July 26, 2026

Good morning! Today is Sunday, July 26th 2026, and this is The American Conservative's Morning Brief. The war against Iran enters day 148 with a rare pause in U.S. airstrikes, even as Houthi drones ignite Saudi Aramco facilities and Brent Crude closes near $98, pushing American gas prices to $4.11 a gallon. Scott Greer takes aim at "Nixonmaxxing," arguing the online right's new hero expanded affirmative action, created the EPA and Title IX, and gave America three of the four justices behind Roe—hardly the proto-Trumpian record his young fans imagine. Greer concludes that Nixon was a fascinating thinker and a solid foreign policy realist, but on domestic substance Reagan and Trump did far more to roll back the civil rights regime than the man now being idolized in viral hype edits. and now for the details. We begin with the war against Iran, now in its 148th day. For the first time since July 13th, U.S. Central Command reported no new airstrikes against Iran on Saturday, and Tehran also appears to have held its fire. President Trump told reporters Friday that the United States is, in his words, "talking to" the Iranians, and that they are "getting more and more serious as the days go by." He added that the American military remains, quote, "locked and loaded and ready to go." But the wider regional conflict is not cooling. The Houthis claimed responsibility for overnight missile and drone strikes on two Saudi Aramco oil facilities in the towns of Jizan and Yanbu, damaging buildings and infrastructure. The Houthis framed the attacks as retaliation for Saudi strikes on Yemen's Hodeidah port and Kamaran Island. Videos on social media showed fires still burning Saturday. Saudi Arabia responded with fresh airstrikes on Yemen, and the Houthis reaffirmed what they call a maritime embargo against the kingdom, warning of "escalation for escalation, blockade for blockade." Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi sought to distance Tehran from the fight, saying the Houthi-Saudi hostilities "cannot be attributed to Iran." As Harrison Berger reports for The American Conservative, the market is registering the strain. Brent Crude closed Friday at $98.38 a barrel, and AAA put the national average price of regular gasoline at $4.11 on Saturday—a direct cost of this open-ended conflict now landing at American gas pumps. Turning to the culture of the right itself: a new generation of conservatives has fallen for Richard Nixon. Hype videos of his speeches circulate on social media, young admirers call the trend "Nixonmaxxing," and outlets from the Wall Street Journal on down are chronicling the phenomenon. Prominent figures including Christopher Rufo, TAC executive director Curt Mills, and even the vice president have spoken warmly of the 37th president. Scott Greer takes a hard look at the myth in The American Conservative. Greer grants that Nixon has been unfairly maligned for decades, and that on foreign policy his record is genuinely impressive—ending the Vietnam War, opening China, splitting Moscow from Peking, and practicing a clear-eyed realism from which today's leaders could still learn. But Greer argues the domestic record does not match the hype. Nixon significantly broadened affirmative action, signed the Equal Employment Opportunity Act, created the framework of Title IX, and established the EPA. His wage and price controls worsened the stagflation of the 1970s. Of his four Supreme Court picks, only William Rehnquist proved reliably conservative; three of the four voted for Roe v. Wade, and three joined the mandated busing decision in Swann. Greer's conclusion is that Nixonmania is driven less by policy than by vibes—the search for a proto-Trumpian predecessor after the online right rejected Ronald Reagan. Nixon, Greer writes, was a fascinating man and a serious thinker, but an "okay" president whose actual accomplishments do not justify the current idolization. Reagan and Trump, he argues, did more to roll back the civil rights regime and reshape the country than Nixon ever did. Those are today's highlights. For the full stories and more, visit theamericanconservative.com. Thank you for starting your morning with us.