Hoover Daily Report | October 6, 2025

Today, Condoleezza Rice announces the launch of the Hoover Institution’s new Substack publication, Freedom Frequency; Peter Berkowitz considers the “least bad option” for achieving peace in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank; and Eugene Volokh analyzes the First Amendment implications of the Trump administration’s proposed “Compact for Academic Excellence” with American universities. 

Hoover Daily Report | October 6, 2025

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
- Welcome to the Hoover Daily Report.
Ideas Advancing Freedom. It'sMonday, October 6th, 2025.
- Today, CondoleezzaRice announces the launch
of the Hoover Institution'snew Substack publication,
freedom Frequency.
Peter Berkowitz considersthe least bad option
for achieving peace inIsrael, Gaza and the West Bank

(00:21):
and Eugene Vick analyzes theFirst Amendment implications
of the Trump administration'sproposed compact
for academic excellencewith American universities.
- A new chapter forideas advancing freedom.
This morning, Hoover Institutiondirector Condoleezza Rice,
announced the launch of theHoover Institution's new
Substack publication, freedom Frequency.

(00:42):
There has never been abetter time to bring history
and ideas to bear on today's challenges
and to work together for a future
where freedom continues to flourish.
Writes Rice Freedom,
frequency will present reliableperspectives, serious, clear
and accessible analysis,grounded in research,
guided by values.
The new publication willfeature regular writing from

(01:04):
authoritative contributors,including senior fellows,
Victor Davis Hansen, StephenJ. Davis, Elizabeth Economy,
and Barry Strauss.
Among many other eminent Hoover Scholars.
Columns at Freedom Frequencywill apply nonpartisan analysis
to pressing policy challenges
with a focus on elevatingsolutions and actionable insights.

(01:25):
As Rice explains freedomfrequency is a way
to examine the Americanproject deeply and widely
and share the journey directly
with subscribers without barriers,
and in a spirit of open debate.
The launch of freedom Frequencywas also covered by Axios,
- The Israeli-Palestinianconflict's least bad option.
In his weekly column.
For real Clear Politics,

(01:45):
senior fellow Peter Berkowitz takes stock
of recent negotiations to bring an end
to the Hamas Israel War in Gaza.
As he writes on Fridaymorning, October 3rd,
Trump gave Hamas an ultimatumaccept his proposed plan
by Sunday, October 5th,6:00 PM Eastern time
or face obliteration.
Within hours, Hamas agreedto release the hostages

(02:07):
and relinquish power
and to negotiate otherelements of Trump's plan,
but Berkowitz cautions
that these stunning developmentsrepresent at best the early
stages of a long windingand arduous undertaking.
Berkowitz turns to ongoingdebates in US foreign policy
circles over the best long-termsolution to the conflict

(02:28):
between Israel andPalestinian populations in
Gaza and the West Bank.
He concludes that a focus on small scale
and near term improvementsin the West Bank, paired
with redevelopment of Gaza,has only a modest chance
of long-term success,
but still may representthe least bad option.
- The proposed compact
for academic excellencein higher education

(02:50):
and the First Amendment in a post
for his blog at theReason site Senior fellow
Eugene Bullock, examines theTrump administration's recent
proposal of a new compactbetween universities
and the federal government.
Volak focuses his analysis onthe First Amendment dimensions
of the proposal, noting several areas
where it may face legal challenges.

(03:11):
For example, while noting thefederal government's power
to consider prospective foreignstudent speech when making a
student visa issuance decision,
Volek says he does not thinkthe government can demand
that universities in exercisingtheir own decisions about
whom to associate with
and whom to speak to excludeforeign students based on the
student's viewpoints.
Among other issues.

(03:31):
Volek also discussesthe important difference
between setting academicviewpoint diversity
as an aspirational goal versusenforcing it as a mandate
- President Trump's tariffsand the separation of powers.
At the Supreme Court. Hoover senior fellow
Michael McConnell, joinedthe Stanford Legal Podcast
to discuss what he seesas the biggest separation
of powers controversy sincethe steel seizure case in 1952.

(03:56):
Back in April, president Trumpdeclared a national emergency
and levied tariffs on goodsimported from a host of nations.
McConnell, a constitutional law expert
and former federal judge serves as one
of the attorneys representingthe challengers To the
president's decree on the podcast,
he discusses whether presidentshave the authority to tax
through tariffs withoutclear congressional approval.

(04:18):
The historical and constitutional roots
of no taxation without representation
and the seismic ramificationsof a possible redefinition
of the limits of executive economic power
that this case could trigger.
As McConnell notes, thelong-term significance
of this case could stemmore from its impact on the
constitutional separation ofpowers than from its recent

(04:38):
and near term economic impact.
- Understanding the migratoryresponse to hurricanes
and tropical storms in the USA
in a new paper publishedat Nature Human Behavior,
Hoover fellow Valentine Biy
and co-author a Patrick Bearerevaluate whether Outmigration
from US counties increases
after a severe stormusing data on the paths

(04:59):
of all Atlantic Basin hurricanes
and tropical storms from 1992 to 2017.
The authors find that onaverage storms are not followed
by outmigration from affected areas
and total population weighted exposure
to storms increasesover the sample period.
In the case of very destructive storms,
however, the paper suggeststhat outmigration does result,

(05:21):
but often to other high risk counties.
Counties with high economicactivities see net in
migration after a storm.
The authors conclude thatgiven existing policies
and incentives, the economic
and social benefits of highrisk areas currently appear
to outweigh the incentiveto reduce exposure
to future storms byrelocating across counties.

(05:42):
Baloney and bearer suggest
that this research can helpinform our understanding
of future responses to climate change.
- Featured from the HooverLibrary and Archives, collections
and propaganda and psychological warfare,
the Hoover Institution'spropaganda collections are
unrivaled in the world,
encompassing an extensiveposter collection
and large holdings of communistparty literature, Soviet,

(06:03):
Chinese, and other plus soundrecordings and film footage.
These collections allow researchers
to study the technical progressionof propaganda from early
and crude images
through contemporary professionalmultimedia presentations,
Hoover's related holdings inpsychological warfare also
provide excellent source material
for research into 20th century military

(06:23):
psychological operations.
- That's your HooverDaily report for Monday,
October 6th, 2025.
Each weekday, we bringyou research, analysis,
and commentary focused on publicpolicy, national security,
and the ideas shaping Americansociety and government.
The Hoover Institution atStanford University is grounded in
constitutional principleswith a commitment

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to sustaining the safeguardsof the American way of life.
Thank you for listening.
For links to all the articles
and interviews mentionedtoday, visit hoover.org/hdr.