Leland Vittert’s War Notes: Politics is About Momentum

Encourage friends and family to subscribe to War Notes here.

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.

Editor's note✏️: A special thanks to Amanda for organizing more than usual.

Not alone📚: In "Born Lucky," I share some of the darkest and worst moments of my life. I can conclusively say it's been worth it.

📝Thousands of families wrote to say they no longer feel alone as they help their own kids who are having a hard time.
🙏Thousands of other parents wrote to say they feel there is now hope that their kids can be more — and they as parents have the power to help their kids fulfill their own potential.
‼️It's awesome, and the "Born Lucky" journey continues.
🗣️Tonight, I am speaking to a group of donors for Clearbrook, a Chicago-based charity for kids and adults.
- 📃In preparing for the speech, I read their mission statement:
  - ✏️"Clearbrook empowers adults and children with intellectual/developmental disabilities to live their fullest lives possible."
  - 🤷What could be better than that?!?!

The ultimatum 🚨: Trump gave Iran an ultimatum: Make a deal or face the U.S. military

🤷Is there a deal to be made that makes the regime collapse — or is this just offering them another lifeline?
🤷Wouldn't it be great if the Iranians just left to go to Russia — that seems to be what the deal is.
Tonight📺: Brig Gen John Teichert and Michael O'Hanlon join us.

Great News 👍: Fentanyl overdose deaths are down double digits.

‼️There are lots of reasons for this — and it's still a huge problem
Watch tonight 📺: Dr. Rahul Gupta joins us.

"You are a Nazi": Nazi has become an insult and title now given to anyone someone else doesn't like.

Just watch📺: Stephen Colbert last night comparing ICE to Nazis — except in his words, "Nazis showed their faces."
- 🎤Colbert: "Don't compare ICE to Nazis. That's an unfair comparison. The Nazis were willing to show their faces."

‼️ You don't get to be snarky on the graves of six million Jews. Forget for a second the absurdity of comparing ICE to Nazis and think about what that means.

‼️We are forgetting what Nazis are and cheapening what happened.
- Forgetting the pictures of the piles of shoes from kids and innocent people killed in gas chambers.
- The babies buried alive.
- The piles of wedding rings stolen from murdered couples.
- The execution squads that lined up men, women and children before gunning them down.
- And the other tragedies we don't even know about…
Look back 🔙: When first learning of the liberated concentration camps and the Nazi's atrocities then-general Eisenhower brought in journalists and members of Congress
- ‼️He viewed the evil perpetrated by the Nazis as unique in human history
🤦Now that evil is used as a political attack —
Yikes 😬: We have cheapened what Nazis were.
Result‼️: Once you forget history, you are destined to repeat it.
- Most U.S. adults know what the Holocaust was — 84% mention death and the persecution of Jews
- But less than half can correctly answer other questions about the number of Jews who were murdered or the way Hitler came to power.

Perspective 🌎: One can not like ICE tactics — but they are, by and large, legal.

🤷People who don't like that should change the law.
‼️ICE is not rounding up millions of people and killing them or putting them in gas chambers — that's what the Nazis did… We should remember that.

THE ICE FIGHT🥊

Politics is about momentum 💥: Democrats feel they have the momentum.

🤦Democrats in the Senate are threatening to "shut down" the government over ICE funding — although ICE is already fully funded.
- It's performative📸: Democrat senators want to show their base they are doing something.
🚔Democrat District Attorney led by Larry Krasner wants to plan to arrest and lock up ICE agents.
- 🎤Krasner: "If we have to hunt you down the way they hunted down Nazis for decades, we will find your identities and we will find you."
✈️2028 Democrat hopefuls are showing up in Minneapolis.
Warning 🚨: Be careful the buzz you are hearing isn't a chainsaw!
- Reality check✅: Calling to defund ICE and shutting down the government is not proven to be a winning strategy.
  - Warning🚨: Democrats need to listen to Obama's right-hand man, David Axelrod
  - 🎤Axelrod: "You know the problem that we've seen before when people said abolish the police or defund the police. I don't think most people who said it believed that there should be no policing function in cities, but the implication was that there could be. So I don't think Democrats want to get into that."
Watch tonight📺: Mark McKinnon and Charlie Dent on the Democrats' gamble on ICE.

Bonus ➕: The border crushed President Biden and then Vice President Harris.

✅In order to win in 2028, Democrats are trying to figure out a way to run away from Biden.
- Evidence 📃: Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro —
  - 🎤Shapiro: "They got that infrastructure bill passed to provide the BILLIONS of dollars that were needed to … connect everybody in Pennsylvania. Do you know how many people have been connected to high-speed, affordable Internet thanks to President Biden? … ZERO."
- 📉Kamala Harris doesn't even break 50% among Black Democrats, according to the Independent.
- Watch📺: Galen Druke, host of the GD politics podcast, asks: "Would you like to see Kamala Harris run for president? Cheer if so."
  - There was literal silence… watch.

Tonight📺: Dan Turrentine and Madeline Summerville on what Democrats can do in 2028 — will the base let them run to the center and still win nominations?

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.

Make sure to let us know your thoughts on social media and by replying to this email.

See the latest videos and coverage from On Balance