The $400,000 Kegger

The men of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Pi Kappa Phi and Alpha Epsilon Pi became national heroes overnight for saving Old Glory from the pro-Hamas types. 

• Click here to see the video of them singing the national anthem while getting pelted with water bottles by the “protesters.” 
• A GoFundMe page to show appreciation in the only way fraternity men understand, a party, now tops $400,000.
• John Rich of Big and Rich fame offered to headline their party. He will join us tonight to discuss how a few fraternity boys became national heroes. 

Thought bubble: The boys of “Animal House” could have only dreamed … Brandon Rosenblum joined us last night to discuss. 

Look back: Like the American men who saved our nation before, they did so at personal risk and asking for nothing in return because they believed in the idea…

This morning, my father reminded me of the letter written by Sullivan Ballou to his wife shortly before his death in the Battle of Bull Run. 

• In it, the major in the 2nd Rhode Island Infantry regiment wrote, “I know how strongly American civilization now leans upon the triumph of government, and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of the Revolution, and I am willing, perfectly willing to lay down all my joys in this life to help maintain this government, and to pay that debt.”

Perspective: Courage takes many forms. For those saying it’s not on the battlefield, you are right, but our universities are now a battlefield of ideas. 

It’s noteworthy that, unlike the protesters, none of the fraternity brothers had masks on. 

• The New York Times defended the mask-wearing. 
• The Washington Post attacked the group StopAntisemitism for aggressively outing some of the pro-Hamas types…
• Be fair: There’s an honest conversation to be had about whether those at these protests and rallies should be fired or not hired when they graduate.
  • Thought experiment: If they were at a protest wearing a Klan hood rather than a keffiyeh, the Washington Post would lead the charge to have them exposed, fired, tarred, feathered and maybe put in the stockades. 

“Hi, Mom.” LAPD cops take the keffiyeh and masks off pro-Hamas types after clearing UCLA’s campus.

Agreement: Both pro- and anti-Israel protesters, divided by police at the University of Alabama, found a common chant: “F--k Joe Biden.”

• Click here to watch the video.  
• Read The Crimson White’s excellent coverage here.

Party of Common Sense

At a rally yesterday, Trump said something so simple most everyone missed it: “Republicans are becoming the party of common sense.” 

• Thought bubble: Is he wrong?
  • It’s not just the protests…
    • Florida Governor Ron DeSantis just banned lab-grown meat in his state.
      • Bonus: Senator John Fetterman, D-Pa., tweeted in agreement. 
    • Swing state polling shows vast rejection of Biden’s appliance restrictions. 
    • Swing state voters don't want to pay for the student loans for people like the Marxist poetry-studying revolutionary at Columbia University who demanded humanitarian aid for protesters and protested Biden. 

Saying the quiet part out loud: How can Jews support a Democrat? asks popular Denver radio host Ross Kaminsky.

Watch tonight: Batya Ungar-Sargon and Chris Hahn will answer the question, “Can you be a Jewish Democrat these days?” 

MSNBC Warnings

Our friends at Mediaite report Joe Scarborough criticized viewers of “Morning Joe” who are “too stupid” to notice how the protests would hurt Biden’s reelection campaign and help Trump instead.

Alex Wagner on MSNBC worries the protests may lead to the next “Reagan era.”

Even Nicholas Kristof writes in a New York Times opinion, “How Protestors Can Actually Help Palestinians.” 

Al Sharpton on MSNBC questioned, “How do the Democrats — how do all of us on that side — say January 6th was wrong if you can have the same pictures going on on college campuses?”

• In response, “Morning Joe” host Mika Brzezinski said, “Good lord, don’t make a parallel with January 6th!”
• Sharpton: “You lose the moral high ground!”
• Joe Scarborough: “That has happened, though.”

Too little too late: Biden listened. Yesterday, his press secretary refused to even speak about the protests. At 10 a.m. today, the White House announced a 10:30 a.m. speech from the president.

Dry Run

Students at UCLA are better organized — they seem to be learning. They attacked police and journalists with cement- and urine-filled water bottles.

Look forward: What have both sides, the “agitators” and the authorities, learned from the college protests that they can take to the conventions in Chicago and Milwaukee? In essence, were the college protests a “dry run”?   

The Wall Street Journal has good videos of police detaining protesters and protesters spraying mace and bear spray. 

There’s video of protesters at UCLA using surfboards and umbrellas to fend off the police. Click here to watch the police detain people as they break through the encampment there. 

Watch tonight: Ray Kelly, former NYPD commissioner during 2004 protests against the Republican National Convention in New York City, will look forward to how this summer might go with us. 

War Notes will be off tomorrow…see you all Monday. 

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. 

“When I saw the guys at UNC holding that flag up, making sure it did not hit the ground, it told me a lot about them," said musician John Rich. He was so impressed that he offered to perform for free at whatever party eventually took place.

“We’re gonna call the show ‘Flagstock.' It’s gonna be an absolute blast, man," Rich told NewsNation's "On Balance" Thursday. “We may have to write a specific song about it.”

Rich said it's easy to watch TV the last few weeks and believe that every college student hates America, but the UNC fraternity brothers give him hope.

“I hope that these guys inspire … young patriots across the country to do the exact same thing," he said. He added that several fellow musicians have called him to say they'd like to be part of the show.

The celebration of the students stems from a Tuesday encounter with protesters on the UNC campus. Enduring insults, middle fingers and flying water bottles, about a dozen fraternity brothers stood their ground around the American flag.

“These people wanted to tear down the flag, and we were there to protect it,” Pi Kappa Phi member Brendan Rosenblum said. “Me and my friends did not allow that to happen.”

The standoff began when pro-Palestinian protestors raised the Palestinian flag on the pole. UNC Chancellor Lee Roberts, accompanied by police officers, took it down and re-hung the U.S. flag, which was flying at half-staff in honor of the law enforcement officers killed Monday in Charlotte.

When Roberts left and protesters tried again to take down the American flag, Rosenblum, some of his fraternity brothers and other students stepped in. They surrounded the flagpole, and kept the big flag from touching the ground. Rosenblum also held an Israeli flag.

“All of us felt that America, and the American flag — and for me, the Israeli flag — represent what we believe in,” he said.” And we weren’t going to let anyone stop us from keeping those two things up.”

By Tuesday evening, crews erected a chain-link fence around the flag pole.

The video of the fraternity brothers protecting the flag attracted hundreds of thousands of views on multiple platforms, inspiring someone to set up a GoFundMe page for the fraternity brothers.

“Throw ‘em a Rager,” the page reads. As of Thursday evening, more than 14,500 people had donated a total of more than $500,000.

“Armored in Vineyard Vines and Patagonia, fueled by Zyn and White Claws, these triumphant Brohemians protected Old Glory from the unwashed Marxist horde,” the GoFundMe page organizers wrote.

“These boys ... no, men, of the UNC Chapel Hill Pi Kappa Phi, gave the best to America and now they deserve the best. Help us raise funds to throw this frat the party they deserve, a party worth of the boat-shoed Broleteriat who did their country proud.”

“It’s insane,” Rosenblum said of the campaign. “I’m not gonna say what we’re going to do with the money. All I can say is … everyone who was there appreciates the support.”

“I think it’s important that we all stand up for what we believe in. I think fraternity members get a bad rap. But in the end we have a brotherhood ... and no matter what happens, we’re going to stand by that.”

Hate Crimes Charges? 

BIG PICTURE: Whack-a-mole of terrorist sympathizer students continues.

• The Columbia University president got so embarrassed she finally let the NYPD in to clear self-described “revolutionaries” out of a building.
  • Will the president follow through on her threat to expel them? 

But there is more: UCLA erupted in violence overnight. 

• Not to mention Fordham 
• The University of Wisconsin, Madison
• And the many others

Worst video: Will the kids who stomped on a Jewish girl's head at UCLA get charged with hate crimes? 

• If you haven't seen the video run on repeat by cable news, ask yourself why.
• The woman in Charlottesville became a national martyr when she got hit by a car … how is this different?
  • The driver of the car was charged with a hate crime. 
• Will the notoriously liberal Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon actually enforce the law?
• What about the Biden Department of Justice, which begins civil rights investigations into police departments based on activist demands?

