Leland Vittert’s War Notes: Let’s Finish This ‼️

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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.

Cheap Shot👎: Jimmy Kimmel tried to humiliate new Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin last night:

🎤Kimmel: "Before he was elected to the Senate, Markwayne Mullin was a low-level MMA fighter and a plumber. That's right. We have a plumber protecting us from terrorism now. It worked for Super Mario. Why not Markwayne?"
- 🤦REALLY?!?! Really…that's the best you have, Jimmy — no wonder your ratings are so low.
  - 👎The elite's disdain for working Americans knows no bounds.
- Mullin grew up humble in Oklahoma — when his father had a health issue, Mullin quit college to save the family business.
- 💰He then turned that business (and others) into an enormous success with hundreds of employees — unlike most politicians in Washington, this isn't the best job he has had or will have.
  - Full Disclosure: Mullin is a friend and one of the finest people I know in this town.
‼️People can disagree on policy, but if there were more men, more fathers, more friends like Markwayne Mullin in Washington, America would be a far better place.

It stinks💸: The person who bet $1.5 billion on oil going down and maybe the same person who bet massively on the stock market skyrocketing minutes before President Trump's announcement Monday should be publicly congratulated!

Thought bubble💭: Maybe they could start investing for a specialty hedge fund linked to the U.S. treasury … from jail.
Innocent until proven guilty‼️: We are doing some deeper research to quantify it, but the size of the bets and timing point to insider trading — in the same way that seeing your dog standing over an empty pizza box tells you who ate the pizza.
Reality👀: It seems very clear someone either got a tip or actually knew Trump would announce a five-day truce and strategically made tens of millions in 15 minutes.
Look back🔙: On Friday night before the Iran strike, people placed massive bets on the war starting that night.

Washington reality🤷: Graft in politics is nothing new

‼️Trump has never shied away from enriching himself, family or friends while in office
‼️Biden was more brazen but with lower stakes — he was also poorer, so the graft had fewer zeros.
Calling the DOJ🤦: Wouldn't it be nice if someone investigated this stuff rather than wasting time with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell?

Can't make it up🤦: Journalists make lousy media critics, so I don't do much of it — you, our viewers and listeners, are smart enough to spot bias.

- 👍It's why you watch and read us
BUT‼️: Sometimes the bias is the story — like in Chicago, where an illegal immigrant murdered an 18-year-old Loyola University co-ed.
✏️The student newspaper wrote about the killing — makes sense. But has since had to apologize.
- 📰The student journalists dared report the facts — that the man accused of the killing is an illegal immigrant.
- 🤦No — really, they apologized
  - ✏️"On March 23, a post on The Phoenix's Instagram page carried the following headline: 'Immigrant Man Charged in Murder of Sheridan Gorman, DHS Involved.' That headline didn't reflect the most important elements in the story, and it was taken down minutes later to prevent any further harm to affected community members. Additionally, in the body of the original post, we described the man who was charged as an "illegal immigrant," using language provided by the Department of Homeland Security. That language does not align with Associated Press style, nor does it align with the values of this newspaper. No human's existence is illegal, and we quickly changed our wording to reflect that. We acknowledge the harm such language can cause and the power and importance of the words we choose to use. We deeply regret these errors, and we're committed to continuing the high standards we hold for ourselves as journalists and members of the Loyola, Rogers Park and Chicago communities."
    - "That headline didn't reflect the most important elements in the story, and it was taken down minutes later to prevent any further harm to affected community members" — just out of curiosity what were the more important elements of the story?!?!
🤦I went to journalism school at Northwestern University in Chicago and have as little as possible to do with the student newspaper for this precise reason — that was 20 years ago … it's only gotten worse
Sad😞: Young journalists are taught from the beginning that their job is to be advocates and social warriors.
- 🤷It's one of the many reasons journalism is dying.

