Beyond the Water's Edge


	View in browser

Honest Candor

America is divided. It is not Democrat vs. Republican, man vs. woman, or Boomer vs. Gen Z, but instead those who live in the real world and those who live online. We have seen this division manifest time and again – most recently in perspectives about Operation Epic Fury. According to a number of polls, including the Washington Post, Fox News, and most recently, here at The Vandenberg Coalition, overwhelming majorities of Trump supporters back President Trump’s actions in Iran. According to our poll, 84 percent of Trump voters, including 94 percent of self-identified MAGA conservatives, approve of President Trump’s decision to order U.S. strikes on Iran – including 82 percent of the so-called “isolationist” young voters ages 18-29. 86 percent of Trump voters say that the United States should continue its military campaign, and 84 percent approve of the U.S. Israel military relationship.

However, you wouldn’t know this if you spend most of your time on X, where some pundits have tried to claim President Trump is abandoning his base. Of course, diversity of views is one of the things that makes America great – it is perfectly acceptable to question any presidential decision, particularly when it comes to the use of force. We have no qualms with those who question the President – but we do have qualms with those who claim that their isolationist views reflect a majority of Trump’s coalition. Our poll is clear – they don't. Trump supporters continue to agree with the judicious use of power to rid the world of threats to American national security. They continue to believe these actions keep America safe. Far from believing Trump is abandoning his campaign promises, they recognize that he is fulfilling them.

-Carrie Filipetti, Executive Director of the Vandenberg Coalition

New Vandenberg Coalition Poll: Trump Voters Strongly Support Operation Epic Fury

Since June 2025, The Vandenberg Coalition has conducted polls analyzing what Trump voters actually think about American foreign policy. In contrast to some pundits claiming to speak for Trump’s base who favor American decline, the poll results are clear—Trump voters strongly support President Trump’s “Peace Through Strength” approach and willingness to exercise bold leadership that advances American interests.

This time is no different. For this special edition of our series Americans First: Polling the People, The Vandenberg Coalition and GOP polling firm TargetPoint surveyed 1,232 Trump voters from March 3–5, 2026, on their assessment of the ongoing U.S. military operation in Iran. And as was the case following Operations Midnight Hammer and Absolute Resolve, Trump voters strongly support Operation Epic Fury and back President Trump’s decision to eliminate the Iranian threat. You can read about the poll on our website, in the Washington Free Beacon, and in our newsletter.

China in the Homeland

Episode 4: Pension Funds: How China Controls Your Retirement

For years, American public pension funds have been lining the coffers of the Chinese Communist Party, posing both a financial risk and a threat to our national security. Because every Chinese company is ultimately beholden to the CCP, the money invested in these entities can be frozen and stolen whenever the CCP wants- a terrible investment for Americans. Dr. OJ Oleka, CEO of the State Financial Officers Foundation, joins The Vandenberg Coalition to outline how states can insulate themselves from the risk of placing retirement funds in the hands of the CCP. You can find the episode on our website, YouTube, and podcast platforms.

PRIMER: China — America's Greatest Adversary

China is not merely a strategic competitor — it is America’s greatest adversary. The goal of the Chinese Communist Party is to create a new international order with Beijing at the center, and China, along with its partners like Iran and Russia, is working to harm American interests around the globe. China poses a military threat, an economic threat, a civilizational threat, and a homeland security threat, and the United States must be prepared to confront China as an adversary. While the United States should take reasonable steps to prevent a hot war with the PRC, including by maintaining an effective military deterrence in the Indo-Pacific, the United States must recognize that it is already in a hostile conflict with China, which has been conducting political and economic warfare against the United States for decades. Read our latest primer here to learn more about what the United States needs to do to take on China.

Featured

Trump’s Rules of War

TVC Chairman Elliott Abrams | The Free Press | March 3, 2026

Bottom Line: No one would have predicted the day after the killing of Soleimani that Trump would end up where he is now. But there is a pattern here. Upon returning to office, it took only five months for him to get to Midnight Hammer, six more to take action against Venezuela, and only two more months between the day of Maduro’s capture and the bombing of Iran. Add to that calendar the end of the “one and done” and “no casualties” rules, and Donald Trump’s evolving rules of war seem far more adventurous than his campaign speeches let on. He owes Dick Cheney a big apology.

Read Full Article

The Four Paths for a Post-Khamenei Iran

TVC Advisory Board Member Behnam Ben Taleblu | The Free Press | March 5, 2026

Bottom Line: Before the military strikes and protests, Iran in 2025 was on track to become a failed state. Sooner or later, America will get a military win. That is almost certain. What we cannot be sure of is whether President Trump will bank that military victory and create a political strategy designed to turn America’s biggest adversary in the Middle East into something else: a country, finally, that belongs to its people.

Read Full Article

It’s High Time to Restock U.S. Munitions

Kate Odell | The Wall Street Journal | March 8, 2026

Bottom Line: The public has learned that U.S. arsenals aren’t primed for a protracted military campaign, a situation defense analysts have been warning about for years. Now President Trump’s critics are seizing on this munitions deficit to constrain him from finishing the job in Iran. The world’s most dynamic economy can, however, expand its weapons stores and missile defenses. And Tehran’s severely compromised air defense is a prime reason to strike now. If this war spurs a U.S. rearmament, that itself would be a win for the national interest.

Read Full Article

Putin Is Failing. These Charts Prove It

TVC Advisory Board Members Frederick Kagan & Kimberly Kagan | The Washington Post | March 4, 2026

Bottom Line: U.S. pressure on Ukraine, to make territorial concessions and sue for peace, is encouraging Putin to keep fighting and refrain from making compromises necessary for an enduring peace. Pressuring Kyiv is not an act of mercy meant to avoid needless casualties in a hopeless defense. On the contrary, the Ukrainian defense is proving to be durable and it’s the Russian offensive that’s struggling. The way to end this war is not to rescue Putin from a failing campaign, but to help Ukraine make it fail faster.

Read Full Article

I Asked a Former Trump Official to Justify This War

Nadia Schadlow & Ezra Klein | The New York Times | March 10, 2026

Bottom Line: "People can and will argue about whether or not [striking Iran] was the right decision. But there is a rationale there, that the Iranian nuclear program was progressing. They had an opportunity to both target the regime and perhaps get a better regime in....And this was a moment where we could decisively do the best we could to destroy the nuclear program and also the ballistic missile threat posed in the region....Those points were articulated from the start."

Read Full Article