Good morning! Today is Thursday, May 7th 2026, and this is The American Conservative's Morning Brief. Andrew Day argues that Seattle's spiraling violence and Mayor Katie Wilson's progressive response illustrate exactly the contrast Republicans should be drawing on crime ahead of the midterms. Doug Bandow offers "one cheer" for President Trump's withdrawal of 5,000 troops from Germany, warning that the move appears driven by personal pique at European criticism of the Iran war rather than any coherent strategy of restraint. and now for the details. We begin this morning in Seattle, where a string of violent incidents is reopening a long-running debate about urban governance and public safety on the West Coast. Local station KOMO News recently led with stories about a stabbing at Foss High School that injured six, an alleged kidnapping and rape near Northgate, and surveillance video showing two men knocking a 77-year-old man to the ground in an unprovoked downtown attack. According to police records, one of the suspects, Ahmed Abdullahi Osman, was booked on the night of the April 19th assault but released before a bail hearing. The second suspect was not arrested at the scene at all. The elderly victim suffered broken bones and facial injuries. Writing in The American Conservative, Andrew Day argues that Seattle's troubles point to a broader political opening for the Republican Party heading into the midterms. Day focuses on the city's new mayor, Katie Wilson, a democratic socialist who took office earlier this year. During her campaign, Wilson opposed a planned rollout of police surveillance cameras in crime hotspots, arguing the footage could be, in her words, "weaponized" by federal immigration officers. In March, two months after being sworn in, she paused that rollout. Under pressure from police, she has since agreed to leave existing cameras in place, with the exception of one near an abortion clinic. As Day reports, Wilson's campaign platform listed priorities such as "rooting ourselves in equity," "environmental justice," and a "Trump-proof Seattle," along with a public safety vision that leans on violence-prevention programs and dispatching social workers, rather than armed officers, to certain emergency calls. Day notes the awkward moment last week when shots were fired near the mayor as she announced an expansion of the city's preschool program. When a KOMO reporter later asked whether the incident had changed her view of surveillance cameras, a staffer initially intervened, saying, "Let's keep it on topic." Wilson eventually answered that cameras can play a role, but said she does not want footage misused by federal officers or, in her phrase, "other bad actors." Day also points to economic warning signs. Starbucks, founded in Seattle, recently announced it is closing shops in the city and shifting thousands of corporate jobs to Tennessee. As mayor-elect, Wilson had urged residents to boycott the company. At a Seattle University event last month, Wilson dismissed concerns that Washington's new millionaire tax could push high earners out of the state, saying the ones who leave can, quote, "like, bye." Day observes that new Washington Post polling shows Americans souring on the Iran war but still preferring Republicans on crime, with smaller GOP edges on taxes, the economy, and immigration. His argument: the contrast on display in Seattle is precisely the contrast Republicans should be drawing in November. Turning overseas, the Pentagon has announced the transfer of 5,000 American military personnel out of Germany, a move President Trump framed as a response to Berlin's criticism of his military strikes on Iran. The president has hinted at similar reductions in Spain and Italy, whose leaders have likewise denounced the campaign against Tehran. In a column for The American Conservative, Doug Bandow offers what he calls "one cheer" for the decision. Bandow has long argued that European free-riding on American security is unsustainable, and he reminds readers that even former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, back in 2011, warned that future American leaders might not consider NATO's return on investment worth the cost. As Bandow writes, Trump campaigned on this critique going back decades, but during his first term, his appointees largely preserved the status quo. A similar drawdown plan in 2020 died with his election defeat. Bandow's concern is that this latest move appears driven less by strategic design than by personal irritation at European criticism of the Iran campaign. He argues that simply reshuffling a few thousand troops, without a corresponding reduction in overall force structure or military spending, risks increasing costs to American taxpayers while leaving the underlying entanglements intact. As Bandow reports, the International Institute for Strategic Studies estimates that replacing the key American conventional capabilities currently assigned to the Euro-Atlantic theater would
