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.  

Not a Dictator 

We can now confidently say all the “Morning Joe” hysterics about Trump being a king or dictator were wrong.

• All the freak-out over recess appointments.
• All the MAGA threats — yes, I am talking to you, Charlie Kirk — that senators who don’t bend a knee to Trump will be primaried.
  • With Elon Musk funding those primaries.
• All the talk of a unified Republican Party led by Trump.
• It lasted about 1.5 Scaramuccis, the Washington standard of time equal to Anthony Scaramucci’s tenure as White House communications director during Trump’s first term. 

Politico writes: “The implosion of Matt Gaetz’s nomination for attorney general reveals the president-elect isn’t all-powerful despite the Republican trifecta in government.”

In other words: This proves Trump is like every other president. 

That is the standard line from every cable TV show tonight — now let me tell you why they miss the real lesson of the past 48 hours.

• Suddenly, the world must acknowledge they may not like Pam Bondi, but she is highly qualified.
  • Even Elie Honig on CNN said as much: Glenn Ivey on MSNBC too.
  • An MSNBC pundit called her “a dangerous and effective pick, and that’s frankly worse than what we would have got with Matt Gaetz.”
• MAGA world gets to celebrate MSNBC calling Bondi worse than Gaetz. 

Next: Trump now knows what senators will challenge him – that’s useful information.

• It’s widely reported that four senators told him that they would absolutely not vote to confirm Gaetz.
  • Outgoing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. 
  • Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.
  • Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.
  • Senator-elect John Curtis, R-Utah.
    • More importantly, perhaps those senators showed their friends and family that they would stand up to Trump — and they did.
      • Now, everybody can cut deals. 

Rule No. 1 of Trump: Trump always wins. I can’t take credit for that — the great Tony Katz came up with what

• After four indictments and 34 felony convictions, Trump won the presidency.
  • The rejection of Matt Gaetz before Thanksgiving means nothing to him or his political fortunes.   
• Be Fair: Trump always wins because he genuinely doesn’t care who he leaves in a heap of rubble on the side of the road.
  • We told you this would happen.
• Trump demands loyalty upward but gives none down.
  • He did nothing to save Gaetz’s nomination for attorney general.
    • He certainly didn’t want to have that promised fight over recess nominations.  
    • More importantly, he realized he couldn’t — rather, he didn’t — have the power to order senators to change their votes. 
• The most unhappy person after Matt Gaetz dropped his bid to be Donald Trump’s attorney general (other than Gaetz himself) is Pete Hegseth, writes our buddy Chris Cillizza. 

When in doubt about what something in American politics means:

• Refer to Rule No. 1 of Trump. 

Postscript: Gaetz will not take his seat in Congress come January 3rd when the new House gets sworn in. 

• Gaetz resigned from this Congress immediately after the Trump AG announcement to prevent the release of a damning ethics report.
• Gaetz going back into Congress would mean the release of the report.
• Conclusion: The ethics report must be pretty bad
  • Also, it extends far beyond just alleged sexual relations with a 17-year-old.
    • Questions about using campaign funds for personal use
    • Allegations about showing lewd pictures and videos of sexual conquests on the House floor
      • Taking unethical “gifts”

Something to Agree On

Elon Musk says the government will kill remote work for its workers.

• Yes — right now, about half of the 1.1 million federal civilian employees are eligible for telework — aka work from home.
• Think about that: You go to work and work hard. Then you pay your taxes to pay people to stay at home.
• Vivek Ramaswamy predicts they won’t have to fire as many government workers because so many will quit in protest. 
• Good. 

Politics is Downstream of Culture

I started crying watching this Volvo ad this morning. 

• No, seriously, STOP reading and watch the ad – click here.

It’s not woke. 

It’s raw. 

It’s simple.

It’s emotional. 

It’s common sense. 

As we’ve told you, the culture is swinging back. 

Politics is a downstream of culture.

Country music warned us that Trump was coming, writes Kofi Mframa in USA Today.

• “Audiences’ westward inclination reflects our cultural moment. It makes sense that a genre so steeped in Republican ideology has found new popularity in the years leading up to Trump’s reelection.”

Huh? That is a ridiculously complicated and condescending way to explain a very simple phenomenon.

• America is traditional by nature — not progressive.
• The American electorate didn’t like progressivism shoved down their throats.
  • Remember when culture canceled “Baby, it’s Cold Outside” because it was perceived as sexist?
  • At the same time, the No. 1 song in America was “Wet A– P—–”
    • Leave it to comedian Tom Cotter to explain.
  • People rebelled — they started listening to music about small towns and traditional values.
  • Then they voted for political candidates who promised to protect those values. 

They still don’t get it — MSNBC just published an opinion piece titled, “Laken Riley’s killer never stood a chance.”

• They changed it to “The Guilt of Laken Riley’s Killer Was Never in Doubt.” 
• See the original here.
  • He came to America illegally.
  • He received work permits and free plane tickets.
  • He stalked, tried to rape and brutally murdered an innocent young woman.
    • But in the eyes of MSNBC, he didn’t stand a chance. 
• And Democrats wonder why they lost?! 

O Christmas Tree

Hurricane Helene destroyed much of the East Coast’s supply of Christmas trees.

• I know this because CNN this morning had a live shot with their reporter standing amidst a beautiful snow-covered Christmas tree farm behind her.
  • The rain and flooding destroyed the trees.
  • I called out to my fiancee, “Rachel, honey, we need to get a Christmas tree right after Thanksgiving — the hurricane wiped out all the farms.” 

• That’s exactly what you are going to say to your family later today — maybe you are texting your friends.
  • It affects you. You will watch. 
• Nobody is talking about the thousands of people still homeless from the hurricane living in that snow. 

Last week, our Brian Entin found hundreds, if not thousands, of families living in ratty tents. The lucky ones had old RVs in the North Carolina mountains. 

• He also found the FEMA employee compound where they live in relative luxury. 
• Those families will eat Thanksgiving dinner in a tent — Christmas dinner won’t be much better.
  • If you want more, follow the excellent Twitter account of Matt Van Swol.

But all the news channels have moved on from North Carolina — unless it affects Christmas tree prices in New York or D.C.

• Except NewsNation: Brian Entin will be back before the holidays and will head into the mountains and through the snow. 

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.