Leland Vittert’s War Notes: Leadership Doesn't Exist‼️

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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.

✈️"Born Lucky" in Chicago! I want to see you on Saturday, January 17, at Kenilworth Union Church.

✏️The GREAT Ben Bradley of WGN-TV will interview me and then I'll be signing copies of "Born Lucky" from 2 to 3 p.m.
📚Click HERE to RSVP.

Didn't Learn: Now, Jimmy Kimmel says President Trump is ordering ICE to kill people.

It makes Kimmel's Charlie Kirk comments seem far more sinister.

Bipartisan Buffoonery 🤪

🤪 Tonight's buffoonery from the Left and the Right

🐘The Right's winner is Megyn Kelly weighing in on Hitler-lover and young podcaster Nick Fuentes
- 🎤Kelly: "He's very interesting and he's very smart. And on a lot things there is value to be derived from that guy's messaging. ... He actually has a lot of things he talks that you're like, 'Eh, that's not a bad point about our country."
  - 🤦Reminds me of when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada remembered Cuba's Fidel Castro as a legendary revolutionary and orator
  - And yes, how could we forget Adolf Eichmann for his true genius of logistics and railway schedules.
  - 🤣Then, there is Bernie Madoff — a true financial genius.
🫏The winner on the Left: "The View's" Whoopi Goldberg
- 🎤Goldberg: " Here's my question. Where is everybody? Where is everybody else? We come to everybody's aid. We help everybody. NATO, they came and helped us after 9/11. Where is everybody? They're all in Greenland right now. Where is the government? Do you realize we don't have a government?"
  - 🤦Sounds like Goldberg has a problem accepting the results of an election — isn't that a threat to democracy?

Super Flu 😷: For a world of public health that wants to restore trust — this isn't a good year.

💉They said, "Get the flu shot, get the flu shot."
🤦Now, it's "never mind, the shot doesn't work … it's the superflu."
Watch tonight 📺: Dr Ashish K. Jha on why we can't have a flu shot that protects us from the flu.

George Will‼️: Team Trump argues he can essentially do what he wants regardless of congressional approval in:

Venezuela⛓️: Arresting their president and repurposing their oil
Cuba🚨: Regime change is coming
Iran🗣️: The protesters will be protected
Greenland🤷🏼‍♂️: We might take it.
- 💪🏼The "Donroe Doctrine" pushes an aggressive U.S foreign policy unlike we've since World War II.
Watch tonight📺: George Will joins us on why Team Trump might be right.

Twitter Rhetoric is Not Leadership 📱

‼️Politics is no longer about the present. Now, every event is about the politicians' political futures.

🤦The facts of the deadly Minneapolis ICE shooting yesterday are irrelevant — at least to most American politicians.
👀For politicians, it's about the base, TV hits and fundraising, not leadership.
🚨Yes — the Right is guilty of that too, but right now, it's Democrats unable to contain themselves.
- 🤦This was Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz today in the span of a few minutes:
  - 🎤Walz: "I've not used inflammatory terms of what happened. I've asked us to find the answers."
  - 🎤Walz: "Kristi Noem was judge, jury, and basically executioner yesterday."
- 🤦Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, made famous by crying over George Floyd, couldn't contain himself.
  - 🎤Frey: "The Trump admin will tell you ICE is here for safety. That is a lie. They are creating chaos and danger while tearing families apart."
  - 🎤Frey: "The Trump administration's ICE deployment isn't about solving crime or preventing fraud, it's about causing chaos and terrorizing neighbors."
    - 🤷Hey mayor, maybe if you weren't a sanctuary city in a state with a multibillion-dollar immigrant fraud scheme, ICE wouldn't be there.
85% of Americans say government officials care more about their own power than what's in America's best interest
- ‼️Americans want state and local politicians who end sanctuary cities, not call in the national guard to "protect" the city from ICE agents.
- ‼️And federal politicians who won't inflame or invoke situations. Who do not revel in the chaos.

Watch tonight📺: Mark Halperin and James Gagliano on the great American leadership vacuum.

WATCH ON BALANCE WEEKNIGHTS AT 9P/8C

Every night during On Balance, Leland Vittert asks "why?" about the most pressing matters of the day, with an intellectual, balanced and sometimes irreverent take on the news.

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