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. |
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‼️Predictably, "Sell America" is over and was dumb
🗣️A couple of weeks ago, it was very popular to say, "Sell America." - 🫧The AI boom was allegedly going to turn into a bubble
- 💸Treasury bills were not the safest assets
- 💶Maybe put your money in the Euro, or would bitcoin come back?
- Reality check ✅: On Monday, the U.S. dollar came roaring back, and everyone bought U.S. treasury bills.
- 🔥Amazing — when the world is (or might be) on fire, everybody runs to America
- ✏️"The dollar is behaving in a classic manner during these periods of risk aversion and uncertainty — and that is the safe haven king," said a strategist at Pioneer Investment.
- And look at that 🤩: The bet against America is over. The U.S. dollar strengthened by 1.3% this week, and all major currencies dropped, according to Bloomberg.
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‼️The war to free Iran is going better than anybody could have expected by a couple of touchdowns — sure, the PR war is a disaster, but winning solves a lot of problems. - 👀Let's look at the three things that will matter going forward:
- 1️⃣The Strait of Hormuz — it carries 20% of the world's oil every day.
- Iran closed it by threatening attacks, and the insurance companies got spooked. Qatar shut down its liquefied natural gas production.
- Iran hoped to force Trump's hand with rising energy prices.
- Trump now says America will insure the ships and provide Navy escorts
- If the strait reopens, Iran played its last card and failed
- 2️⃣The Kurds — they just launched a ground war against Iran
- They live in northern Iraq and Iran
- They love America despite us screwing them over time and time again
- They are fearsome fighters
- Other than Israel, they are our best allies
- 👍They hate the ayatollah and IRGC, and Israel has a good relationship with them
- Their base in Iraq means they can be funded and trained
- 💣The Israelis are bombing Iran's internal security services, trying to soften the environment for a revolution.
- Other reports indicate both CIA ground troops and Mossad are helping
- 3️⃣The domestic political situation at home
- 🤷The lack of selling this war is really hurting the Trump administration. If Trump had sold the war, everyone would be thrilled; instead, the administration is having to argue why it's important.
- To be fair⚖️: What the U.S. and Israeli military accomplished so far is nothing short of extraordinary.
- ‼️Killed the ayatollah — plus hundreds of top leaders
- ‼️Severely limited their ability to launch weapons
- Reduced Iranian drone launches by 73% and ballistic missile launches by 86%.
- ‼️Blown up much of their military — now moving on to the lower-level targets
- ‼️Inflicting enormous casualties on high commanders and other leadership
- ‼️More than 2,000 strikes with over 2,000 precision munitions launched from air, land and sea
- ‼️Decimated the Iranian regime's ballistic missile capabilities
- ‼️Sunk Iran's naval vessels to the bottom of the sea
- 👀And what have the Iranians been able to do:
- Kill six U.S. troops — and sadly, that's what happens in war, and I guarantee you American officials were expecting a lot more casualties in this mission
- We have forgotten what war was like in America — it's awful and messy
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Zoom out🌎: The Middle East and Gulf — Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, etc. — are lining up behind the U.S. and Israel to fight Iran. This would have been unthinkable a few years ago. Back home🏠: In a bizarre twist of events, an American president is winning (big) on the battlefield and losing at home - 📰To our point yesterday about the need to sell a war before you start it, read Axios' Marc Caputo and Barak Ravid's note explaining why the chance at a (successful) decapitation strike proved too good to pass up
- ✏️"The intrigue: The original plan called for a strike in late March or early April, giving the administration time to build public support. Netanyahu pushed to move faster, a U.S. official told Axios."
🤦But no one knows what the war is about. No one knows why it's going well because they don't know why we're fighting. - Zoom out🌎: If the Trump administration had sold it before starting it, they would have been much better off.
- Politics: It gives Democrats an opening — here is Mark Halperin's monologue explaining why so many Democrats should support the war but can't.
- Watch.
Watch tonight📺: Former Amb. Kurt Volker and retired Vice Admiral John W. "Fozzie" Miller join us - Plus➕: Retired Brig. Gen. John Teichert
- Bonus📱: Watch Iran's northern border with Azerbaijan — they are close with the Israelis and reportedly putting troops on the border
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Totally Preventable Republican Disaster(s) ‼️ |
🤦The Texas Republican primary story is one of the worst unforced errors in modern political history. - Clean up on aisle Republican 🧹: Longtime Republican Sen. John Cornyn had to spend nearly $70 million defending himself in a primary race where he won the popular vote but is now heading to a runoff against a deeply flawed Attorney General Ken Paxton.
- Look back🔙: Many MAGA folks see Cornyn as a squish
- Paxton is an OG January 6 guy, aka hardcore Trump MAGA.
- Paxton got into the race hoping Trump would endorse — he didn't, but he didn't endorse Cornyn either— the wounds were brutal
- 🗣️Now, Trump says he will endorse for the runoff and wants the other to drop out — everybody thinks he will endorse Cornyn, but who knows.
- ‼️The winner goes up against Democrat golden boy James Talarico.
- Watch out 😬: Last night, the Texas Democratic Senate primary race had the highest turnout ever
- 🎤CNN Harry Enten: "The word to describe it for Democrats, tremendous, tremendous turnout. I mean woof, Texas Senate Democratic primary turnout, the highest ever…. We're already up to 2.3 million and that's only with 92% of the estimated vote in. That will climb ever higher."
- 🤦$70 million that could have been spent to defeat Talarico was spent propping Cornyn up in a bruising fight — largely because Trump wanted to make a point.
- Watch tonight📺: Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., joins us.
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🤦Today, the (disgraced) governor of Minnesota came to Capitol Hill to answer questions about his state's multibillion-dollar Somali welfare fraud story.
💸At the start of the year, the biggest story was the Minnesota Somali fraud — so much so that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz had to say he wasn't going to run for reelection - ✈️So, Kristi Noem decided she would surge ICE agents to get in on the media boom.
- 👎Then, ICE agents shot and killed not one but two progressive agitators.
- 🗣️Now, Republicans are trying to get everyone to talk about the Minnesota fraud again, and it ain't working.
Watch tonight 📺: Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., on if and how Republicans can regain the domestic political narrative — - Note✏️: The news cycle has already started to drift from Iran.
Must Read📰: An Arkansas Republican just won the Republican primary for sheriff while charged with murder — have your attention? - 🗣️Aaron Spencer says he shot and killed a 67-year-old man accused of sexually abusing his daughter
- Personal thought💭: The first real book I ever remember reading is John Grisham's "A Time to Kill" — hard to blame the father, right?
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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. Make sure to let us know your thoughts on social media and by replying to this email. |
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