Let's Get This Over‼️

👍Everything we've told you about the war with Iran is proven correct

❗#1 You can't have a good deal with the Iranians – as evidenced today, they rejected the US peace proposal.
❗This is not a test of military might but of political will
❗President Trump started a war before selling the war
❗If Iran's regime survives, they win
❗The longer the war goes on, the more we learn the truth.
🤷The war is both harder to win and more necessary than anybody told us.
❗Trump is the first U.S. president to be winning on the battlefield and losing at home.
❗The American people are confused — even if you support taking on Iran, you don't know what you are supporting
Now for the bad part😬: The Iranians know this.
- ❗They understand Trump's desire for easy wins and lack of tolerance for long-term pain.
- 📺They understand the American media is largely on their side, playing the "Is it over yet?" game
- 📉The American population is less in favor of the war than they've ever been — yet widely say Iran can't get a nuclear weapon
  - 65% of Americans say it's extremely important to prevent Iran from obtaining nukes
  - 23% say somewhat
  - 11% not at all

View from Tehran👓: The Iranians think they have leverage over Trump because of gas prices and the American media

What's next▶️: Trump MUST restore deterrence — that is to prove to the Iranians that he is willing to endure more political pain than they are physical pain.

🤷That will be hard because the recent offer to negotiate, to send Vice President JD Vance, etc., shows Iran he wants the pain to end.
- ✏️Marc Caputo reports in Axios:
  - "To the Trump administration, the massing of forces is a sign he's serious about negotiating from gunboats, not that he's negotiating in bad faith. 'Trump has a hand open for a deal and the other is a fist, waiting to punch you in the f***ing face,' said a Trump adviser."
‼️Look at the Iranian position — they don't care about the pain — that's their language. Trump must speak it.

Watch tonight📺: Axios White House correspondent Marc Caputo

What's Really Been Accomplished?

💥Democrats seem to have blown up the Department of Homeland Security funding deal and are now likely leaving with no chance of any deal — and Americans aren't happy.

⏱️TSA security wait times are the highest ever
💲Around 47,000 TSA workers are about to go without another paycheck
- Even worse👎: These workers typically live paycheck to paycheck, with a starting salary of $40,000
❌Over 450 TSA workers have just quit
- TBH🤷: I don't blame them … there are much more reliable jobs out there where you aren't used as political pawns

💤We have TSA agents sleeping in cars — scary, as it makes them way, way more susceptible to bribery, etc.

🤦All of this so Democrats get what they want with ICE:

‼️ICE agents can't wear masks
‼️Must wear name tags
‼️Must wear body cameras
‼️Must have a judicial warrant from a judge before entering private property
‼️No immigration enforcement near schools, hospitals, churches, courts and polling sites
- Be real🤦: The real losers here are the TSA agents whose whole job is to keep travelers safe and are going without another paycheck.
  - Can you really look a TSA officer in the face and say, "Totally makes sense that you should not get paid and not be able to put food on the table so that ICE agents have to wear name tags"

Watch tonight 📺: Rep. Adam Smith on what Democrats have really accomplished here.

Buzz = Chainsaw? 🪚

2️⃣Two things are happening that seem diametrically opposed.

☑️Democrats continue to win special elections in Republican districts —
- 😮A Democrat will now represent Palm Beach and thus Mar-a-Lago in the Florida legislature — Trump won the district by 11 points less than two years ago
  - 🎉Democrats are celebrating that they are 30-0 in flipping state legislative seats — a streak they argue signals real momentum.
    - New Hampshire House, Carroll County District 7 turned Democrat
    - Texas Senate, District 9 turned Democrat
    - Arkansas House, District 70 turned Democrat
    - Florida Senate, District 14 turned Democrat
    - Florida House, District 87 turned Democrat
    - This district includes Mar-a-Lago
    - And many more, here is the whole list.
⬅️Democrats continue to move to the Left –
- Today 📅: Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson unveiled an "Abolish ICE" snowplow — look, I'm not joking.
  - 🗣️He then promised to "double down" on the city's sanctuary policies despite the murder of an 18-year-old Loyola University student by an alleged illegal immigrant.
    - Hold my beer🍺: Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner threatens to lock up ICE agents after being deployed to airports around the country to help with lines.
      - Krasner 🎤: "I'll say it again. The president cannot pardon you. And yes, I will put you in handcuffs and I will put you in a courtroom and, if necessary, I will put you in a jail cell if you decide to make the terrazzo floor of this airport, anything like what you did in the streets of Minneapolis, which involved the criminal homicide of unarmed, innocent people. We are not having that."
Kudos🤦: The very liberal Democrats are doing an awfully good job at making the centrist Left's (swing districts) lives harder.

Golden rule🪙: Never underestimate Republicans' ability to screw things up — as Erick Erickson told us last night — why Republicans aren't laser-focused on the Chicago killing and unpaid TSA workers is political malpractice.

Watch tonight📺: Former Obama policy adviser Laurie Watkins and Republican strategist Annalyse Keller

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