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Hoover Daily Report | February 23, 2026 · Hoover Daily Report

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  - Welcome to the Hoover Daily Report,
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  ideas Advancing Freedom.
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  It's Monday, February 23rd, 2026.
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  - Today Hoover announces a new home for the video versions
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  of the Long Running popular podcast.
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  Econ Talk. Frank Kotter explains why it would be a strategic
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  blunder to mistake the appearances of China's economy
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  and military for the truth about its national power.
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  And Michael McConnell explains why last Friday's Supreme
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  Court decision striking down the Trump administration's
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  tariff policies is likely to go down
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  as a landmark in American Jurisprudence
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  - EconTalk video series coming to Hoover channels
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  as podcast marks 20 years,
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  the Hoover Institution is now a partner in the production
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  of EconTalk, an award-winning weekly podcast,
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  now celebrating its 20th year in production.
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  EconTalk Conversations for the Curious is hosted
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  by visiting fellow Russ Roberts, who also serves
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  as president of Shalem College in Jerusalem.
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  In collaboration with Liberty Fund
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  and the Library of Economics
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  and Liberty Hoover will be producing video versions
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  of EconTalk, an early pioneer in the field of podcasting
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  and distributing them through its stable
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  of social media channels, as well as on hoover.org.
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  I am delighted to have the Hoover Institution support
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  to further develop video additions of EconTalk
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  and see them reach an even wider audience.
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  Robert said Hoover has a fabulous team
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  and a proven track record of developing compelling video.
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  Video episodes will appear exclusively on hoover.org
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  and Hoover's social channels for the first two weeks.
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  After each episode is released,
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  - China Empire of Illusion, China projects an image
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  of stability, economic dynamism,
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  and military strength through infrastructure expansion,
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  rapid growth and persistent propaganda.
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  Yet beneath this appearance explains senior
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  fellow Frank Deter.
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  In a new episode of Policy Stories lies a socialist system
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  in which the state controls land finance
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  and key industries limiting market mechanisms
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  and obscuring reliable economic measurement.
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  Official statistics, heavy subsidies
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  and quota driven growth complicate assessments
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  of China's true economic performance.
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  While the regime's messaging seeks to amplify perceptions
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  of inevitable ascent and Western decline, deter argues
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  that misjudging China, whether by underestimating
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  or exaggerating its power,
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  can produce serious strategic errors for the US
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  and its allies and partners.
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  - Michael McConnell on the tariff decision last Friday,
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  senior fellow Michael McConnell,
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  professor at Stanford Law School joined CNBC's Money Movers
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  to discuss the Supreme Court's ruling on the Trump
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  administration's global tariff policies.
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  McConnell, who represented plaintiffs in a case
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  that became part of last Friday's decision, said
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  that the basic ruling of the court was pretty much exactly
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  what we argued, that the I-E-E-P-A International Economic
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  Emergency Powers Act does not mention tariffs.
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  It uses the word regulation,
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  but the term regulation has never been used
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  to include the power to impose taxes.
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  McConnell, a former federal appellate judge, says
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  that this opinion will have major implications for the line
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  between presidential authority
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  and congressional authority saying, I think this is going
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  to be a landmark decision.
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  - What Zelensky told me at Munich about the future of war.
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  In an essay for the Times UK Distinguished visiting fellow
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  Rishi Sak outlines how Britain and Europe can
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  and will need to catch up
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  with the state-of-the-art in drone warfare
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  to secure themselves against emerging threats.
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  Drones have changed the nature of war.
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  Soak writes At the Munich Security Conference,
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  Zelensky told me that 80%
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  of the casualties Ukraine is inflicting on the Russians are
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  from unmanned vehicles.
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  The former British Prime Minister also notes
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  a recent NATO exercise, hedgehog 2025,
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  where NATO forces faced off against Ukrainian drone
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  operators revealed just how ill-prepared Western forces are
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  for this new way of war.
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  Soon that concludes defense has changed,
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  warfare has changed.
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  We must adapt and fast
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  - States should build the infrastructure for innovation.
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  While Washington debates at the 74 distinguished policy
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  fellow, Stephen Bowen
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  and Hoover Education Success Initiative contributor,
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  Rebecca E. Wolf argue
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  that in education policy states can't afford
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  to spend another session waiting for Washington
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  to solve problems it hasn't solved in decades.
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  Years of investment in top-down innovation
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  and reform have yielded many lessons,
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  but little actual progress.
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  They write A new white paper from the Hoover Institution
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  reveals why this approach matters.
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  Can't get there. From here, synthesizes decades
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  of evidence on education innovation as well
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  as organizational network
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  and diffusion theory, identifying clear actions
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  and decision points in which policymakers
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  and education leaders can either help or hinder innovation.
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  Bowen and Wolf explain how the white paper argues
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  for investing in knowledge ecosystems,
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  engaging educators in policymaking,
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  supporting flexible implementation of education innovations,
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  and providing educators with sustained resources
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  to develop tools, train educators,
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  and demonstrate impact over time.
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  - The man who would be king of Saudi Arabia.
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  On this week's episode of EconTalk Russ Roberts speaks
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  with journalist and author Karen Elliot House House explains
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  how Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Almon has been
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  dragging his nation into the modern world over the last
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  decade in the conversation House
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  and Roberts explore the Crown Prince's mix
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  of cultural liberalization and political dominance
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  and where his balancing act might lead
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  his country in the future.
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  - Featured from the Hoover Library
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  and Archives Literature digital collection,
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  the Hoover Institution Library
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  and Archives offers a digitized collection
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  of more than 1,500 items from the history of literature.
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  The collection features many items from the papers
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  of the pastor family whose members included poet
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  and novelist Boris Pastor.
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  Additionally, several
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  of William F. Buckley Jr's television program firing line,
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  dealing with literary culture are
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  included in these holdings.
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  - That's your Hoover Daily report for Monday,
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  February 23rd, 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.