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: Admittedly, this is a “slow” news week, if there is such a thing during a Donald Trump transition, and thank God for that — or for as long as it lasts. 

President Biden pardoned “Peach” and “Blossom” today, two turkeys that will now live out their years rather than becoming Thanksgiving dinner. 

• Speaking of Thanksgiving dinner, Mr. Biden seems just fine with ceding the Thanksgiving dinner conversation to President-elect Trump.
• 💬 But what exactly is the conversation — look at the list below of topics we are covering today.
  • Is it the price of Thanksgiving? That’s not really good for Trump.
  • Is it the stock market?
  • A 2-year-old year found on the border alone?
    • Farm groups say next year’s Thanksgiving will be insanely expensive if Trump goes through with his mass deportation: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-farm-groups-want-trump-spare-their-workers-deportation-2024-11-25/
  • An airport workers strike? 
  • Trump (perhaps) throwing out transgender members of the U.S. military?
    • Did you know there are an estimated 15,000 transgender people in the armed forces? 
  • Is it Jack Smith dropping the January 6 charges against Trump?
  • Is it that Democrats still can’t say they lost because Harris is an objectively bad candidate?
    • From Adam Schiff: “(The) entire Democratic Party bears responsibility” for Harris’ loss. 
  • Is it Trump’s Cabinet? Do Trump’s Cabinet picks matter? Yes, says Erick Erickson.
    • Thought bubble: This is insane. It is also not draining the swamp.
  • Is it a Middle East peace deal?  NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte met Trump at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend.
    • A top NATO official implored businesses across Europe to prepare their supply chains for war. 

Trump’s Cabinet picks for Treasury and Labor would fit perfectly in an Obama-Biden or Biden-Harris administration.

• Scott Bessent managed money for George Soros, the quintessential hedge fund billionaire.
• Lori Chavez-DeRemer for Labor secretary, who our buddy Erick Erickson lays out is nearly Bernie Sanders-like in some of her views.
  • The New York Post doesn’t like her either.
• Erick Erickson lays out the change from Team Trump that spun his unusual Cabinet picks as 4D chess to now the “it doesn’t matter” line.
  • Pro tip: It does matter … a LOT. 

But wait — CBS News’ latest poll says that the majority of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of his transition so far.

• Why does ANYBODY still trust or care what polling says? 

Political reality: Democrats haven’t come up with something better to own Thanksgiving dinner. They aren’t even trying. 

Watch tonight: We’ll have former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney on what Trump might have up his sleeve and Al Mottur, former Hilary Clinton adviser, on why Democrats have given up trying to own the news cycle.

• Go deeper: Nate Cohn opines in The New York Times, “How Dems Lost Their Base & Messaging.”

Let us know: What will you be talking about on Thanksgiving – email us with your thoughts. 

• Other than telling your friends and family to subscribe to War Notes for free!!!

College Football

Every day, we write “thesis” statements for our segments — for today’s college football segment, the thesis is: Did paying college players and now the 12-team playoff ruin college football? 

• Typically, we endeavor to answer those questions during the segment.
  • I am going to answer this one right now.
  • YES – this college football season is awful, and not just because the Crimson Tide lost to Oklahoma.

Read the take from Jason Gay in The Wall Street Journal. 

Follow the money: Larry Ellison is paying a quarterback $10 million to play for Michigan. Why, you ask? Because a woman in his life went to Michigan. 

Can we please go back to the appearance that student-athletes are amateurs — and, oh, back to the time when Alabama wins! 

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.