The operational case and political trap of medium US carriers

Should the US Navy add medium conventional carriers alongside its nuclear supercarriers?

They could complement nuclear carriers in several theatres, but their lower price creates a political risk that they would replace rather than reinforce the larger ships.

A mixed US carrier force has an operational logic. Large nuclear carriers remain valuable for the Pacific, while conventional medium carriers could handle some Mediterranean and Atlantic tasks or multiply a Pacific group. The difficulty is political rather than purely naval because two ships both called carriers invite a simple price comparison. A cheaper medium design might therefore be used to cut the larger ships instead of complementing them.