Is anybody above the law? 

WWABD: What will Alvin Bragg do?

• Will the Manhattan DA vigorously prosecute the kids arrested at Columbia with the same vigor he’s pursuing his very famous felony trial in Manhattan going on right now?

How will it end 💭: There is no clear end or off-ramp to the protests — hello, Chicago! 

Domestic Threat

A March Intercept article quoting the FBI director warning of domestic terror by Hamas sympathizers takes on new meaning. 

• The Intercept’s Daniel Boguslaw writes, “IN THE WAKE of Israel’s war on Gaza, the intelligence community and the FBI believe that the threat of Islamic terrorist attack inside the United States has increased to its highest point since 9/11, according to testimony of senior officials.”

Ground truth: Hamas and Hezbollah are already here — protesters routinely carry their flags. 

• It doesn't take that much to go from carrying flags and chanting “intifada" to helping plan an attack. 

Pretty close: Stomping on the head of a Jewish girl at UCLA feels a lot like domestic terror already and certainly would be if she were Black or gay.

Look back: Remember when the FBI and Christopher Wray declared white Trump supporters the biggest threat to America? That seems even more politically contrived and cynical in retrospect as it did at the time. 

• From the FBI 2022 strategic report: “In 2021, the FBI and DHS assessed RMVEs advocating the superiority of the white race and anti-authority or anti-government violent extremists, specifically militia violent extremists, presented the most lethal threat categories."
  • *RMVE= racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists

Why at the Ivies?

ONE Thing to READ: Click here to read Elica Le Bon’s Twitter masterpiece on why we see so many protests at Ivy League, elite and blue state schools.

• She writes, “You don’t see this in lower tier schools from kids of lower socio-economic standing because they aren’t plagued with the guilt of privilege that they’re seeking to launder through Middle East role plays of feigned suffering. This is as first world dystopia as it gets.”
• In the same vein, Eric Spitznagel writes in the Free Press, “Kids Are Giving Up on Elite Colleges — and Heading South.” 

Where are the parents: Our friend Aviva Klompas reposted one of the best videos in history from the Baltimore riots that I covered. A mother saw her son looting the CVS and came to deliver justice.

Raised right: There is a GoFundMe for the men of Pi Kappa Phi at UNC-Chapel Hill who endured harassment and a deluge of water bottles to protect Old Glory from the mob. Click here to “throw 'em a rager.” 

“Panic Mode” vs. “Bunker Mode”

The Columbia University clean-up and UCLA clashes only deepen the Democratic Party divide between those who are Hamas-adjacent and normal folks. 

Axios reports congressional Democrats are in “panic mode” over the protests. They’re divided, with some parroting Hamas talking points and others willing to say they’re horrified about the pro-Hamas types. 

Hence, there’s a divide about legislation to combat antisemitism where Republicans are united. 

• 2024 reality check: The year Democrats are divided over support for Jews. 

Pouncing: Trump slammed Chuck Schumer and others for abandoning Israel. 

• Fair question: Is he wrong? 

Bunker mode: The White House plan involves keeping Biden away from cameras, hoping it goes away and “monitoring” the situation.

BUT, Charlottesville: The first thing press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre brought up in the briefing by name: Charlottesville, which happened almost seven years ago. 

Last hope: The bunker strategy might work if Biden can force an Israel-Hamas cease-fire deal and get some of the hostages he never talks about back home. 

• Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) writes in Axios that it’s the “only hope” for Biden’s Middle East strategy. 

Backfire: The Wall Street Journal writes Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Tel Aviv to find a “stronger” Benjamin Netanyahu.

• Turns out, the Israelis don't like American Democrats, especially most vocally Schumer, who speak out loudly attacking their leaders and are silent about Jews under attack. 

Go deeper on a cease-fire: Hamas feels emboldened by the campus protests and will only agree to a cease-fire that permanently ends the war rather than a pause in fighting to exchange hostages for prisoners.

• For a list of reasons, some justified and others for his own best interest, Netanyahu will never agree to that. 

Watch tonight: Outspoken Jewish Rep. Kathy Manning, D-N.C., will join us.

By Design or Necessity?

Former President Donald Trump couldn't ask for a better split screen today.

• Trump will be at rallies in Wisconsin and Michigan doing what he does best. 
• Biden will drive three blocks from the White House for a closed campaign event at the Mayflower Hotel, where his handlers will make SURE he doesn't talk to the press about the university protests.

“Is Biden afraid of reporters?” asks Alexi McCammond in a Washington Post column. 

• YIKES! When you have lost Alexi McCammond…

But it’s not just McCammond. 

• From Ross Douthat in the New York Times: “Biden is Not Winning. His Campaign Should Stop Acting Like He Is.”
  • He writes, “The problem with the Biden campaign is that it’s being run as though its candidate is in the first position, as though it’s protecting a lead that Biden doesn’t have.”
• Or Michael Moore on CNN: 
• “I know we’re speaking to millions of people, but I’d like to speak to one particular individual and that is President Biden…His chance of not being reelected, I think, at this point is so great because of those numbers, and because he’s losing the youth vote. He’s lost the Arab American vote in Michigan,” as quoted by Mediaite.

Vice President Kamala Harris often quotes the political truism that there are two ways to run: unopposed or ten points behind.

Fact check: Biden is neither unopposed nor running a race like he is ten points behind. 

Which brings us back to the split screen — is Biden’s less-than-active campaign schedule out of design or necessity?

• Thought bubble: It’s hard to know which is worse.

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. 

Cease-fire at Any Cost

Like so many of President Joe Biden's problems, he’s caught in the protests between what he wants to do, the political left, the political center and an ever closer Nov. 5. 

• He needs a “cease-fire” in Gaza to take the pressure off his reelection bid.
  • To get a cease-fire, Hamas and Israel must agree to one.
    • Hamas is emboldened by the protests.
      • Hamas keeps holding out for a better deal.
        • Yesterday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, “The only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a cease-fire is Hamas.”
        • Yet Hamas knows they have leverage over Biden because of his domestic political problems. 
      • They used to worry about the “Arab street” being on their side.
      • Now, they have “the American street on their side.” 
    • Israel is scared by the protests
      • Israel feels less secure.
      • Hence, Netanyahu said he will continue into Rafah regardless of a deal. 
    • Biden’s constituency is protest-adjacent, especially the boards of so many colleges and universities.
      • Arresting the protesters brings back images of 1968. 
      • Allowing the protests to grow and intensify into riots (like last night at Columbia University) terrifies suburban voters. 

What Biden is saying: Nothing. 

• He’s left that to his deputy press secretary, Andrew Bates, who has been issuing statements: “President Biden has stood against repugnant, antisemitic smears and violent rhetoric his entire life. He condemns the use of the term ‘intifada,’ as he has the other tragic and dangerous hate speech displayed in recent days.”
• Just a few questions:
  • If Biden is so concerned, why haven't we heard from him directly?
  • If Biden is so concerned, why is it always his deputy press secretary who issues statements about antisemitism and not press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre delivering them from the podium?
  • If Biden is so concerned, why doesn't the Department of Education or the Justice Department, which often threaten universities over trans rights, threaten the institutions allowing terrorist-adjacent acts by pulling their federal funding? 

Intifada

An “intifada” banner now hangs from Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall.

• “Intifada” does not call for peace or a cease-fire; it calls for a violent uprising against Jews. 

What happened: Overnight, a group of students (and likely professional protesters) took over the building using terrorist-like tactics to bash windows and then zip-tie doors 

• Video shows keffiyeh- and mask-wearing “protesters” threatening and shoving two Columbia University students.
• The university reportedly told the New York City police to stand down despite overtly criminal acts and threats to students. 
• The university’s campus safety team ordered that only students and essential faculty are allowed on campus. Video shows the rioters ignoring those orders like they have every other one so far.

We predicted this last night on air after Columbia University’s president refused to enforce her own 2 p.m. deadline for students to clear off the university’s quad. 

• At this point, anything she says is pretty laughable. 
• But what about the board that she works for? We asked everyone to come on, including former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson. Everyone on the board of trustees refused or didn’t answer our requests.
  • Yes, you read that right: the former Homeland Security secretary is on Columbia University's board of trustees, and terrorist sympathizers now run the campus. 

