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.
Welcome to a late and abbreviated edition of “War Notes” — we blew up the show today — make sure you tune in at 7 p.m. ET.
And Nobody Cares
Snow covered western North Carolina last night — wind chills will be in single digits tonight — and thousands of Americans are living in tents almost three months after Hurricane Helene destroyed their homes.
- Just take a minute and click here — it’s Matt Van Swol’s Twitter account with hundreds of heartbreaking stories of Americans left behind.
- Or listen to Erin Derham describe someone who is arguably lucky here.
Today, President Joe Biden is in Africa promising one billion dollars in aid for its natural disasters.
Yesterday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced $725 million in additional aid to Ukraine.
- Yes, the government should be able to walk and chew gum — but its inability to do so is shameful.
- Pro tip: It’s not an inability; it’s a lack of willpower.
- Proof: When a bridge on I-95 in downtown Philadelphia got destroyed, somehow, a project that takes years in rural America happened in just a few weeks. President Biden even showed up to the reopening.
- That combined $1.725 billion (given to African countries and Ukraine this week) would buy 20,000-plus RVs/mobile homes at $75,000 each.
- Like this one with heat and running water.
- When buying 20,000, maybe FEMA could get a bulk discount.
- As our Brian Entin showed, FEMA is there in North Carolina but totally unresponsive to thousands of Americans on the verge of freezing to death.
- Pro tip: It’s not an inability; it’s a lack of willpower.
What I am thinking: We can move the most sophisticated weapons systems in the world overnight to Poland and then into Ukraine, but somehow, FEMA can’t go to Camping World and buy trailers?
- Again, it’s a complete lack of caring for suffering Americans — are we to believe the FEMA supervisor telling their workers to avoid homes with Trump flags is a one-off?
- As usual, it is private citizens, often those from the faith community, who step up the most.
- Check out OperationShelter.
No hope: Western North Carolina relies on tourism — the unemployment rate in Buncombe County just quadrupled.
What Will Joe Do?
As we showed you yesterday, Joe Biden has not a care in the world left except to secure his legacy and his family.
- Democrats should be afraid — very afraid.
Forget the pardon: Biden appears to want revenge on his party — how will they deal with that?
Moral high ground: Democrats rightly worry what they will do now that Biden has destroyed their moral high ground.
Watch tonight: Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., joins us — remember, he’s the guy who said Biden should drop out almost a year before the disastrous debate.
Majority of One
It’s likely that Republicans will take over the House of Representatives with a majority of one seat – at that rate, it might be easier to be in the minority.
- Effectively, each of the 217 Republican members of the House will get a veto on every piece of legislation.
Few things could be worse for Team Trump, which comes to office with big ambitions for massive legislation.
- Bright spot: By April, the majority will grow to three or four seats when special elections fill the slots of Republicans picked by Trump to serve in the administration.
Bonus Coverage
The “Crunchy Moms” who support Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could become an important part of the confirmation process.
- Yes, he’s a vaccine skeptic who staged a crime scene with a dead bear.
- Does that make him wrong about obesity, processed foods and America’s health crisis? These moms think not.
We’ll talk about this on the show tonight.
- Important question: Are they supporting Trump or RFK?
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.