform all at once. Peter Van Buren defends his public membership in the controversial Ben Franklin Fellowship, arguing that decades of failed internal reform at the State Department have made outside pressure on the eighteenth-century institution unavoidable. From Mozambique's first…