Nothing to see: Columbia University kicked all the reporters off campus. Evidently, they are able to enforce that rule. 

• Thought bubble: Remember when restricting or penning reporters was a threat to democracy? 

Doubling down: The university put out a statement saying, “The safety of our community remains our top priority.” 

• It’s laughable — they have given up control of their campus to a mob. Empty threats of suspension or expulsion mean nothing. 
• It also misses any promises to protect Jewish students from the mob or condemn someone hanging a banner with terrorist slogans! 

It’s not just Columbia.

• UCLA students blocked Jewish kids from using the library and coming on campus. 

Final thought: These groups on American campuses support terrorists and use the same language as terrorists. When will we start calling them terrorists?

Show Me the Money

Programming alert: Senator Ron Johnson, R-Wis., joins us tonight for a victory lap of sorts. He rightly asked, “When does this end?” in response to Biden’s $61 billion in aid for Ukraine.

• Fun fact: The latest aid bill gave Ukraine more than the budget for the U.S. Marines. 
• Turns out, according to a column in Reuters, $61 billion isn't enough — Ukraine needs more! 

To be fair: The Ukrainians have fought bravely, inflicted heavy losses and done better than anyone expected. 

BUT, as we pointed out last week, America currently funds both sides of the war by buying or importing billions of dollars worth of Russian oil. 

Look forward: Most wars end with negotiation. When will America start forcing the Ukrainians to negotiate? 

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. 

The suit filed Monday alleges that the university has failed to protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment during ongoing pro-Palestinian protests on campus.

"What's going on is something different. There are straight-out calls for the genocide of Jews," attorney Jay Edelson said. "This has happened because of complacency and appeasement by our academic institutions."

The encampment at Columbia kicked off a wave of protests at college campuses across the country. While many have been peaceful, some protests, including those at Columbia, have led to arrests as universities try to handle the disruption.

Edelson said the class-action lawsuit seeks a court order forcing Columbia to enforce its own policies prohibiting discrimination and creating a hostile environment. He accused the school of empty threats after it said it suspended some protesters but then allowed them to remain on campus, arguing the university is prioritizing liberal political sensibilities over student safety.

Columbia University President Minouche Shafik has condemned the protests and said they cross a line from free expression to antisemitism. But Edelson believes Shafik's words have become meaningless without stronger disciplinary action.

"We're done listening to Columbia's promises. They can now put up or shut up," Edelson said.

“Morning Joe” Warning

On “Morning Joe” today, they repeated, “They are going to elect Donald Trump” over and over at the top of the 7 a.m. hour as they compared 2024 to 1968. 

• Historian Michael Beschloss made much the same point later in the segment speaking about the protesters on college campuses across America. 
• Their No. 1 viewer: Biden reportedly gets up to “Morning Joe” every day. 

The Washington Post is worried: They wrote today, “Trump, GOP seize on campus protests to depict chaos under Biden. Republicans highlight images of turmoil, though most of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations have been peaceful.”

Biden paralyzed: Biden appears to hope that the protests will go away and avoids talking about them at all costs. 

• Newsflash: Hope is not a strategy. 
• Press shop intrigue: Once again, a strongly worded statement about the protests came from the deputy press secretary, Andrew Bates, not Karine Jean-Pierre.
• Also on MSNBC: John Kirby delivered what should be his boss’ — the president’s — message every day, yet Biden can't bring himself to say it: “There's not going to be an independent Palestinian state with Hamas in control of Gaza. Can't happen. If they really cared about the Palestinian people, if they really cared about an independent state, they'd lay down their arms, they'd step aside and they'd release those hostages.”

Chaos and disorder, as our good friend George Will pointed out, are bad for Mr. Biden.

• It’s not just disorder on campuses, it’s:
  • Disorder on the border
  • Disorder from crime
  • Disorder in the economy

Read below for full coverage of a new CNN poll that shows Biden down six in the head-to-head matchup. 

Go deeper on the protests 📣: 

• What they were chanting on George Washington University’s campus, where D.C. police reportedly were not allowed to move the protesters out: “There’s only one solution, intifada revolution. We must have a revolution so we can have a socialist reconstruction of the United States of America.”

Fighting back: 

• Jewish students are having their own fun:
  • Playing the trumpet at 3 a.m. at UCLA.
  • Or blasting “Good morning, Vietnam” at 4:30 a.m. 
  • Or a giant screen showing the atrocities of Oct. 7.

Important reading: From the Jewish Journal, “The Inside Story of How Palestinians Took Over the World.”

Reagan wisdom: Click here for some perspective from former President Ronald Reagan. 

“Horror Show” Numbers

The new CNN poll shows Trump up six points on Biden in the general election – oof! 

• My friend Guy Benson calls them “horror show” numbers and delves into the Israel side of things. 

Watch tonight: We will talk to Trish Regan about the economic side of things.

• Biden has among the lowest unemployment numbers of any president in history but also the lowest approval rating.
• For the first time in over 40 years, the vast majority of Americans can't afford basic goods. 
• Nod to the progressives: To solve his economic problems, President Biden promises to roll back Trump-era tax cuts that helped the middle class most.

Bottom line: America’s economy may be doing well — on many data points it is — but the average American’s personal economy (like their checking accounts) is doing horribly.  

The Worst of the White House Correspondents Dinner

Sources who actually went to the White House Correspondents dinner tells your humble correspondent there was an overwhelming feeling that “it might be the last one.”

• If Trump wins, the thinking goes, he won’t show up to “nerd prom” for a night of self-aggrandizing by the press. 
• Thought bubble: As if the White House press corps needs more self-aggrandizing.

Look forward: We can only pray that such prophecies of the White House Correspondents dinner ending come true. 

The celebration of the First Amendment turned into a celebration of those who fawn over President Biden by President Biden.

• Just watch MSNBC’s response to Biden’s jokes. 

Bottom line: The press have no one to blame but themselves for the lack of trust (and scorn) the American people have in them. 

Going after Columbia

Programming alert: Famed class action attorney Jay Edelson joins us with his first interview since filing a major claim against Columbia University.

• Some of the claims include our reporting about Khymani James, the protest leader who hates whites and said all Zionists should die. 
• Since Columbia administrators won’t do the right thing and can't be shamed into doing the right thing, will legal action make them do the right thing? 
• Where it hurts: Forbes dropped a major piece today: “Employers Are Souring On Ivy League Grads…”

Andrew Ross Sorkin tweeted over the weekend, “Controversial thought experiment: What would happen if companies told universities that they wouldn’t hire ANY of their students unless the schools take decisive action to end blatant antisemitism on campus. After all, no company would use an executive search firm with even one employee who openly engaged in antisemitism.”

• First, why is this controversial?
• Second, look at the replies to the tweet: “But Andrew, why only antisemitism? Why not Islamophobia and anti-Black racism too?” asks Mehdi Hasan.
  • And Mehdi, who wrote a book about winning every argument, just proved who he is. 
  • There are no campuses right now allowing Islamophobia or anti-Black racism.
  • There are no protests chanting “death to Muslims” or “hang the Blacks.” 

Bottom line: President Biden and liberals in general now engage in the exact same (arguably worse) bothsidesing of hate that they rightly trashed Trump for after Charlottesville. 

Big picture: The protesters know what they are doing is wrong, and we know that because they are wearing masks and won't talk to anyone, like in this video. 

• Even during Black Lives Matter, the protesters wanted to talk and show their faces because they believed in the moral righteousness of their protest and even their looting — I interviewed some.
• As we’ve reported for more than a week now, these protests are very different. 

Fun fact: The woman who represents Columbia University is the same person who sued Nazis over Charlottesville and talked about the lack of moral courage.  

Generation of Weaklings 

The protests on campuses expose how Generation Z is completely detached from reality. 

• Prediction: This won't end well.  

From a New York Times story about the college class of 2024 being denied graduation after not getting to graduate high school in 2020 because of COVID: “‘Unfortunately, being Gen Z means dealing with repeated states of the world that are in absolute hostility and turmoil,’ Ms. Ongele said, while standing in front of a community guidelines board in front of the encampment, wearing a black face mask. ‘We are the generation of school shootings, the generation that is tasked to deal with climate change. We’ve just been dealt the short end of the stick time and time again.’”

