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Leland Vittert’s War Notes: Reverting to the Mean
By Leland Vittert,
2024-07-26
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 7 p.m. ET show. Subscribe to War Notes here.
Since I have had two long weeks and am looking forward to golf with my dad this weekend, indulge me in a golf metaphor to set up today.
In golf when a high handicapper (such as myself) is having a few good holes and thinks they finally “figured it out,” the laws of golf and life says they will revert to the mean. My dad will remind me of this too.
In the same sense, Trump had a pretty awesome three weeks, people rightfully talked about him having “figured it out.” The new Trump. The more disciplined Trump.
Both with the JD Vance pick and now his handling of the coming debate(s) with Harris, he is quickly reverting to the mean.
Proving the first rule of politics correct once again: Never underestimate Republicans’ (Trump’s) ability to screw something up.
Will They Debate? Yes!
Of course Trump and Harris will debate. Trump suggesting otherwise in a statement because she wasn’t the Democratic nominee and former President Barack Obama hadn’t endorsed her yet appeared stupid when he put it out.
Click her e to read about the statement. It appears to have backfired…
Made even dumber when Obama quickly endorsed Harris.
Now Harris and Democrats can rightfully call Trump for reneging on his “anytime, anywhere” promise to debate. Trump appears weak.
“Tough talk is this guy’s calling card. And now there’s this extraordinary show of weakness… he agreed to this specific debate, on this specific network, on this specific date, and now he’s pulling out. It shows that he’s afraid.”
To be fair : He should be afraid of Harris, who has now been turned into the second coming by a media giddy about the possibility of the first Black woman president and more importantly, a “prosecutor” who can prosecute the “convicted felon.”
One of the least reported stories of the Trump-Biden debate in June was how fair the moderators were… that won’t happen this time around.
A Trump-Harris debate changes every dynamic of a debate in Harris’ favor and Trump knows it.
Trump’s handling of it only makes things worse.
Replacing JD Vance
One time Trump communications director Anthony Scaramucci asking, “How many Scaramuccis JD is gonna last,” is a funny thought coming from a guy who lasted 12 days in Trump’s employ but speaks to the larger issue of Vance’s implosion on the world stage. Some of these issues include:
Tomi Lahren saying he is a loser. When a Republican loses Tomi Lahren, there isn’t much farther down to go.
Hard truth : Like Biden’s age issue, Vance’s problem isn’t the cringeworthy tape archive, his stiffness on the stump or his lack of charisma, it’s that he can’t do anything about it.
Zoom out : Vance follows in a long long line of people picked by Trump for the wrong reasons.
To be fair : The competition changed. Running against Biden-Harris is a lot different than running against Harris and whatever swing state governor or senator she picks as her running-mate.
Be fair : Harris in 2020 didn’t get anywhere near this type of scrutiny or the media would have endlessly screwed her with all the things we have shown you about her.
Can Trump replace him is an open question, but for a media that just forced out Biden (a sitting president), forcing out a VP nominee seems like a smaller lift.
Trump is famous for firing people and never good at hiring really good people!
Fair question : If Harris gets to reinvent herself (aka,. she was never the border czar), why can’t Vance?
Collin Rugg outlines some of the other new truths we must all adhere to now that Harris is the nominee.
57172477A — NYTBIBI24 – Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House in Washington, D.C., July 25, 2024. Kenny Holston/The New York Times
The dystopian world the media now presents of Harris is not much different than a few months ago when Joe Biden had the physical health of a 55-year-old and the mental acuity of a nuclear physicist.
Crosstabs of the latest New York Times poll show Harris doing better than Biden was — but not Obama levels better — with Black voters.
That’s still a problem for Harris if she wants to be the first Black female president.
More importantly, as Harry Enten of CNN shows us , Harris’s momentum isn’t what the media necessarily wants or reports it to be.
Fact check : Yes, she is doing better than Biden. Yes the honeymoon is real. But it’s not catching fire.
US Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a conversation with Steve Harvey at the 38th Annual 100 Black Men in America Conference on June 14, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Elijah Nouvelage / AFP)
Watch tonight : Svante Myrick joins us to discuss the efforts by Black women to convince Black men to come back to the Democratic party.
Joy Reid noted a fundraising group for Black men did quite well for Harris earlier this week.
“(Insert group) for Harris:” True to their intersectional base, Team Harris wants to build various ethnic, gender, racial or sexual orientation groups for her campaign.
Hogg writes, “We are honest, open and ready to support our first Black woman president.”
Hashtags we’ve seen: #WinWithBlackWomen, #WinWithBlackMen #OutForKamalaHarris and specifically directions for white women to #AnswerTheCall2024
Thought bubble : Nothing says uniting America like dividing us based on racial lines to support the alleged candidate meant to unite us.
Can Harris Figure out the Jewish Question for Democrats?
The Hamas-Israel war in Gaza requires moral clarity. There is clear evil and those fighting, at times imperfectly, against evil.
Democrats politically can’t see it that way — they must be:
For Israel, but against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Against Hamas but in favor of a cease-fire that leaves Hamas in power
They don’t want innocent Palestinians killed but can’t define what an innocent Palestinian is
They want a two-state solution even though the Palestinians overwhelmingly don’t want one
They must contend with the far left of their party, which routinely calls for the death of Jews
The most helpful VP candidate for Kamala Harris (Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro) now faces an antisemitic social media campaign led by his own party: “ No Genocide Josh .”
HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, UNITED STATES – 2024/06/23: A woman wearing a keffiyeh holds a placard saying “genocide Josh” during a rally for Palestine and Sudan at the Pennsylvania Capitol. The placard refers to Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. The rally was organized by Llah Charity and the Harrisburg Palestine Coalition in recognition of the right of the Sudanese and Palestinian people to self-determination and independence. (Photo by Paul Weaver/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Outspoken Israel defender Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., is one of the lone voices of moral clarity in the Democratic party.
On X, he wrote , “The antisemitic far left must never be given veto power over the selection of a presidential running mate.”
The fact that he has to say that means the antisemitic far left very well might have a veto.
Kamala Harris’ statement after meeting with Netanyahu left the Israeli delegation fuming.
Barak Ravid reports in Axios the Israelis say Harris’ demands from Israel make a hostage deal less likely.
Thought bubble : The Obama, Biden and Harris foreign policy teams either hate Israel, do not fundamentally understand the Israeli psyche or both – and they don’t seem to care. It’s mind blowing.
The rise of left wing antisemitism — not to mention the growing Muslim population in Europe — makes us think about the possibility of Paris 2024 turning into Munich 1972. Click here to see the posters up in Paris.
Tune into “On Balance with Leland Vittert” weeknights at 7/6C on NewsNation. Find your channel here .
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily of NewsNation.
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