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.
State of play:
- 11 days to the election
- Decision Desk HQ average: Kamala Harris +1.0, as of around noon ET today. Click here to see the latest numbers.
- Polymarket betting odds: 65.3 to 34.6 in favor of Trump.
Exclusive Reporting from Leland Vittert and Joe Khalil
Some Senate Democrats are making emergency plans for a Republican controlled Senate that they worry would not confirm Vice President Kamala Harris’ cabinet appointees – at its extreme, one option involves the current lame duck senate confirming Harris’ cabinet — even if Democrats lose the chamber. Two Democratic strategists briefed on the plan tell NewsNation that senators are discussing voting for Harris’ cabinet during a December Senate session.
Peaceful transfer of power: The plans, by definition, circumvent the authority of the next duly elected Senate to, as the Constitution says, advise and consent on the new president’s cabinet.
- Break Glass: Should Harris win the presidency but Democrats lose control of the Senate?
- The most extreme plan calls:
- For the Biden cabinet to resign during the lame-duck Senate session
- President Joe Biden to appoint Harris’ team
- Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer would then confirm the new cabinet with his current 51/49 Senate.
- The most extreme plan calls:
- A source concedes that might not be possible and at that point Harris would have to decide who in Biden’s cabinet Harris would want to keep on.
Lots could go wrong with the plan.
- Will Democrats care about the anger over the destruction of “norms”?
- Would Senators Jon Tester and Sherrod Brown be forced in the last days of the election to promise not to go along?
- Could Harris develop her cabinet list, vet the appointees and hold hearings before the new Senate comes in on January 3rd?
- Democrats might love finally getting revenge for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s blocking of Attorney General Merrick Garland’s SCOTUS nomination.
- Schumer is living by the No. 1 rule in Washington – F-me, F-U!
Look forward: How will angry Republicans get revenge during a Harris presidency?
- The plan is McConnell-esque in skullduggery — will the next Republican leader be as shrewd?
The response: Per a Schumer spokesperson in a non-denial, denial: “Sen. Schumer is focused on winning a Democratic majority in the Senate that will work to confirm future-President Kamala Harris’s cabinet.”
More tonight on the show – special thanks to Joe Khalil for intrepid reporting from Capitol Hill on the story.
Nazis are the New Deplorables that Cling to their Guns and Religion
In politics, when you are talking about Nazis, you are losing — nothing could be truer.
- Democrats “fear they’re blowing it,” writes Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei of Axios
- The last NYT poll before the election shows Trump and Harris tied
- CNN says he could win the popular vote
- IS the Democratic freak-out warranted? We don’t know. It depends on if the polls are undercounting Trump voters like they did in 2016 and 2020.
- When you are talking about Nazis, you are losing.
- Right now: Democrats fear they are losing, so Hillary Clinton went on CNN to say that those voting for Trump — or at least attending his Madison Square Garden rally this week — are Nazis or Nazi sympathizers.
- Watch HRC here.
- Last night, HRC made it explicit those who vote for Trump are no better in her and Democrats’ eyes than Trump himself — they are Nazis.
Elite thought leader John Meacham says it outright.
MUST WATCH: Auschwitz survivor Jerry Warstki provides a moral compass on comparing anyone to Trump.
What I am watching: Mark Halperin’s “It’s All About Pennsylvania”
- Among the highlights — polling showing Trump ahead, but Harris would win the state if she had picked Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro over Tim Walz.
- Irony alert: Harris passed over Shapiro amid widespread antisemitic attacks by the progressive wing of the Democratic Party … and now they are trying to save it by calling Trump “Hitler” — OK.
- From Halperin’s focus group – a lean Democrat voter turned off the Trump is Hitler rhetoric.
Nazi is the new word for “deplorable” — you know, people who cling to their guns and religion.
- Somehow, I missed the chapter on how to win friends and influence people that talk about winning votes by calling those supporting the other side Nazis.
Thanks for watching : The Wall Street Journal is out with an editorial along the lines of our segment last night — Harris and national Democrats call Trump “Hitler.”
- But Democratic Senators Bob Casey and Tammy Baldwin are running ads tying themselves to him
Hillary Clinton calling all Trump supporters Nazis is the mirror image of Tucker Carlson’s speech likening Trump to an angry dad who will come home and give a misbehaving young girl a “vigorous spanking.”
Yesterday, we called Carlson the Captain of Team Silly, making HRC the Captain of Team Freak-out.
We only have 11 days left.
About Last Night
Kudos to the NewsNation and X team for an awesome, lively, informative town hall with JD Vance!
Most newsy moment: Vance on both sides of the war in Ukraine
- “And I think, unfortunately, you’ve got a lot of American leaders who like to beat their chest and say, ‘Well, this is the good guy, and that’s the bad guy.’ Look, yes, Russia should not have invaded Ukraine, but we are where we are, and what’s in the best interest of America, and what I believe is in the best interest of Ukraine and Russia is for the killing to stop.”
It’s not that hard — Putin is a dictator who wants Russia to rise again and challenge the United States. President Ronald Reagan taught us well. We are forgetting those lessons and going back to “America First.”
A bridge too far?
- 🎤 David Frum accused Vance of essentially being a Russian stooge
- “This man was put on a national ticket at the behest of a cabal of billionaires with sinister secret obligations to the dictators of Russia and China.”
Why is it so hard to say Putin is bad?!?!
Is Elon Musk a Putin agent or just a good businessman? The WSJ reports Musk and Putin have talked since 2022.
- It’s “un-American,” says “Morning Joe”
- Keith Olbermann says Musk should be locked up — not for a crime — just because.
- Thought bubble: Sounds pretty fascist to me.
Look back – Remember John Kerry backchanneling to Iran when they were killing Americans and supporting terror groups across the Middle East? Evidently, that’s okay, but if Musk talks to Putin, it’s treason.
Inflection Point
As we told you in “War Notes” yesterday, Trump started to gain on Harris in the polls about the same time he began running an ad highlighting Harris’ promise to provide free gender surgeries for illegal aliens and prison inmates.
- The anti-Trump Bulwark did a long write-up on Trump going all in on anti-trans rhetoric.
Is it really fair to call it “anti-trans” — or just anti-taxpayer money for gender surgeries?
Plus, it’s working — watch this hot take from Riley Gaines.
It’s working so well that one of the ads is in Spanish.
And it plays well with the “bro” crowd – podcaster Rob Smith joins us tonight on whether Trump’s outreach to young men will result in votes or just selling more MAGA hats.
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.