WAIT WHAT?

• You have Uber
• You have iPhones
• You have better and more equitable access to education than any generation in the past
• Yet you, Gen Z, are the victims

Compare to:

• Those coming of age during the Revolutionary War, Civil War, World War I, Great Depression, World War II, during the Vietnam War and the draft.
  • But no, dealing with climate change is too much for Gen Z 

To be fair: This is the same generation denied actual history classes in school, so maybe they actually don't know what it was like before. 

• Thought bubble: Gen Z will soon be responsible for funding Social Security and Medicare — YIKES! 

Anxiety among kids has increased to over 13% in the last couple of years. Obesity has increased to nearly 20% among youth. 

Vox headlines, “How anxiety became a catchall for every unpleasant emotion.”

From Bari Weiss’ new newsletter, “The Front Page”:

• “One in ten American kids has an ADHD diagnosis: We knew ADHD diagnoses were being handed out freely these days, but a new study finds that more than one in ten Americans between the ages of 5 and 17 have been diagnosed with the condition. To us, at least, that’s a shockingly high figure. Abigail Shrier, whose new book Bad Therapy is about what she sees as the pathologization of ordinary childhood behavior, thinks the study shows that we’re too quick to diagnose the disorder.
• “Here’s what Abigail told us: ‘We should be asking what’s in American kids’ environments that’s making them so hyperactive? Are they spending too much time on the iPad? Is their classroom cluttered and filled with distraction? Are they eating two Krispy Kreme doughnuts for breakfast? Instead, we hand them a diagnosis and put them on speed. But handing kids a diagnosis for a mental disorder is not a neutral act: it’s telling a child there’s something wrong with his brain, something he can’t fix on his own.’”

Be fair: A lot of young kids have real problems. In fact, the mass overdiagnosis is probably hurting them the most. 

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. 

“Illegal immigration … gas prices, grocery prices, inflation … the push for EV vehicles, solar power. I mean, you name it,” said Bobby Bartels, Steamfitters Local 638 business manager, about why many of his members are backing Trump.

“They are pretty much disgusted” with the status quo, he told NewsNation’s “On Balance” on Friday. “My members are sending me a pretty clear message … that they want change.”

Bartles says his union’s endorsement isn’t quite a renewal of the “hippies vs. hardhats” conflict of the late 1960s and ‘70s.

“When the hippies in the 70s protested, they were protesting against a war that they didn’t believe in,” he said. “These protesters are protesting against America. (They’re) looking for the death of a certain heritage.”

Steamfitters Local 638 has about 10,000 active and retired members throughout New York City and Long Island.

While Trump met with union officials in New York on Wednesday, Biden was receiving a loud, warm reception in Washington at a conference of the North America's Building Trades Unions.

"Donald Trump is incapable of running anything," NABTU President Sean McGarvey said in a video played at the conference. The union also announced its endorsement of Biden.

One of the biggest unions in the country, the Teamsters, abstained from the NABTU endorsement vote. Both Biden and Trump are seeking the Teamsters’ endorsement.

Nearly all the major labor unions have endorsed Biden. The board of the AFL-CIO was one of the first, doing so in June of last year. The organization represents 60 unions and has more than 12 million members.

Hippies vs. Hard Hats

Programming alert: Bobby Bartels, the union leader made famous by appearing with Donald Trump at a New York job site this week, joins us tonight to discuss the flip in American politics and if New York is really in play this November. Republican Lee Zeldin got within 6.4 points in the gubernatorial race. 

Look back: We told you a few weeks ago this was an abortion versus economy election. Those are issues. 

Look forward: Hippies and hard hats are people, but they also perfectly encapsulate the 1968 and 2024 election year comparisons we made yesterday. 

• Spoiler alert: The hard hats won in ‘68. 

Hezbollah Flags

Local grocery stores, or even Amazon, don’t stock Hezbollah flags, but somehow, the terror group’s flag showed up on the Princeton campus.

• Watch tonight: Matt Wilson, a columnist for the Daily Princetonian will join us tonight, as will Logan Schiciano from Northwestern University. We showed a video last night of fully covered Hamas supporters attacking him. 

Follow the money: Isabel Vincent reports in the New York Post on what many suspected: George Soros-funded groups are behind the most organized protests. She writes, “USCPR (which got 300k from Soros Open society) provides up to $7,800 for its community-based fellows and between $2,880 and $3,660 for its campus-based ‘fellows’ in return for spending eight hours a week organizing ‘campaigns led by Palestinian organizations.’ They are trained to ‘rise up, to revolution.’”

Look back: Jews in Germany also supported the Nazis as they rose to power through the League of German National Jews. In fact, the New York Times wrote about them in 1934. 

• In a shocking turn of events, once in power, the Gestapo arrested the league’s leader.

Roll tape: For those who questioned when we said the campus protests are not about Palestine or a cease-fire, just watch this video.

Must-See TV

Popcorn: In a conversation with radio host Howard Stern today, Joe Biden said he’s “happy to debate” Trump now. 

• High stakes and low expectations: Trump is always better at goading people than he is delivering.
  • Watch for Biden’s team setting the expectations low, saying:
    • Trump lies
    • Trump is a bully
    • Amongst other things
  • Trump already set expectations very high
    • His ego won’t allow him or his team to lower them 

The age issue will be front and center.

Hiding the shuffle: Our friend Alex Thompson scoops in Axios that staff now walk alongside President Joe Biden on his trips to and from Marine One, denying TV cameras the visuals of  “the 81-year-old's halting and stiff gait.”

Look forward: Signs of Biden’s increasing age are not only a liability with voters but deny him the trappings of the incumbency. 

• The walk up and down the stairs of Air Force One: He now takes the mini-stairs.
• Barnstorming across the country: He rarely does more than one or two events a day, always in the middle of the day.

Watch tonight: We’ll have Scott Rouse, a body language expert who has trained with the FBI, Secret Service and the military on interrogation to discuss what he’s looking for. 

• Plus, Chris Hahn and Vince Coglianese will talk about just how high the stakes are.

Bonus reading: The New York Post scoops a secret plan to push out notoriously inept press secretary Karine Jean Pierre that got scuttled over fears of a backlash.  

• Thought bubble: Few things better encapsulate the Biden presidency than keeping around an objectively terrible press secretary because firing her would upset the pro-DEI crowd. 

Gagging Trump

Trump won't spend this weekend in jail for violating a New York judge’s gag order. 

In fact, the judge kicked the can again and now scheduled the next gag order hearing for next week. 

• Thought bubble: If Trump’s actions (speech) are so threatening to justice, how can a judge allow it to go on for weeks?

Ground truth: Trump all but dared Judge Juan Merchan to put him in jail by claiming he would become a Nelson Mandela-like figure. 

• He was right, and now Merchan can't figure out what to do nor can Elie Honig at CNN. 

Watch tonight: Michael Discioarro, former New York City prosecutor and now defense attorney, on why the judge is taking so long. 

Bird Flu Alarm

Doctors warn we are sleepwalking into a bird flu catastrophe. 

• Either the virus will jump to humans, as the New York Post suggests, or it will decimate America’s food supply given the virus also can infect cows. 

The New York Times also lays out some of the dangers and the abysmal response from America’s public health officials. 

Look forward: America's public health officials deserve less trust than gas station sushi. 
Thought bubble: It’s like we learned nothing from COVID.

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. 

1968

The Economist headlines their must-read Lexington column yesterday with “The campus is coming for Joe Biden.” 

While many of the mobs in Texas, at Northwestern University in Chicago and at Emory University in Georgia still chant about Palestine, it’s no longer and never was about Palestine or the Palestinians.

• This movement, like cancer, is growing in size and scale. 
• The antisemitism and Jew hatred is obvious, but there is a far deeper issue. 

It should be clear to everyone these groups want to replace Western liberalism with a neo-Marxist and neo-socialist worldview. 

