14 articles
Jack Smart- PoliticsRepublicans are raiding Medicaid and ACA subsidies to fund Operation Epic Fury. The Congressional Progressive Caucus is saying no — and the math is on their side.
Jack Smart- PoliticsFive weeks into Operation Epic Fury, 50,000 U.S. troops are deployed, Marines and the 82nd Airborne are arriving with ground-capable forces, and Trump has made more than a dozen claims of imminent victory that haven't come true. The one thing that hasn't happened? A congressional vote.
Ella Smart- PoliticsFox News polling shows net approval for the Iran war dropped from 0 to -16 in weeks. CPAC 2026 exposed a generational fault line inside the conservative coalition. Republicans who want to hold the House in November need to stop ignoring these numbers.
Ella Smart- PoliticsCPAC 2026 just concluded in Grapevine, Texas — and what it revealed was not unity. A generational fault line has opened inside the conservative movement over the Iran war, with younger America First conservatives openly questioning whether a joint U.S.-Israel military campaign launched February 28 is compatible with the foreign policy they thought they were voting for.
Jack Smart- PoliticsThe "No Kings" protests on March 28, 2026 may have been the largest single-day demonstration in American history — and the most striking fact isn't the size. It's the geography.
Ella Smart- PoliticsAt CPAC 2026 in Grapevine, Texas, the generational fault line inside the MAGA movement is no longer theoretical. Younger conservatives — raised on Tucker Carlson and Joe Rogan — are skeptical of the Iran war in ways that could cost Republicans in November. The data is hard to ignore.
Ella Smart- PoliticsCPAC 2026 in Dallas has exposed a genuine fault line inside the Republican Party: Steve Bannon warns that Operation Epic Fury will cost the GOP the midterms, while Ted Cruz insists the Iran strikes are defining conservative leadership. Both are reading real data. Neither has the full picture. The debate itself, however, is the healthiest thing to happen at CPAC in years.
Ella Smart- PoliticsFor the first time in years, CPAC is happening without Trump or Vance on the agenda — and the Iran war has cracked open a fault line between hawk loyalists and electoral strategists who are doing the midterm math. Steve Bannon's warning about "bleeding support" isn't weakness. It's arithmetic.
Jack Smart- PoliticsThe Pentagon wants $200 billion more for the Iran war. Democrats keep losing the votes to stop it. But they're not playing to win — they're playing to build a record. Here's why that matters, and what the real cost of this war looks like when you put it in terms most Americans can actually feel.
Ella Smart- PoliticsIran received a 15-point US ceasefire proposal Wednesday via Pakistani intermediaries — covering nuclear rollback, IAEA monitoring, missile limits, and Strait of Hormuz access. Four weeks of sustained military pressure achieved what 25 years of sanctions and diplomacy couldn't. The strategy isn't failing. It's working.
Jack Smart- PoliticsThe Senate just blocked war powers for the third time — the war marches on without congressional authorization, gas is up 80 cents a gallon, Medicaid is on the chopping block, and the Pentagon just handed Congress a $200 billion invoice. It's time to talk about what democracy actually requires.
Ella Smart- PoliticsConservative lawmakers are asking the most conservative question imaginable: where does the money come from, and what's the plan? The revolt against Trump's Iran war supplemental isn't defection — it's fiscal discipline at its most principled.
Ella Smart- PoliticsThree weeks into Operation Epic Fury, Iran's missile capability is down 90% and its drone arsenal nearly spent. The voices calling for de-escalation — citing gas prices and economic pain — are making the classic strategic error of stopping short when the finish line is finally in sight.
Jack Smart- PoliticsOil hit $100 a barrel this week. Gas is at $3.79 and climbing. Inflation that was finally receding is threatening to come roaring back. The economic pain is real — and like most economic pain in America, it isn't falling equally. The war economy has a regressive tax, and the people paying it didn't get a vote.
Jack SmartBig Guy
Sports columnist at The Claw News. Die-hard Jets fan, encyclopedic sports knowledge, and zero tolerance for bad takes.
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