Leland Vittert’s War Notes: Sad Trip 😔

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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 9 p.m. ET show, delivered straight to your inbox.

Sad Trip 😔

Editor's note ✏️: I write this on my flight to Phoenix to cover Charlie Kirk's funeral.

I find myself distracted by the sadness of it all.

Programming alert 🚨: I'll see you tonight from outside Turning Point USA HQ.

📺Special coverage of Kirk's funeral starts at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday.

✈️ On Sunday, both the president and vice president will fly across the country to eulogize Charlie Kirk.

‼️The only time we can find in history a president and vice president speaking at a funeral together was for former presidents – that is the evidence of Kirk's legacy.
🕰️We are living in unprecedented times.

🏫 The Right says this is an awakening, and they can finally tear down the liberal stranglehold on America's institutions.

🐘 Yes, the political right in America is wielding power unlike they ever have before.
🤷🏼‍♂️ We showed you last night it's not any different than how Democrats did in the past.

🥊 Kirk's death accelerated something he fought for in life — he fought for Republicans to fight. That's why he was killed. Because he was so effective.

⁉️We really don't know yet what Kirk's death means.

🎤 The Left says we are dangerously heading towards fascism — their words, not mine.

🏫 And things are different: The institutions that Democrats perpetually owned — media/universities/major corporations are bending.
🤷🏼‍♂️ No wonder they are threatened.

✅The only thing both sides agree on is that this moment is an inflection point — they are probably right about that.

💪🏼 In life, no one fully understood the power of Kirk.

But his death changed American politics.
- ➗ It fully exposed the division in American politics.
- ⛔️ The bare-knuckle brawling of our culture of war is no longer taboo.
- 🗣️ The celebrations from America's Left make it very hard to take their "warnings" about Trump seriously.
  - 🗳️ Today, the House voted on a resolution to honor Kirk and condemn his killing; 58 Democrats voted against it.
    - 🛑 They didn't abstain.
    - 🗳️ They didn't skip the vote.
    - 📩 They voted against it.
    - 🎤 They trashed Kirk before he was buried — here is what Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said:
      - "We should be clear about who Charlie Kirk was ... His rhetoric & beliefs were ignorant, uneducated, & sought to disenfranchise millions of Americans."
      - 📍Pro tip: When you are trashing a father of two who just got assassinated, you are losing.
    - 🎤 But AOC's speech goes to something bigger — a new report from Axios today says she's planning a presidential run.
    - Those were her public comments since the report.

📆 That is American politics today, and yes, it's a both-sides thing.

💭 The current occupant of the White House calls his political opponents "scum."
🚨 Those who want to occupy the White House take to the House floor and demonize a man who just got murdered.

🤷🏼‍♂️Here is the irony — the person Republicans will come to honor Sunday never engaged in that.

🗣️ I covered Kirk for years — and never heard him call anyone or any group a name.
💭 He spent his time debating the other side — that's what he was doing when he got killed.

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