• If you have any questions check out War Notes from yesterday. We now have more from the leader of Columbia University’s protests with his “demands.” 
• If they truly want to free the oppressed from the oppressors, how about a protest against Iran? Today, The Washington Post reports a new and repressive crackdown on women in the country.
  • Where is the campus outrage about that? 

Only themselves to blame: George Packer writes in the Atlantic about how America’s elite universities embraced the very ideology now destroying liberal ideals. 

Look back: Nazis (National Socialists) blamed, targeted and killed the Jews, but went far beyond that in their quest for power.

Be smart: Don't be like the Jews or others who believed in the 1930s “It couldn't happen here.” 

Memo to the White House: The protesters will not be placated with an American humanitarian pier in Gaza — Hamas just attacked it.

• Thought bubble: Can you imagine if Israel attacked such a facility? 

The calendar: It’s April 25, precisely 116 days until the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. 

Look back: In 1968, the DNC was held during a riot where Chicago police took batons to angry students. Back then, Mayor Richard Daley ran the city. The current mayor, Brandon Johnson, would likely be far more sympathetic to the protesters. 

Look forward: The White House appears paralyzed by the protests. Thus, we look at the aforementioned Economist piece. 

• Our friend George Will likes to speak to the feeling of “disorder” in America:
  • The border
    • According to Axios, 42% of Democrats say they would support mass deportations
  • Crime
  • The economy
  • And now, people chanting for the killing of Jews
• Americans feel uneasy and largely blame President Biden — this is at the core of his reelection problem. 

Hippies vs. hard hats: As our senior producer Bob Morrisey pointed out this morning, in 1968 it was the hippies versus the hard hats. Today, former President Donald Trump visited a union construction project on his way to court. 

• Hear from the New York union leader in the video here.

Mark Twain: “History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” 

Nailed it: Sometimes you just have to laugh –- the Israeli version of Saturday Night Live predicted this five months ago.

Illiberal Liberals

Former President Ronald Reagan once said, “If fascism ever comes to America, it will come in the name of liberalism.”

The similarities between 2024 and 1968 warrant a comparison based on the political events and structure:

• Presidential election year
• Historically unpopular Democratic president
• War abroad
• Student protests

But the groups on college campuses today don't believe in classical liberalism: 

• They tried and failed to implement a repressive ideology of cancel culture with movements like Black Lives Matter and transgender rights. 
• The pendulum swung back in response.
• Now, they are trying again on the backs of the Palestinians. 

Today’s “revolutionaries” and their friends and allies believe America is the problem, not the solution, to the world’s problems. 

• Case in point: Andrew Sullivan (@sullydish) wrote an exceptional piece on the CEO of NPR, who among other things believes the First Amendment is the no. 1 challenge to what she views as the real threat: disinformation. 

Where true liberalism thrives: Southern universities are suddenly seeing a huge increase in interest.

Predicted and Predictable

Trump’s presidential immunity hearing at the Supreme Court went almost exactly as Tom Dupree predicted last night on our show. 

Listening to Justice Brett Kavanaugh question the Department of Justice’s lawyer was particularly illuminating. 

At one point, Department of Justice lawyer Michael Dreeben suggested the DOJ’s office of legal counsel decides who the president is and is not allowed to kill. 

Dupree is back tonight to discuss. For now, it appears likely the Trump Jan. 6 trial won't happen until after the election, if at all. 

Cue the predictable response delegitimizing the Supreme Court. 

Is the American Dream Over?

Watch tonight: Celebrity realtor Josh Flagg joins us — check out his Instagram here.

Interest rates spiked again today driving the dream of home ownership further away as nearly 40% of renters believe they will never own a home. 

On MSNBC, Scott Galloway described the anger of many millennials and GenZers who are “opting out” of America. 

• Galloway said, “For the first time in our nation's history, a 30-year-old isn't doing as well their parents were at 30. They see exceptional wealth across my generation… and we’re running it up on their credit card.”

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. 

But Khymani James’ words, and the actions of fellow protesters, said something very different Sunday night, according to NewsNation's "On Balance."

“People can have entrance to our encampment as long as they’re respecting community guidelines,” James told reporters Wednesday, "the most important one being that we do not allow for any discrimination or bigotry of any kind.”

That was not the case Sunday night, when three Jewish students quietly walked through the crowd on the Columbia campus.

“We have Zionists who have entered the camp,” James announced, before instructing followers to form a human chain. “Walk and take a step forward so that we can start to push them out of the camp,” he continued.

“Within three minutes, someone starts screaming, ‘Mic check, mic check. Zionists has entered our camp,'” student Jessica Schwalb told NewsNation.

“We’re surrounded by probably 200 people in the dark. They’re all linked together … and we’re just looking at each other,” she added.

The incident appeared to end when the Jewish students left. While James is among those attempting to negotiate a resolution on the demonstration with Columbia, rhetoric from both sides is heating up.

“This is clear antisemitism,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis told “On Balance." She joined House Speaker Mike Johnson at Columbia on Wednesday and met with Jewish students.

“Not only have they been bullied and threatened, some of them have been assaulted, spat on,” Mallioitakis said. “They’ve walked around campus and seen swastikas painted.”

The New York Republican also had harsh words for Columbia University President Minouche Shafik.

“The president of the university clearly has no plan to end it. Instead, she’s just hoping that they leave. She has shown that she has completely lost control of the campus,” Malliaotakis said. Columbia announced that classes will be a hybrid of in-person and remote for the rest of this semester.

Meanwhile, a businessman and publisher of The Arab American News Osama Siblani blames Israel for the unrest.

“Israel has committed mass murder,” Siblani said. “How many people we should let Israel kill before we start calling it a genocide?”

Siblani also defended the chants of “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” as a slogan that long pre-dates the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.

“These are not organized chants,” he said. “These are chants we have heard for … decades. The situation did not start (on) October 7. It started in 1948,” when Israel was declared a sovereign nation.

The “river to the sea” chant has very different meanings to both sides. Palestinians say it’s a call for peace and equality after 75 years of Israeli occupation and rule. Jews consider it a call to destroy Israel.

Funding Both Sides of the Ukraine War

By later this week, planes with desperately needed American weapons will land in Poland for transfer to Ukraine, and in the next few weeks, millions of dollars from the U.S. treasury will also flow (through intermediaries) to Russia, funding their fight in the war against Ukraine.  

A new report shows the Department of Defense still buys (and has no plans to stop) about a billion dollars a year of Russian fuel products for the U.S. military in Europe. 

• Thought bubble: For as much as we are told to worry about giving Vladimir Putin power to starve the U.S. military of fuel, this seems pretty reckless. 
• Look forward: We haven't even restocked the strategic petroleum reserve. 

American taxpayers are literally funding both sides of the war in Ukraine. 

In fact, PBS found Russian oil products are still coming into America. 

Opposing goals: Why would America do such a thing when we are told over and over this is a Chamberlain at Munich moment; the fight for Ukraine is the moral question of our time. 

Political reality: For President Biden, winning reelection is more important than winning a war.

• Remember Putin's price hike, with 10% inflation and gas headed towards $8 per gallon? Well, actually cracking down on the Russian energy sector would make $8 per gallon gas seem cheap. 

To be fair: Whether America buys Russian oil or not, it gets bought by the Chinese or Indians, who will love cheaper Russian oil now that it is slightly taboo in the West. 

Geopolitical reality: The easiest way to end war in Ukraine is to choke the Russian energy sector with crippling sanctions: delist banks, sanction countries that buy Russian oil and enforce trade embargos. 

• BUT:
  • $10 a gallon for gas isn't politically sustainable for the Biden administration
  • Nor do they have the clout with Saudi and Gulf states for them to replace Russian oil in the market at spot prices
  • Nor do they have the political stomach to unleash the American energy sector and thus annoy the climate change folks 

Conclusion: As much as they talk a big game, the Biden administration’s actions prove they are unserious about winning the war in Ukraine. 

“I Too Hate White People”

The leader of Columbia University’s anti-Israel, pro-terrorist protest told the truth: “I too hate white people.”

• He didn't say it yesterday but got caught on a hot mic a few years ago saying it, and the Boston Globe picked it up. 

Shocking news: Khymani James was involved in the Black Lives Matter movement before hopping on the Hamas bandwagon. 

