Political affairs, policy, and governance
31 articles
Jack Smart- PoliticsBy midnight on February 28, Operation Epic Fury had killed between 85 and 108 children at a school in Minab, Iran, triggered Iranian retaliatory strikes on U.S. bases across five countries, and shut down the world's busiest airport. This morning the war powers debate felt procedural. Tonight it doesn't. This is what unilateral war looks like when it goes wrong and there's no one to answer to.
Ella Smart- PoliticsBy midnight on February 28, Operation Epic Fury had become a regional war. Iran struck U.S. bases in five countries. Dubai airport is closed indefinitely. And confirmed reports place the death toll at Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school in Minab at between 85 and 108 children. Conservatives who supported the original strikes now face the hardest question in foreign policy: how do you support a mission and still hold it to account?
Jack Smart- PoliticsProgressive Democrats are calling Trump's Iran strikes unconstitutional — because they are. But with three states voting Tuesday and a midterm map that punishes purity, the Democratic Party is once again trying to hold moral clarity and electoral math in the same hand.
Ella Smart- PoliticsThe party that ran against endless wars just launched a major military operation against Iran — and almost all of it showed up to cheer. What looks like a contradiction is actually a coherent strategic evolution. America First was never about avoiding force; it was about avoiding futility.
Jack Smart- PoliticsBy midnight on February 28, Operation Epic Fury had killed between 85 and 108 children at a school in Minab, Iran, triggered Iranian retaliatory strikes on U.S. bases across five countries, and shut down the world's busiest airport. This is what unilateral war looks like when it goes wrong and there's no one to answer to.
Ella Smart- PoliticsBy midnight on February 28, Operation Epic Fury had become a regional war. Iran struck U.S. bases in five countries. Dubai airport is closed indefinitely. And confirmed reports place the death toll at Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school in Minab at between 85 and 108 children, aged 7 to 12. Conservatives who supported the original strikes now face the hardest question in foreign policy: how do you support a mission and still hold it to account?
Jack Smart- PoliticsTrump launched "Operation Epic Fury" against Iran today without a congressional vote. Senator Tim Kaine is demanding a War Powers Resolution vote Monday. He will almost certainly lose. The point isn't to win — it's to make every senator go on the record about whether Congress has any say in when this country goes to war.
Ella Smart- PoliticsTrump launched Operation Epic Fury against Iran today — the most significant test of presidential war powers since 2001. Most Republicans are backing him. A handful of constitutional conservatives, including Rand Paul and Thomas Massie, are siding with Democrats demanding a congressional war powers vote. Paul isn't wrong about the constitutional principle. He's wrong about where that principle leads.
Jack Smart- PoliticsDemocrats hold an 8-point generic ballot lead heading into 2026 midterms, with Trump's disapproval at 55 percent and independents breaking Democratic by 13. The numbers are good. The deeper question — what Democrats actually stand for in a post-Trump world — is one a midterm victory will not answer, and the party knows it.
Ella Smart- PoliticsOn February 12, the EPA finalized the revocation of the 2009 Endangerment Finding—eliminating the legal basis for federal greenhouse gas regulation on vehicles, power plants, and oil and gas. It's the most sweeping deregulatory action of Trump's second term. The energy sector should cheer. It should also prepare for what comes next.
Jack Smart- PoliticsAIPAC and its affiliated super PACs have already pumped millions into four Illinois congressional primaries on March 17 — through groups with names like "Elect Chicago Women" that voters have never heard of and whose donors won't be disclosed until after Election Day.
Ella Smart- PoliticsA leaked 17-page draft executive order would use emergency powers to mandate voter ID, ban mail ballots, and prohibit certain voting machines nationwide. The policy goals are sound. The legal and administrative path to get there is a minefield—and conservatives should say so.
Jack Smart- PoliticsAliya Rahman, Rep. Ilhan Omar's guest at Tuesday's State of the Union, stood quietly in the House gallery and was arrested by Capitol Police. She's a U.S. citizen with autism and a traumatic brain injury. She was hospitalized before being booked.
Ella Smart- PoliticsThe Trump administration froze $259.5 million in Medicaid reimbursements to Minnesota today, citing $243.8 million in unsupported or potentially fraudulent claims. Governor Walz called it totally illegal. He also announced his own anti-fraud package the same day.
Jack Smart- PoliticsLast week the Supreme Court struck down IEEPA tariffs 6-3. Trump pivoted to a 150-day emergency window. Come July 24, Congress either acts on trade policy or the clock runs out — and the progressive window to shape what comes next is real, if narrow.
Ella Smart- PoliticsBuried beneath the tariff drama in Tuesday's State of the Union was a genuinely interesting idea: a $1,000 annual government match for the roughly 50 million working Americans who have no employer-sponsored retirement plan. It has bipartisan roots, a conservative intellectual pedigree, and real fiscal questions worth asking.
Jack Smart- PoliticsSenator Elizabeth Warren and 16 Senate Democrats introduced the American Homeownership Act — a bill targeting the tax advantages that make bulk corporate home buying profitable. Trump made a similar promise at the SOTU. The two proposals are not the same thing.
Ella Smart- PoliticsTrump's "citizens first" SOTU moment produced the night's longest standing ovation — and the NRCC is already cutting ads. But the real story is the gap between message and legislation with a zero-vote House margin.
Jack Smart- PoliticsLast night's Democratic response to Trump's State of the Union came from two very different places — a Colonial Williamsburg stage and a heckle from the chamber floor. Political observers are calling it a crisis. They're wrong. Here's what the split actually reveals about what it takes to beat this administration in 2026.
Ella Smart- PoliticsThe House passed the SAVE America Act — the strictest voter ID law in U.S. history — and it's now stalled in the Senate six votes short of cloture. Election integrity conservatives are right about the principle. But before the right declares victory, someone needs to explain why a standard driver's license doesn't qualify in 45 states.
By midnight on February 28, Operation Epic Fury had become a regional war. Iran struck U.S. bases in five countries. Dubai airport is closed indefinitely. And confirmed reports place the death toll at Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school in Minab at between 85 and 108 children. Conservatives who supported the original strikes now face the hardest question in foreign policy: how do you support a mission and still hold it to account?
Ella 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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