Leland Vittert’s War Notes: War on Musk

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.

State of play :

• 18 days to the election
• Decision Desk HQ average : Kamala Harris +2.4, as of around noon ET today. Click here to see the latest numbers.
  • Polymarket betting odds : 60.1 to 39.8 in favor of Trump — is someone rigging the betting markets? See below!

Programming alert : This week, our body talk segment will be fire – see you at 7 p.m. ET.

Watch this through the weekend …

• Told ya : President Joe Biden talked to the press pool while in Germany about Israel’s killing of Yahya Sinwar, saying, “It’s an opportunity that we can probably deal with Israel and Iran in a way that ends the conflict for a while.”
  • FOR A WHILE?!?!?!??! What kind of American leadership is that?
    • Pro tip : Let’s end the conflict for good by forcing Iran to stop funding, organizing, inciting and arming it.
• Yesterday in “War Notes ,” we told you the killing gives Iran an opportunity to help Harris by ordering Hamas to release the hostages — it looks like Biden is asking for just that.

Hello from Las Vegas!

• Yesterday, we visited the Lindo Michoacan restaurant. It was started by a then-illegal immigrant turned citizen, Javier Barajas, who now owns five spots in Vegas — he’s hosted Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
  • The New York Times profiled him earlier this year.
• There is no substitute for going on the road and getting out of D.C. — I do it as often as I can on the weekend, but actually reporting is different.
• Every one of the Latino servers we interviewed at the restaurant said they too supported Trump.
  • All of them cited the economy under Trump.
  • All of them thought he was more likely to make “no taxes on tips” a reality.
• Then, I talked to Catherine Herrera behind the bar.
  • She came here illegally from El Salvador and now has work papers.
    • She told me she would vote for Trump if she could.
    • During the show, we asked Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev. , who represents Vegas, about Herrera.
      • Rep. Titus said, “This young lady, with all due respect, is not very informed about what Donald Trump is going to do.”

What I am thinking: Taking a group of people for granted and shaming them when they speak up is a recipe for disaster.

MUST READ : Erick Erickson’s Substack today on immigration and Democrats’ real reason for refusing to have meaningful border security in exchange for more legal immigration

• What I am thinking : Republicans are guilty of this too — I pushed Kristi Noem quite hard on why a woman so vocal on the dangers of illegal immigration does not push for E-Verify in her state … she wasn’t expecting that!

What America thinks : Shock polling shows a third of Americans believe illegal immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of America.

• YIKES — but maybe not.
  • No, a third of Americans aren’t Hitler lovers quoting “Mein Kampf.”
    • They are angry about all the problems illegal immigration brings.
• The worst thing that’s happened to immigrants and immigration in America is letting in millions of illegal immigrants.

Last thought : When illegal immigrants in America who just want the American dream say Donald Trump is their best chance, everyone should do some soul-searching.

Charming Trump!!

The past few days, we’ve seen up-close and personal “charming Trump.”

• Him helping a nervous town hall questioner through things by saying , “You have a beautiful voice.”
• Some of his jokes at last night’s Al Smith dinner .
• Clearly, he said something Chuck Schumer liked at the table.

He has ease and confidence with crowds and cameras that Harris simply doesn’t have …

His favorability ratings are the highest they have ever been at this time in an election cycle.

Yet he refuses to stop talking about using his powers as president to go after the “enemies within.”

• He knows Democrats and their friends at CNN, The New York Times, CBS and MSNBC will play those clips on repeat.
• But he can’t or won’t stop.

Watch tonight : Trump’s former campaign manager and now senior adviser Corey Lewandoski always tells us, “Trump should be Trump.”

• We’ll ask if perhaps Trump should just be “charming Trump”?!

War on Musk, But Not Cuban or Swift

Just a few years ago, Democrats praised Elon Musk for saving humanity — electric cars, cheap space flight, the answer to rural broadband — but now he’s a James Bond supervillain who needs to be stopped at any cost.

• The only thing that changed is his support of Donald Trump …
  • A Wall Street Journal op-ed from FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr lays out how the Biden administration actively retaliated against Musk and Starlink (at the expense of rural Americans) to punish Musk.
  • California now wants to ban SpaceX launches because of his political views despite the thousands of high-paying jobs and investment it would bring

How Washington works : One guy tells the truth about the war on Musk, and Politico does a hatchet job.

• Their hit piece on Carr shows how worried they are.
• CNN has its own “warning” for Musk.

New standard in America :

• Billionaire supporting Trump = evil
• Billionaire supporting Harris = saving humanity

Just look at the fawning coverage of Mark Cuban’s support of Harris.

• There is no movement to take out Cuban’s business interests and no interviews of jilted “Shark Tank” contestants.

Don’t forget the favorite billionaire of them all, Taylor Swift .

Bonus coverage : Harris will campaign with Lizzo on Saturday at an early voting event.

• Yes, the same Lizzo accused of sexually harassing her staff .

Are the Betting Markets Rigged?!

The betting markets now give Trump a 60-to-40 chance (at least) of winning the election vs. it being dead even or even him being behind in the past month.

• Must read : This Wall Street Journal piece .
  • The surge might be a mirage manufactured by a group of four Polymarket accounts that have collectively pumped about $30 million of crypto into bets that Trump will win.
• MarketWatch writes , “The Dow Jones Industrial Average’s DJIA 0.03% strong year-to-date return translates to a 72% probability that the Democratic candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, will win the presidential election in November.”

Must watch : Tonight, Michael Schwimmer, who once got banned from sportsbooks because he was too good, will tell us if someone is rigging the betting markets in Trump’s favor.

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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