• Be fair: He wins the victimhood Olympics as his Jamaican-born mother died when he was 12. 
• Important question: In what other country in the world do the people you hate (white people) give the orphan of an immigrant maid a scholarship to study at one of the country’s most prestigious universities? 

NewsNation reporter Rich McHugh interviewed him yesterday at Columbia University, and crack producers Robert Morrisey and Andrew Roberts of the “On Balance” team made the connection. 

“I too hate white people.” Those five words tell you everything you need to know about the “protests” and the “protesters” spreading across America's college campuses from Columbia University to the University of Michigan, University of Texas at Dallas, U.C. Berkeley and beyond. 

• It’s about a neo-Marxist worldview to tear down America and the power that comes with it. 
• The “oppressor vs. oppressed” matrix underpins most of the ideology on America’s college campuses, hence the mass faculty support for the protests. 

Ground truth: Just like how the Black Lives Matter movement wasn't about Black lives, the self-described “pro-Palestinian” protests aren’t about Palestinians. 

How do we know? The protesters only care about genocide when they can blame the Jews.  

• Here’s a world tour of genocides that actually happened:
  • The Saudis massacred and starved people in Yemen — clearly a genocide. 
  • Bashar al-Assad killed hundreds of thousands of his own countrymen in Syria — clearly a genocide, and it continues. 
  • China continues to intern Muslim Uyghurs — clearly a genocide. 
  • Check out the Uppsala Conflict Data Program to get a reality check on where 20,000 deaths (many of whom are Hamas fighters) in Gaza would register relative to worldwide killings in actual genocides as of 2022. 

Jewish NYU Professor Scott Galloway continues to drop bombs on MSNBC, where he laid bare the vast double standard of what's happening on college campuses in America: “I can tell you, if I went into the NYU square with a white hood on and said, ‘Lynch the blacks’ or ‘Burn the gays,’ my ID would be shut off by that night,” he said.

• He also said, “I would never work in academia again. …There would be no need for the words ‘context’ or ‘nuance,’ I wouldn’t be protected by the First Amendment or free speech.”

Inmates running the asylum: Yet Columbia says they will negotiate with terrorist sympathizers and, in the meantime, are keeping Jewish students off campus. 

What’s next: House Speaker Mike Johnson will visit Columbia today. On the radio earlier, he said, “My friend [Sen.] Tom [Cotton] said before your break we need to revoke federal funding to these universities that they cannot keep control. We need to revoke these student visas for these violent protesters. You don't have a right to be here and to do this, but Jewish students have a right to be able to peacefully attend classes. … They're trying to get an education, and this is just madness. I mean, it's just ridiculous. And we're calling upon and demanding these university officials to get control. This situation is just completely out of control right now.”

Reality check: Johnson and his one-seat Republican majority couldn't even get border funding in exchange for Ukraine aid.

• Yet they are going to get Democrats to pull funding over protests?! 
• As President Biden would say, “Lots of luck in your senior year.”

Trump’s Pennsylvania Problem

Trump won the Pennsylvania Republican presidential primary 83.4% to 16.6%, which means nearly 20 percent of the Republican primary electorate didn't vote for him. YIKES!!!!

• Seriously, over 150,000 people in Pennsylvania showed up and voted in the Republican primary for Nikki Haley despite her campaign ending months ago. DOUBLE YIKES!! 
• The math: 150,000 votes in Pennsylvania is HUGE. 
• In 2016, Trump won Pennsylvania by about 44,000 votes. 
• In 2020, Trump lost Pennsylvania by about 81,000 votes. 
• If half of the 150,000 people who voted for Haley in the primary yesterday vote for Biden in the general election, that could pose a huge problem for Trump.  

Thought bubble: Maybe when Trump says he should be out on the campaign trail rather than in trials, he is saying what his internal polling shows. 

Pouncing: NewsNation campaign reporter Jackie Koppell got the Biden spin on last night:

• “If you look under the hood, the numbers look even worse for Donald Trump.
  • “Some of Trump’s weakest performances so far are in the critical ‘collar counties’ — the suburbs surrounding Philadelphia including Delaware, Chester, Montgomery, and Bucks Counties. 
  • “Trump also lost 20% of voters in Lancaster — a central Pennsylvania county Trump won in 2020 and where Democrats are opening a local headquarters and organizing on the ground. 
  • “Trump’s repeated attacks on secure mail-in balloting continues to hound him in a state where 1.4 million Pennsylvania requested a mail-in ballot in 2022 — Haley dramatically overperformed her final numbers in the early vote numbers.”

Yes, BUT Biden faces a similar problem. NewsNation’s Steven Joachim put together Biden’s problem across the upper Midwest. 

Watch tonight: Scott Tranter and Kurt Bardella will discuss whether we can really draw anything from the primary problems other than two historically weak and disliked candidates. 
Important question: After last night, would you rather be Donald Trump or Joe Biden?

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. 

"It's probably more linked to media use, moving away from reading, moving away from writing itself," Professor Stefan Dombrowski, an IQ researcher at Rider University, said in a Tuesday interview on NewsNation's "On Balance with Leland Vittert."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 8-to-10-year-olds now spend an average of 6 hours per day, 11-to-14-year-olds spend 9 hours, and 15-to-18-year-olds spend 7 1/2 hours engaged in activities that may be impacting cognitive abilities.

According to the study, IQ scores declined across three of four broad domains of intelligence between 2006 and 2018, reversing a trend of rising scores over the past century.

Dombrowski said two years of disrupted learning during COVID-19 lockdowns may have played a role as well.

The research, published in the journal Intelligence, found falling scores in areas including logic, vocabulary, visual and mathematical problem-solving and analogies like those on the old SAT exam. IQ scores dipped up to 2 points in those three categories over the 12 years.

Scores declined across age groups, education levels and genders, with the steepest drops among younger and less-educated test-takers. The only area showing an increase was spatial reasoning, which measures the analysis of 3D objects.

The findings add to research on the "Flynn effect," intelligence researcher James Flynn's observation of rising IQ scores across the 20th century. But researchers have detected a reversal starting around 2000, hypothesizing that screen time and technology are dumbing society down.

The U.S. ranks 31st in global education rankings, behind top countries like China, South Korea and Finland.

Average IQ scores in China are 104 compared to 97 in the U.S., a 7-point gap Dombrowski called "significant" though not solely determinant of success.

Dombrowski cautioned that IQ is just one measure, and factors like personality, emotional intelligence and culture likely influence achievement as well.

Send in the guard? It won’t work!

Columbia University’s president surrendered to the pro-Hamas protesters and shifted to hybrid classes for the rest of the semester, aka canceling in-person classes.  

• Saying you can't protect Jewish students from being blocked or surrounded, so they must stay home and attend virtual classes, sounds like something the Nazis would have done circa 1936. 

Thought bubble: At some point, we need to consider that the university presidents and the faculty actually believe in what the protesters chant. 

Shai Davidai, who has led a very small number of professors standing against the pro-Hamas types, and who the university blocked from campus yesterday, tweeted, “To the best of my knowledge, the last time that a professor was denied access to their own university for being Jewish was Nazi Germany.”

Newsflash to all those demanding the university’s president, Dr. Minouche Shafik, resign: resignation won't help; only changing the culture will. The board must hire someone willing to change the entire university faculty. 

Look forward: Senators Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., have called for the National Guard.

• It makes for a good headline and gets them cable TV hits, but it’s hard to understand how that’s conservative, and they are missing the point.
• The National Guard will only create the image protesters want — think Kent State, not Little Rock.

Ground truth: Unless the universities and their leadership change their mindset, things won't change. 

• Bill O’Reilly last night had a better idea on how to end the threats of violence: simply follow Columbia's own rules.
  • Suspend those calling for violence. If the protesters called for violence against anybody (Black, gay, transgender or Chinese people, for example) other than Jews, the “protesters” would be gone in an hour.
  • Ask the NYPD to arrest all those camping and clear out their tents.
  • Things could end quickly. 
• How to do it: You can't force university presidents to do the right thing, but you can encourage them to do so. 

Presidential cover: The president of Columbia got a lot of cover from President Biden yesterday when he “bothsided” the protest.

