Leland Vittert’s War Notes: Not If, But When 🚨

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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.

Warning🚨: America is now fighting a two front war.

At home: Four home grown Islamic terror attacks in two weeks show our law enforcement is woefully unprepared and our politicians refuse to deal with the problem
Abroad: Like a rabid dog — the Iranian regime understands its only hope is to raise the stakes so high America backs down – now we must fight to win.

Sunday best‼️: Sunday night, American sailors, soldiers, airmen and Marines will be in harm's way fighting to liberate Iran.

🚨They are risking their lives to free women from a regime that makes them wear hijabs, beats them in the streets, executes them in hospitals and views rape as justified.
Also📺: Sunday night — a bunch of stars who profess to care about women and human rights will show up at the Oscars.
- Prediction💭: They will say this war is terrible because they don't want to give President Trump a win —
- Double down🤦: Many will also find a way to trash Israel, Jews, the U.S. military — you name it.
🗞️With no irony, Vanity Fair published a preview:"A History of Violence: How Hollywood Has Protested War at Awards Shows"
Watch tonight📺: Israeli actress Noa Tishby on Hollywood's unwillingness to celebrate America even when Americans are dying for the causes Hollywood celebrities champion.

Weekend Danger 🚨

🚨Sadly, it's not if but when Islamic terrorists will attack next.

👎The biggest danger from Islamic terrorism is that our leaders won't deal with it honestly

‼️Two attacks in two hours: Let's look at how leaders dealt with yesterday's back-to-back attacks.
- 1️⃣First in Virginia, where a convicted ISIS sympathizer yelled "Allahu akbar" and killed an Army lieutenant colonel in Old Dominion University's ROTC program.
  - 🎤First, Democrat Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger:
    - Spanberger: "Lt. Col. Brandon Shah was killed today in his classroom at Old Dominion University. A devoted ROTC instructor, Lt. Col. Shah didn't just lead a life of service to our country, he taught and led others to follow that path."
  - 🎤Next, the Norfolk district attorney, who blamed gun control
    - "This is not an ODU problem, this is a national sickness. We live in a country where people care more about guns than they care about 6-year-old children. They care more about guns than they care about synagogue worshippers, and they care more about guns than college students. Until there is the political will to break the spell of the cult of gun absolutism, you will see more incidents like this."
    - Turns out the guns were straw-purchased
- Next2️⃣: Detroit — ground zero for hate preachers in America. The Hezbollah-adjacent fanatic who rammed his explosive-laden truck into a Jewish daycare with over 100 kids and adults.
  - 🎤First, the Dearborn mayor excused the attack because the guy's family members were allegedly killed in an Israeli strike in Lebanon
    - "Earlier this month, he lost several members of his own family, including his niece and nephew, in an Israeli attack on their home in Lebanon."
    - ‼️Now — why did the Israelis bomb the man's family? Good question — reports say they were Hezbollah terrorists. The mayor left that out.
- 🎤Michigan Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin says it's a "both sides" issue
  - Slotkins: "Whether antisemitism is coming from the left or the right, whether it's coming from some group you like or don't like, you have a responsibility to call it out. Because when you don't, it gives permission for people to climb that escalation that goes from saying hateful things online, to in person, to graffiti, to ultimately violence."
Newsflash💥: This isn't antisemitism — this is Islamic terrorism on a massive and increasing scale.
Reality check☑️: It is impossible to stop something unless you are honest about the problem.
‼️The problem isn't an Al-Qaida call for another 9/11 — it's the radicalization of Americans already here.

Watch tonight📺: Tracy Walder and Chris Swecker on how to stop the hate preachers at mosques around America from inspiring a new wave of jihadis.

Fight to Win ‼️

💣In war, your enemy has a say — the Iranians are having their say

❌They have effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz to drive up oil prices and put their uranium stockpiles deep in mountains our bunker busters can't get.

2️⃣Now, President Trump faces two options:

👀Quit by declaring a half-baked victory or WIN.
- 👍By all measures, he appears to have chosen to win.
- 👍That is a good thing — like all victories, it will take time.
Good read📰: The Wall Street Journal headlines, "Will Trump 'Fight to Win' in Iran?"
- ✏️It writes, "Iran has threatened Gulf oil production for decades, and that potential threat has built a risk premium into the oil price. But if the war ends with that threat having been proven in practice, with the U.S. unable to do anything about it, the U.S. will be the strategic loser. The deterrent effect of enforcing Mr. Trump's red lines will be diminished, if not evanescent."
Careful⚠️: In Vietnam, it was all about the body count — now, it's all about the bomb count.
- 🎤Gen. Dan Caine: "Today will be our heaviest day of kinetic fires across the operating area. …We've attacked over 6,000 targets, and our strike packages continue to launch every hour."
- 🤦That's not how you measure success in a war
- This in🚨: Now, reports say Iran's new supreme leader was also "wounded and likely disfigured"

Watch tonight📺: Former Vice Admiral Robert Harward and former Ambassador Kurt Volker on what the real metrics are if we won and if we are actually winning now going on two weeks of war.

PS: Cuba says they are now ready for talks — amazing how that works.

Stagflation(?) Really?! 🤦

💸There is this tale of two economies: Trump and JD Vance vs. the hair-on-fire media and Democrats.

🗣️Talk of stagflation is taking over Wall Street, and the media as investors are worried the war with Iran is going to take us back to the 1970s.
- 📰Just look at some recent headlines:
Reality check ☑️: The stagflation economy fears are starting to get a little silly — yes, Americans are hurting, but reality is we are only 13 days into this war — we aren't going back to the 70s.
Good read 📰: Axios headlines, "Wall Street stagflation chatter rises," writing:
- "Flared jeans are in style, an oil crisis is driving pain at the pump, and unemployment is rising: It's not 1978, but it kinda feels that way."
🤦No, it's not 1978 — not even close
- ‼️America is in an investment boom between AI and the reshoring of manufacturing. We are now net oil exporters.
- I could keep going…

Watch tonight📺: Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., on whether Democrats can talk about affordability while praising Gavin Newsom.

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