Leland Vittert’s War Notes: Cold Case Already‼️

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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.

Must watch 📺: Steve Cortes joins us tonight on his new documentary exposing American universities selling away America's future for quick bucks from wealthy Chinese students.

Be smart‼️: Not to mention the national security risk of Chinese students learning from America's best institutions and living, traveling and learning in America.
📺Watch Steve's documentary here — see you tonight!

Hope for Nancy?🚨: Despite more publicity than any criminal case since O.J. Simpson, the search for Savannah Guthrie's mom enters the weekend with the feeling of a cold case.

🎤Authorities say there will be no press conferences unless something breaks.
- Keep it up 👍: The more publicity and pressure, the more likely the kidnappers turn on each other.
📝A ransom note that was sent to TMZ and local Arizona news outlets demanded millions in bitcoin and talked about specific items that were damaged at Nancy's home.
- ‼️TMZ reports the note says Nancy Guthrie is "safe, but scared."
- ⏱️The first ransom note deadline has already passed.
  - ‼️The next deadline from the note is Monday.
- There has been no proof of life from Nancy and no further contact tied to the ransom note that was sent.
📱Last night, Savannah posted another video of her brother pleading for the safe return of their 84-year-old mom.
- 🎤Camron Guthrie: "Whoever is out there holding our mother, we want to hear from you…We need you to reach out and we need a way to communicate with you so we can move forward"
- Heartbreaking 💔: Like I've said the past few nights, at a certain moment in life, our roles shift — as children, we look out for our parents.
  - Savannah's pain that she couldn't protect her mother would break anyone.
📱TMZ's Harvey Levin breaks down how the ransom note's 12-hour timeframe raises lots of questions. Watch.
- 🎤Levin says what's written on the note makes him believe the capture is within the radius of the Tucson area.
Watch tonight📺: NewsNation's Brian Entin on the ground in Tucson, Arizona
- Plus ➕: Former CIA officer Tracy Walder and retired Supervisory Special Agent Chris Hinkle on how a case with so much interest and media coverage feels like it's going cold with no new updates.

Overplaying their hand 🃏: Literally every time Democrats think they have a winning issue, which immigration WAS for them, they overplay their hand — some headlines for you:

📰Axios: "'Need to get the hell out': House Dems fume at Schumer"
📰Axios: "Dems outline 10 demands to GOP in ICE funding fight"
📰The New York Times: "Senators Clash Over IMmigration Enforcement, Risking a D.H.S. Shutdown"
📰The Hill: "Stephen A. Smith: Democrats 'playing right into Trump's hands' on voter ID bill"
📰Fox News: "Chuck Schumer under fire after brazenly calling voter ID 'Jim Crow 2.0'"

Conclusion🤦: Democrats have decided that the way to win midterms is by enforcing immigration laws and opposing voter ID laws, which are two things that are popular among the American people.

Enter the fake shutdown 🗞️: From Axios: "1 big thing: Fake shutdown"

✏️"Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is opening the door to a shutdown in which the only agency that's defunded already has billions in cash."

Watch tonight📺: Mike Nellis on how Democrats may be setting their own trap over voter ID.

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Bad Bunny vs. Kid Rock 🎤

🏈On Sunday night, the one thing that used to bring America together — the Super Bowl — will divide us again.

🎤The Super Bowl halftime show with Bad Bunny, a Puerto Rican singer who is outspoken in his hatred of ICE
🎤The Turning Point USA counterprogramming halftime show with Kid Rock and three D-list country singers.

🤷Bad Bunny is a putz — Kid Rock isn't exactly a paragon of family, conservative, Christian or any other kind of values.

Thought bubble 💭: I like Kid Rock — all summer long he used to blast from my car stereo, BUT really Kid Rock is the best Turning Point USA could do?!?!

🤦And thus we have America's culture war on display during America's most-watched television event — mediocre performers that will simply annoy the other side.

‼️The right is aghast that Bad Bunny (who sometimes wears dresses) and hates ICE will perform
- 📺Fox News morning show producers already have outrage segments planned for Monday morning.
To be fair ⚖️: The Left smartly doesn't care about Kid Rock — because nobody cares.
- 🤦Certainly, MS NOW's "Morning Joe" will do something snarky about Kid Rock.

Zoom out 🤷: The NFL and NBC didn't need this mess.

Garth Brooks
Shania Twain
Carrie Underwood
Taylor Swift
Pitbull – Mr. 305
- ‼️Any of them would have been better!

The NFL is like the mafia — they always survive.

Be smart 😆: A choice between Kid Rock and Bad Bunny for the halftime show is like choosing between Rep. Jasmine Crockett and Rep. Nancy Mace as guests at a dinner party.

The extremes have VERY strong opinions.
Those of us in the middle would choose neither.

🍽️Which brings me back to the halftime show — I'll be using that time to heat up food for the second half. 😋Which, in my case, is bacon-wrapped cheese-stuffed dates

Recipe 📃:
- Bake strips of bacon on a cookie sheet with parchment at 425 degrees (for around 20 minutes — flip at 10 minutes).
- While bacon is in the oven, open pitted dates and place strips of manchego cheese inside.
- Once bacon is cooked but not "crispy," pat dry and wrap around date, securing with toothpick.
- Cover and put in refrigerator
To serve🍽️: Heat at 350 degrees for six minutes on a cookie sheet
- I made them for the "On Balance" team today
  - Amanda reports: 9 out of 10 — they were amazing.

Cracks in the 50K Wall?

📈Today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 50,000 for the first time in history — a momentous occasion for a business-minded president.

📱But much of the coverage today centered around a video posted to Trump's Truth Social around midnight showing President Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes —
- 🗣️First, the White House defended it — then took it down.
  - 🎤Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: "This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King. Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public."
  - 🎤Then the White House said a staffer "erroneously made the post." And it has since been taken down.

🤷The video really doesn't matter — was it Trump posting or a staffer, who knows? Who cares.

‼️The reaction showed something that should terrify Trump.
‼️Republicans broke with Trump, showing one no longer needs to defend Trump as a matter of faith.
- 🎤Sen Tim Scott, R-S.C.: "Praying it was fake because it's the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House. The President should remove it."
- 🎤Sen Roger Wicker, R-Miss.: "This is totally unacceptable. The president should take it down and apologize."
- 🎤Sen Pete Ricketts, R-Neb.: "Even if this was a Lion King meme, a reasonable person sees the racist context to this. The White House should do what anyone does when they make a mistake: remove this and apologize."
- 🎤Rep Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa.: "Racism and hatred have no place in our country—ever. They divide our people and weaken the foundations of our democracy. History leaves no doubt: when division is inflamed by those in positions of power, the consequences are real and lasting. Whether intentional or careless, this post is a grave failure of judgment and is absolutely unacceptable from anyone—most especially from the President of the United States. A clear and unequivocal apology is owed.

Watch tonight 📺: As Trump's approval ratings sink, he becomes more vulnerable and less powerful in the party. The more Republicans are willing to criticise him, the weaker he becomes — the farther his approval ratings sink.

⁉️How does he turn it around?

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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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