• When asked if he condemned the protests at Columbia University, Biden said, “I condemn the antisemitic protests. …That's why I've set up a program to deal with that. I also condemn those who don't understand what's going on with the Palestinians.”

• It sounds a lot like “very fine people on both sides,” the out-of-context quote from Trump after Charlottesville's neo-Nazi tiki torch rally.
• There are a few differences between now and Charlottesville:
  • For example, Biden wasn't taken out of context.
  • The protests at Columbia and other schools continue and keep growing:
    • The protests are expanding to Minnesota. The daughter of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., will fit right in after her suspension from Columbia.   

How about parents demanding refunds?

• Similarly, the owner of the New England Patriots, Robert Kraft, pulled funding from his alma mater over the response.
  • Important question: What took so long? 

Look back: For those comparing this to the 1960s and anti-Vietnam War protests, spare me! 

• Those were anti-war protesters, many of whom came back from war and organically protested for peace.
• Those on campuses around America now are arguing for the wholesale slaughter of an entire people.

Look forward: These protests are similar to the Black Lives Matter riots during the summer of 2020.

• At its core, the Black Lives Matter organization is neo-Marxist.
  • It wasn't about Black lives; it was about destroying American institutions. 
• So was the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). 
• These groups at Columbia and other campuses are professionally organized and internationally funded.
  • It’s noteworthy that all the tents at Columbia look the same.
  • Remember on Oct. 8, one day after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, suddenly marchers had professionally made signs and flags for mass demonstrations.
  • There are flyers that give specific instructions on how to avoid arrest.  

Bottom line: Don't believe the attempt to rationalize these as “misguided college kids” and explain away their chants, slogans and demands. 

• The very same ideology that justifies eliminating Israel justifies destroying all of America's institutions as well.

Don't believe me? “Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and others are grooming activists in the U.S. and across the West,” begins a Wall Street Journal opinion piece following the money: 

• Steven Stalinsky writes, “The collaboration between senior terrorists and their growing list of friends in the U.S. and the West has real-world consequences. These groups are designated terrorist for a reason. They don’t plan marches and rallies—they carry out terrorist attacks. And when the U.S. and Western activists, including college students, see that their marches and protests aren’t achieving their goals, they may consider their next steps—which will be influenced by the company they have been keeping.”

Trump trial coverage

The Trump trial coverage gives CNN and MSNBC a perfect excuse not to cover the anti-Israel protests.

• That's a stark contrast to 2020 when the media became a de facto PR firm for Black Lives Matter. 

Watch: Jon Stewart hilariously mocked the nonstop coverage of Trump’s trial.

No cameras in court: Trump's press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told us yesterday the Trump campaign would like cameras in the courtroom.

• Democrats should be happy there aren't.
• Today, prosecutors spent hours laying out how National Enquirer boss David Pecker used the “catch and kill” strategy to buy up juicy stories about Trump and not publish them.
  • So far, prosecutors are presenting evidence of unsavory but totally legal acts. 

We are getting dumber

Turns out social media and video games do rot your mind.

IQ scores dropped for the first time in recent memory, and teachers blame kids no longer being taught handwriting.

• Evidently, handwriting leads to other good things.

Life lesson: My handwriting is terrible, but my parents long ago taught me the value of handwritten “thank you” cards and notes. 

• Do the same for your kids — they won't forget it. 

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily of NewsNation. 

Cowards on campus

The lack of overwhelming response to the Nazi-like protests at major Ivy League institutions speaks volumes.

The language — just a brief glossary so everyone is clear what the words of the “protesters” mean:

• “Long live the intifada” as seen at the University of Michigan.
  • “Intifada” refers to the violent uprising by Palestinians to murder Jews and replace Israel with a Muslim state.
• “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Israel has got to go,” as chanted at Northwestern University.
  • You are no different than Hamas.
    • Spotted: A Northwestern dean reportedly showed up to one similar protest.
• “From the river to the sea.”
  • This is a demand for a Palestinian state from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River, effectively eliminating the state of Israel. 
• “Al Qasam’s next targets,” written on a sign held in front of Jewish students waving Israeli flags.
  • “Al-Qasam” is the al-Qassam Martyrs Brigade, responsible for suicide bombings and rocket attacks. 
• “Freedom for Palestine means death to America,” written on a pamphlet at the University of Michigan. 
• “Ya Qassam [Hamas] make us proud, take another soldier out” and “Burn Tel Aviv to the ground,” chanted at Columbia University. 

Bari Weiss said it best in The Free Press: “For a second, imagine that black students at Columbia were taunted: Go back to Africa. Or imagine that a gay student was surrounded by homophobic protesters and hit with a stick at Yale University.”

The very university presidents who coddled and incubated neo-Marxist oppressor versus oppressed ideology now can't figure out how to deal with it. 

• Reportedly, Columbia blocked a Jewish professor from coming on the grounds for fear of a violent confrontation.  
• The university president said she wanted a dialogue with the protesters. Would they want a similar dialogue with Klan members or Proud Boys? Of course not. 
• To be fair: The oppressed versus oppressor ideology, where those of less privilege or means are justified in any and all violence against those of greater privilege, came from the universities in the first place. 

Side by side: Aviva Klompas points out the similarities between Yale protesters barring Jewish students in 2024 and the University of Vienna barring them in 1938.  

Bill Ackman rightly points out on X that universities will face an existential crisis if they continue to allow this type of behavior:

• “Imagine that you and your family borrowed the $360k it costs for four years at @Columbia plus interest at today’s rates. Regardless of your religious or ethnic background, is this what you signed up for? Private university mismanagement also begs the question as to why private universities should have the benefit of a tax exemption. Why should Americans who don’t go to college or who attend lower cost public universities be subsidizing high-cost private universities, their endowments, and their poisonous ideologies?” he writes.

Cowardice in practice: MIT moved Jewish students for Passover seder rather than the protesters, who are currently situated next to the Hillel building where it would normally be held. 

Look forward: What happens on campus will end up on the streets, like in D.C. for this weekend's White House Correspondents dinner. 

Charlottesville vs. Columbia

The protests dwarf the 2017 Charlottesville tiki torch march in scale and fervor. Yet the response is one of equivocation and nuance rather than righteous horror at what's happening.

• Remember, President Biden said his decision to challenge Trump was in large part because of the events at Charlottesville. 
• Yet over the weekend, White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates put out a milquetoast statement.
  • Inside baseball: Almost all of the statements on antisemitism come from Bates … it keeps press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre from criticizing the progressive Left. 

And the same media who spent weeks on Charlottesville now cover for those shouting Nazi-esque slogans. 

• For example, Antonia Hylton, an NBC correspondent, writes on X, formerly Twitter, “I didn’t see a single instance of violence or aggression on the lawn or at the student encampment. The student-led protest was peaceful and often very quiet…”
  • So Antonia … all those Nazi parades in the 1930s were peaceful and nonconfrontational … so there’s no problem there? 

Bottom line: As the NYPD pointed out, Columbia and most of these universities are private institutions, and the “protesters” aren't committing crimes. The university presidents bear full responsibility and authority for what is happening. 

Here we go again: Iran is attacking American troops

Iran-backed militias fired five rockets at American bases in the Middle East. 

• Ground truth: Without an aggressive response from the U.S. military, like last time, it is only a matter of time before the bad guys get lucky. 

It’s only a matter of time before Americans die. 

Iran knows Biden is in a domestic political pickle, and it loves it. 

Inexplicably, Biden is sanctioning an Israeli army unit to placate the Left.

The Israeli defense minister warned, “Any attempt to criticize an entire unit casts a heavy shadow on the actions of the IDF, which operates to protect the citizens of Israel. Damage to one battalion, affects the entire defense establishment – this is not the right path for partners and friends…I call on the U.S. Administration to withdraw its intention to impose sanctions on the Netzach Yehuda battalion.”

Thought bubble: Back in the day, Iran attacking U.S. troops would be a HUGE story, but somehow, the commander in chief has allowed it to become commonplace. 

Defining the field of battle

Like in politics, whoever defines the field of battle in a courtroom wins. 

Today, prosecutors tried to make the hush money trial about Trump using his fortune and power to corruptly influence an election.

