Leland Vittert’s War Notes: Last Gasps or Gas Prices Baby

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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.

Midterm madness🗳️: The Texas midterms are turning into a mess as flawed Attorney General Ken Paxton says he won't drop out — even if Trump doesn't endorse him — making it all the more possible Republicans lose the Senate seat.

📈So once again, Democrats think they have a chance in Texas — with Polymarket putting it at 30%
Wow🤦: How is it possible a guy who believes in trans abortion rights could win in Texas — where Trump won by over 13% in 2024?
Watch tonight📺: Pollster and political analyst Frank Luntz

The Last Gasp 🚨

⛽Iran found its pressure point — its gas. It's its last stand. It is going to try and pressure the Trump administration and the world on oil and gas prices.

Irony💣: The Iranians are bombing the Muslim world to do it.
- ‼️We told you last night to watch the Strait of Hormuz — it carries 20% of the world's oil every day.
  - 🚢And ships passing through it have come to a stop due to threats from Iran
    - ❌About 1,000 ships are sitting in the Gulf waiting for Hormuz to reopen — and around half of those are oil and gas tankers.
  - 📈International oil prices have gone up 12% since the strikes on Iran — now at $85.03 a barrel.
- 💣Now, Iran is attacking its neighbor Azerbaijan, which has a big oil and gas industry
- 💥And it struck Bahrain's oil refinery, the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO), a critical refinery that deals with most of Bahrain's oil production
Making the case‼️: Iran is showing in real time why this war is necessary.
- 😬Imagine if they had been allowed to rebuild their conventional arsenal for another few years — or deploy Chinese hypersonic carrier killers.
🤷This was the threat all along, and they are doing it.
- 💸If Iran were allowed to, they would make gas $10 a gallon, and we wouldn't be able to do anything about it.
👀So how much pain is the Trump administration willing to endure — gas prices are only going to continue to go up.
- 📈Gas prices have jumped around 27 cents since last week to $3.25.
- 🚨Trump's chief of staff, Susie Wiles, is warning the administration to find a way to bring prices down — because that's really what the American people care about.
‼️For Iranians to win, they only have to stay in power, making it so painful that Israel and the U.S. quit.
- 🎤Just listen to Axios' Barak Ravid: "If the regime still stands, Iran won."
- 💣Iran knows they can't make it painful on Israel, so they are attacking all of their neighbors so Trump quits back at home.
  - Saudi Arabia
  - UAE
  - Bahrain
  - Kuwait
  - Qatar
  - Turkey
  - Azerbaijan

Where is the support? 👀: There is this idea in the media and by Democrats of just beating the hell out of Trump over Iran when the military is actually doing unbelievably well

🙌The military deserves lots of credit for this, and the fact that the population is booing this is ridiculous
- ‼️Killed the ayatollah — plus hundreds of top leaders
- ‼️Sunk an Iranian warship
- ‼️Blown up much of their military — now moving on to the lower-level targets
- ‼️Decimated the Iranian regime's ballistic missile capabilities
- ‼️Severely limited their ability to launch weapons
🚨And Iran is proving in real time why this war is needed.
- 🤷They are doing everything people said they would do, even if they don't have nuclear weapons and have a severely degraded military now
  - Imagine if they did have this stuff — this war would be on steroids
- 💣They are bombing all their neighbors like Azerbaijan
- 🗣️And the Iranian foreign minister says they aren't going to negotiate and are ready for U.S. boots on the ground.
👀But look, Iran is on the brink — we know this because Lebanon is now cracking down on Hezbollah.
- So what happens next inside Iran — have we planned enough for peace? We have been talking about an attack on Iran for months, and now it's happening.
Personal privilege: I hate complaining about or covering "the media." It's like yelling at the refs during a game — you are usually losing.

Watch tonight📺: John Bolton, a former national security adviser under Trump

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Goodbye, Kristi Noem 👋

‼️In Trump 1.0, you're fired. In Trump 2.0, you're promoted to oblivion.

The rule in Trump 2.0 is: He won't give up a scalp — no matter what happened, what they have done — he isn't publicly cutting them loose
Case in point‼️: Outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem got moved to a new role today, special envoy for the Shield of the Americas — a completely made-up job
- 🤷The issue is she became a liability to Trump
- 🤷She wasn't worth the headache because she made it all about herself in the end.
  - 📺Her blaming Trump for approving $200 million of image ads didn't go over well at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
‼️Now, Senator Markwayne Mullin is stepping in.
- Full disclosure🤝: Mullin is a friend — he is one of the few people in Congress I seriously admire.
- ‼️Mullin now faces a huge job — he must refocus the Department of Homeland Security and instill a new discipline among the ranks

Watch tonight📺: Yemisi Egbewole and Shelby Talcott

Are you subscribed?: Amended! Check out the fourth episode of Liberty's "Amended!" podcast, titled, "You Call That Journalism?"

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It sounds simple ✏️: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
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- 🤓Yes, she is the smarter of the Vittert children.
‼️Click here for the podcast — and please leave Liberty a five-star review wherever you get your podcasts.

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