Leland Vittert’s War Notes: S&P 500 @ 7,000 vs. Buying Groceries 💸

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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.

Hollywood on the Hill 📺: Celebrities like Paris Hilton, Kid Rock, Nicki Minaj and others are in D.C. this week, and the politicians love taking selfies and making dumb TikTok videos.

🤷Every member of Congress wants to be a celebrity, and every single actor wants to be a politician.
To be fair ⚖️: Many in both professions are equally unserious.
📱And politicians are increasingly actors — performing for X, TikTok and cable news audiences.
- 💰Campaign contributions are now akin to box office sales.
They deserve each other 🤷: Hollywood makes bad movies these days, and politicians don't get much useful done.
- 😀Let them tell each other how wonderful they are — and leave us alone.

Warning 🚨: President Trump warns Iran time is running out and that a refusal to "come to the table" to negotiate a nuclear deal could trigger a military strike "far worse" than the June attacks.

Preparing 🚢: The U.S. military is doing drills in the Middle East in preparation.
🎤Iran's response: "Last time the U.S. blundered into wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, it squandered over $7 trillion and lost more than 7,000 American lives."
- 🎤"Iran stands ready for dialogue based on mutual respect and interests—BUT IF PUSHED, IT WILL DEFEND ITSELF AND RESPOND LIKE NEVER BEFORE!"
- Polling 📊: 50% of Trump supporters back military intervention in Iran — according to the same Politico poll, 30% of all Americans support military intervention in Iran. … I would have thought it was more.
Tonight📺: Retired General Philip Breedlove joins us.

BOOM Times!

Danger 🚨: There are two Americas right now.

One flushed with cash fueled by a rocketship stock market
One that must choose between feeding their kids and paying the electric bill

‼️The S&P 500 hit 7,000 today for the first time.

📈This is up nearly 1,000 points since Trump hit Liberation Day – and even more since every expert predicted Trump's tariffs would CRASH the economy.
👍It's up about 20% since Trump's election in November.

🌎Economic wealth creation over the last two decades has been like nothing the world has ever seen.

💰In the past year, the stock markets created trillions of dollars for the 50% of Americans invested in the stock market — and more whose pensions and retirements rely on the market.
- 💸The rich have never been richer.
- 💥Investment in America is exploding.
- 💥There is a massive economic boom.

‼️America is great because it's fair — but right now, many feel it's unfair.

The flip side 🔁: According to a Politico poll, around half of America finds it difficult to afford groceries, utility bills and more, and it's pissing people off. Much of America views the economy as unfair.
- Reality 📱: They see people on Instagram get richer from the stock market, flying on their private jets and eating caviar while they must put back groceries from the checkout line every week.
  - Wow 📉: Only 35% of Americans approve of the economy.
  - Predictable 😡: People are angry.

Challenge ‼️: Trump and Republicans must figure out how to convince America they too will participate in this boom — and then actually make sure they participate.

👍 If Americans feel like they are participating in the boom by November, Republicans will do well in the midterms.
👎If not, Republicans have an enormous problem.
Today 📅: Trump touted his Trump Accounts, which puts every new baby into the stock market — is it enough?

Watch tonight 📺: Shelby Talcott, Philip Wegmann and Hogan Gidley on boom times and those left behind.

Send Bondi ✈️

‼️Within hours of Trump saying the Minneapolis mayor committed illegal acts, Attorney General Pam Bondi showed up. That's not a coincidence.

The fight between the White House and Minneapolis is still going on — and as we told you last night, the new fight is about sanctuary cities.
📱Trump puts out a tweet about Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey
- 🎤Trump: "Surprisingly, Mayor Jacob Frey just stated that, "Minneapolis does not, and will not, enforce Federal Immigration Laws." This is after having had a very good conversation with him. Could somebody in his inner sanctum please explain that this statement is a very serious violation of the Law, and that he is PLAYING WITH FIRE!"

Watch tonight 📺: Axios reporter Marc Caputo and Chris Sununu on Trump (as we told you) trying to move the immigration fight from the streets to the legality of sanctuary cities.

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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