NewsNation Chief Washington Anchor and On Balance host Leland Vittert was a foreign correspondent for four years in Jerusalem. He gives you an early look at tonight’s 7 p.m. ET show. Subscribe to War Notes here.
Editor’s note: Welcome to an abbreviated edition of “War Notes” — by way of explanation, my father (and his dog) are in town and staying with me and Rachel. For those of you who have older parents that come visit … well, you know.
WELCOME! Great news here at NewsNation in D.C. — Bill Sammon joins us as our SVP of Washington, D.C., Editorial Content for The Hill and NewsNation.
- I had the privilege of working for and learning from Bill at Fox News. He left after getting the Arizona call spot on in the 2020 election for Biden.
- This year, he helped DDHQ and NewsNation be the first network to call the 2024 race for Trump.
- There is no finer journalist or North Star for fair but tough coverage of both parties.
Telling the American People They Are Wrong
We in D.C. — no matter how in touch with real or middle America — feel completely for and yet totally miss the rest of America’s desire to burn Washington to the ground.
- For much of America, the more anti-establishment a candidate or Cabinet secretary is, the more they support them.
Somehow, we collectively forgot what the Trump Show looks and feels like:
- Announcing a Fox News weekend host as secretary of defense at 7:30 p.m.
- Spending 90 minutes with the man he ridiculed and insulted for the past four years.
- Reportedly attending a UFC fight in Madison Square Garden this weekend.
- Leaked information about him running the government (or planning it) at Mar-a-Lago.
Watch tonight: Our buddy Chris Cillizza joins us tonight with the “Central Casting” test for the next Trump administration.
More importantly, the American people knew exactly what they were getting.
- Trump told us at his rallies that he would blow up the federal bureaucracy.
- He would fire generals he thinks are too woke.
- He would start a “mass deportation.”
- And a thousand other things the media now considers a threat to democracy and outside of norms.
They voted for the Trump show.
As Trump said in a Playboy magazine interview in 1990: “The show is Trump, and it is sold-out performances everywhere.”
- Leave it to The Bulwark to 💩 all over it:
- “The Trump Sh*t Show Arrives in D.C,” they write.
Playing Smart
In a decidedly un-Trumpian move, he stayed out of the Senate majority leader fight.
- In fact, he left Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., to swing in the wind.
- Scott promised to walk over broken glass to pray at the altar of Trump — if only Trump would endorse him for majority leader.
- MAGA, including Elon Musk and Vivek Ramasamey, went all in on Sen. Rick Scott to take down the squishy Republicans in the Senate.
- To be fair: Scott, while good at running hospitals and making himself money, proved awful when given a tryout for majority leader as head of the NRSC.
- Trump took the advice of Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., and stayed out of it.
- Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., aka Mr. Traditional, got it.
- Trump also endorsed Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., to stay as the speaker of the House.
So how do we explain Ramaswamy and Musk for the new “Department of Government Efficiency”? Watch tonight.
P.S.: All of the criticism attacking Pete Hegseth over being on TV or for his “lack of experience” totally misses the mark — see you on TV at 7 p.m. ET for the real story.
Tune into “On Balance with Leland Vittert” weeknights at 7/6C on NewsNation. Find your channel here.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily of NewsNation.
