August 15, 2026

Good morning! Today is Saturday, August 15th 2026, and this is The American Conservative's Morning Brief. As the war in Iran enters its 168th day, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent promises unprecedented economic isolation while Ivan Eland argues the shift to sanctions signals a quiet admission that Trump's military campaign has failed. Susan Collins's path to reelection has narrowed sharply after Maine Democrats swapped scandal-plagued Graham Platner for former state senate president Troy Jackson, who now leads in every recent poll and prediction market. Scott Greer argues that AOC's dismissal of "Woke 1" as a past excess is a cynical rebrand, as Democrats from Zohran Mamdani to Wisconsin's gubernatorial contenders quietly carry the same radical commitments into 2028. and now for the details. We begin with the ongoing war in Iran, now in its 168th day. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters Thursday that new measures against Tehran are coming next week, describing what he called a combination of economic isolation "like the world has never seen before," along with a continued blockade of the Strait of Hormuz aimed at halting all traffic in and out of Iranian ports. Vice President J.D. Vance said keeping oil and gas prices low for Americans is now, in his words, "goal number one" at the White House. Brent Crude closed Friday at $88 a barrel, with the national average price of regular gasoline at $4.08. On the Iranian side, a parliamentary committee spokesman said Friday that Tehran has approved the general outline of a plan that would bar American, Israeli, and other so-called hostile vessels from transiting the Strait. As Harrison Berger reports, the human toll on American forces is drawing new scrutiny. The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, deployed for more than 250 days, is being sent home and replaced by the USS George Washington. Military Times and Stars and Stripes have reported multiple incidents in which sailors attempted to jump overboard, with crew members intervening to stop them. Meanwhile, Israel has intensified its bombing campaign in southern Lebanon. That pivot to economic warfare is the focus of a companion analysis by Ivan Eland, who argues the strategy is unlikely to deliver what the president needs. Eland writes that President Trump appears to be quietly acknowledging that the military campaign against Iran has failed, and is now shifting to what Trump himself calls a "low-key," longer-term approach centered on reopening the Strait of Hormuz rather than on further strikes. Eland notes the timing is telling. The shift coincides with public reporting that American missile stockpiles have been mismanaged and cannot be replenished quickly, and with maximalist demands from Iran's Supreme National Security Council, which is now insisting on an end to sanctions, lifting of the blockade, withdrawal of U.S. forces from the region, and even war reparations before reopening the Strait. Drawing on his own academic research, Eland argues that sanctions rarely achieve their political ends. Comprehensive multilateral sanctions failed to dislodge Saddam Hussein from Kuwait, and Iran, he notes, has open land borders and a maritime relationship with the United Arab Emirates that will blunt any economic squeeze over time. Sanctions, he writes, tend to rally populations around even odious regimes. His conclusion is blunt: rather than wait on economic attrition, the president should cut his losses and take whatever deal with Tehran he can still get. Turning to the midterm map, Senator Susan Collins of Maine faces a tougher reelection fight than many Republicans expected. After Democratic nominee Graham Platner suspended his campaign in July amid a cascade of controversies, Maine Democrats reloaded behind Troy Jackson, the former president of the state senate and a longtime logger from Aroostook County. As Spencer Neale reports for The American Conservative, Jackson has picked up Platner's populist economic message—calling for higher taxes on the wealthy and Medicare for All—without carrying Platner's personal baggage. Recent polling from Public Policy Polling, the University of New Hampshire, and Hart Research all show Jackson leading Collins by three to five points, and prediction markets on Polymarket and Kalshi give Jackson the edge as well. Neale notes that Jackson has repeatedly won reelection in rural, Trump-trending Aroostook County, complicating Republican efforts to paint him as an out-of-touch progressive. A story in the Maine Wire has raised questions about Jackson's personal life, but so far it has not broken out of conservative media. Neale writes that Collins's larger problem may be her own party—struggling to sell an unpopular war in Iran and facing negative marks on the economy—as a former logger makes the case for economic reform to Maine's working families. Those are today's highlights. For the full stories and more, visit theamericanconservative.com. Thank you for starting