Leland Vittert’s War Notes: Joy vs. Anger

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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.

Tables Turned📹: One of my favorite guests, Sage Steele, put me in the hotseat for her incredible podcast.

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Battleground‼️

📺Last night crystallized the midterms — the fight is between joyful, traditional, patriotic MAGA vs. angry, progressive, woke anti-Trump

🤷To be honest, I have no idea who wins that fight in November.
- 📉Yes, Trump is unpopular — Democrats are more unpopular
- ‼️Jim VandeHei channeled how Trump forced Democrats into the 20 side of 80/20 issues
  - Putting illegal immigrants before Americans
  - Allowing boys in girls bathrooms and transitioning kids without parental notification
  - And a long list that the White House publicized
On the field🏈: Last night, both sides put their best players forward
- 🫏The Democrats:
  - 🗣️Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., screaming, and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., with her "F-ICE" pin, wanted to be seen in the chamber
  - 🎤Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger delivered the anti-Trump argument based on the economy and an appeal to women's sensibilities around ICE
  - 🗣️Joy Reid led a counter State of the Union address with Democrat lawmakers and celebrities who boycotted Trump's speech
    - They are the "Trump belongs in jail" types
  - 📺Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and other "normal" Democrats came on cable news and ranted about Trump's awards show — it wasn't a good look.
- 🐘The Republicans:
  - ‼️As we told you in yesterday's "War Notes," Trump would put on a show
    - As I said at the end of the speech, it was a master class in patriotism and using the power of the presidency.
  - 😀Republicans should be overjoyed (as they are) by last night.

Political reality‼️: We don't know who best channels America right now

Is it the joyful MAGA men or angry progressive women?
- 📊Take CNN's polling with a dose of bias:
  - 🎤"This was actually his least well-received speech. We're talking about 38% of speech viewers who viewed the speech very positively, and that is lower than in 2025, when it was 44%. Lower than in 2019, when it was 59%. 2018, when it was 48%. And 2017, when it was 57%."
Beware🚨: Republicans should know that often the buzz around a great State of the Union is a buzzsaw — just ask President Joe Biden, whose 2024 State of the Union breathed new life into his quest for a second term — we all know how that ended up.

Watch tonight📺: NewsNation's Libbey Dean, Chris Cillizza and Lauren Wright

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Iran's Last Chance? 🚨

👀President Trump last night at the State of the Union determined a deal could be made with Iran as long as they agree to NO nuclear weapons — and we'll see tomorrow if that's possible

🤝Tomorrow, U.S. officials meet with Iranians in Geneva
- 🗣️White House envoy Steve Witkoff says any nuclear deal with Iran should last indefinitely.
🚢In the meantime, Trump has a conga line of warplanes in the Middle East moving into place to ensure Iran will NEVER have a nuclear program again.
Different War📰: The Times headlines "Iran 'ready to spill American blood — even at a huge cost," writing:
- ✏️"Ayatollah Khamenei has learnt lessons from the brief war with Israel last year and experts deem him unlikely to concede to Trump's nuclear demands"
🫣The ayatollah is reportedly hiding in an underground bunker.
The (public) forward deployment of F-22s to Israel
Watch tonight📺: U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on what a second Iran strike or war would look like and why Israel isn't ringing the alarm bells about Iran's nuke program.
- Plus➕: Huckabee's fight with Tucker Carlson

Case Gone Cold? 🚨

‼️It's been 25 days since Nancy Guthrie disappeared from her home in Arizona, and we still have no idea where she is, who did this and why — so when does this case go cold? When the media pack up their cameras in front of her house?

👀 Lots of action was going on at Nancy's house today.
- 🚗Different types of cars and people were seen going in and out of the garage — maybe we are getting somewhere.
- 🤷There was evidence at the crime scene, but clearly not enough to catch whoever did this:
  - Surveillance camera videos
  - Blood on porch
  - Missing Ring camera
  - Nancy's pacemaker/Apple Watch
  - Ransom notes
  - DNA inside house
  - Suspect's backpack description
  - Glove with DNA
📱Savannah Guthrie posted another heartfelt video, saying they still believe "in a miracle" and hope their mom is returned.
- 🎤Savannah: "She may be lost, she may already be gone … if this is what is to be, then we will accept it. But we need to know where she is. We need her to come home."
💵The Guthrie family offered a $1 million award yesterday for information leading to where their 84-year-old mom is — this is in addition to the FBI's $100,000 reward.
- 1,500 new tips rolled in after this, said the FBI.
🩸DNA found at her home can't be entered into CODIS because it was only a partial sample.

Watch tonight📺: NewsNation's Brian Entin on the ground in Tucson, Arizona, with the latest.

Plus➕: Former FBI Special Agent Chris Swecker.
Personal theory: I am not a true crime guy, but what if this was a serial killer who just happened to kill someone famous

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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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