• Most of the things prosecutors allege Trump did aren't a crime or what he’s charged with.

The defense made it about the accounting of a business transaction in the financial statements of a private company. 

• Fact check: The facts favor the defense here.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily of NewsNation. 

“These protesters, they hate America,” he told NewsNation’s “On Balance.”

Cruz decried harassment, protests and Jewish students being targeted across the U.S.

“We’re seeing university professors afraid and impotent to do anything to protect their students, and it’s disgraceful.”

Cruz says the ugliness will end when people stand up and say what’s right.

“In battle between Israel and Hamas, there is no gray there," he said. "It is a battle between civilization and barbarism.”

He also blasted Democrats for actions he says damage Israel, including the U.N. resolution "effectively condemning Israel for not having an immediate cease-fire," which he says Biden orchestrated. He also mentioned Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer's call for early elections in Israel and Rep. Nancy Pelosi signing a letter calling for an immediate end to U.S. military funding for Israel.

"Biden, Schumer and Pelosi are not the fringes of the Democrat Party," he added.

Cruz also claimed that Biden is responsible for financing Hamas’s attack on Israel.

“Joe Biden has flowed over $100 million to Iran. In a very real sense, Joe Biden and the Democrats funded the October 7^th atrocities.”

Cruz didn’t specify the source of that money, but the U.S. has allowed Iran to reclaim some of its assets frozen in banks around the world. In August of last year, the U.S. agreed to unfreeze $6 billion of Iranian money that was being held in South Korean banks. The move came after Iran released five U.S. citizens it had detained.

Qatar acted as a conduit for that money, but after the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, the U.S. and Qatar agreed to deny Iran access to the funds.

Separately, Biden is under pressure to reimpose a freeze on $10 billion that Iran earned selling electricity to Iraq. That sanction was waived in 2018 during the Trump administration. Iran has been drawing on the fund being held in Oman under strict terms that it only be used for humanitarian purposes. Critics say the income allows Iran to use other money to fund it terror proxies and continue its nuclear weapons program.

Programming alert: Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., joins tonight to talk about Republicans’ upcoming fight over Ukraine aid and the speaker. Is House Speaker Mike Johnson better than the one she voted to oust? 

Joe Biden’s Weekend 

Biden and his team looked to the weekend with longing: 

• The Sunday shows would fill with competing yet helpful narratives
  • The Trump trial starting Monday versus Biden’s weeklong Pennsylvania barnstorm 
  • Poll numbers continue to look better for Biden.
  • Republicans would spend Saturday fighting amongst themselves on Capitol Hill over Ukraine aid and their speaker 
• Then, Israel bombed Iran
  • Now Biden must support Israel, enraging the pro-Hamas types on the Left.
  • Biden looks weak because not only did Iran defy his “don’t,” but so did Israel.
  • Biden’s team first confirmed the strike and now won’t comment in one of the more bizarre self-inflicted wounds.
  • Pro-Hamas groups plan more protests that increasingly call for the destruction of Israel. 
  • A good weekend just got miserable. 

Trump watch: Trump holds a fundraiser and then a rally in North Carolina. 

View from Israel 

The intrepid Robert Sherman reports tonight from Tel Aviv on how America’s support, or lack thereof, affects the Jewish state. 

• As we predicted in War Notes, the Israeli response to Iran’s attack sent an unambiguous message while still maintaining ambiguity.
• Fact check: In a region known for blustery language, Israel’s “speak softly and deliver devastating blows privately” policy works pretty well. 
• Message to Tehran: We can hit where and when we want. Next time, we hit your nuke sites. STOP. 

Sherman reports most Israelis went about their Friday as usual — in Tel Aviv, they packed the beaches. 

How Do the Protests End?

My friend Erick Erickson noted in his newsletter ‘Show Notes,’ “Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the only thing standing between the Palestinian people and a cease-fire is Hamas.”

• Fact check: True

But the protesters filling America's college campuses, shutting down bridges and airports and taking over highways don't want Hamas to agree to a cease-fire — they want the destruction of the state of Israel, you know, “From the river to the sea.” 

The protests present a danger to Biden's presidency both from the Left and the Right.

• The more Team Biden talks about the plight of Gazans and demands Israel capitulate to terrorists, the bigger the protests will get. 
• The bigger the protests get, the more normal Americans will get scared of people marching around chanting “Death to America.” 

More From Erikson:  Senator John Fetterman, D-Pa., has doubled down on his defense of Israel by reiterating that the posters of Israeli hostages will remain on the walls of his office until they come home. Watch here. 

• Pro tip:
  • Fetterman represents Pennsylvania.
  • He won by understanding what drives working-class voters.
  • He’s among the most pro-Israel, anti-Hamas men in Washington, let alone the Democratic Party. 
  • The White House might want to take note. 

Trump Trial

Your thoughts? We’re looking for a fairer and more accurate name than the “Trump Hush Money Trial” because he’s not charged with paying hush money. 

• In contention:
  • “Trump Business Records Trial”
  • “Stormy Daniels Case”
  • “Trump Porn Star Case”
  • “Trump Accounting Trial” 
• Please reply with your thoughts and ideas 

Ego vs. ego: Judges are like presidents in that they are (nearly) all-powerful. 

• One can look at this trial as the judge’s enormous ego vs. Trump’s enormous ego … buckle up. 
• Showdown: The most obvious ego vs. ego clash will come over Judge Juan Merchan’s gag order — by any reasonable measure, Trump keeps violating it.
• Prediction: If Judge Merchan throws Trump in jail for violating the gag order, it will be a little bit like Roe v. Wade.
  • Democrats will have caught the car — and then what?
  • Trump will become a martyr, and centrists will not like it.
  • The stakes are high.

Watch tonight: Jim Trusty, Trump's former attorney, will discuss his advice for Trump come opening arguments Monday.  

• Yes, we will ask the obvious: Has Trump ever taken anyone’s advice?

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. 

“Law and order, that’s what we’re looking for,” said Francisco Marte, founder of The Bodega and Small Business Group, which formally endorsed Trump this week.

Trump visited a bodega in New York’s The Bronx neighborhood Tuesday, and was greeted by a huge, enthusiastic crowd.

The endorsement and the welcome may reflect the results of a new poll that shows the more hours people work, the more likely they are to favor the former president.

Emerson College Polling’s survey shows that people who work fewer than 40 hours a week favor President Joe Biden, while those who work more than 40 hours a week tend to like Trump.

The 40-hour mark was the turning point in the poll: 51% of those who work fewer than 20 hours, 52% who work 20 to 29 hours, and 45% of those who work up to 39 hours a week back Biden.

On the other hand, 50% those who work 40 to 49 hours, 59% who work 50 to 59 hours and 80% of those who work 60 or more hours a week say they back Trump.

From the Emerson website:

The Emerson College Polling national survey was conducted April 16-17, 2024. The sample of registered voters, n=1,308, has a credibility interval, similar to a poll’s margin of error (MOE), of +/- 2.6 percentage points. The data sets were weighted by gender, education, race, age, party affiliation, and region based on 2024 registration modeling. Turnout modeling is based on U.S. Census parameters, and voter registration data.

Trump Circus, aka Trial

Even before opening arguments, even before fully seating a jury and less than 48 hours after their selection, two of the seven set jurors left the panel. 

• One got tossed over allegedly untrue answers during selection (possibly surrounding an arrest for political vandalism against the Right), and the other said she had already been harassed for being on the jury. 

The remaining include, as of writing this:

• A man from Ireland who works in sales
• A corporate lawyer originally from Oregon
• A young Black woman who works as an English teacher
• A software engineer who recently graduated from college
• A civil litigator, married with two kids

Thriving in chaos: The more rings that are added to the circus, the better it will be for Donald Trump.

• The longer it takes to get a jury, the more often Trump can claim the process is “unfair” BEFORE we even get to the facts of the case. 
• You think things are wild now?
  • We haven't even gotten to:
    • Stormy Daniels and whatever she will wear to trial 
    • Admitted perjurer Michael Cohen 
    • And former Playboy playmate Karen McDougal 

Reminder: Trump only needs one juror to walk out the courthouse steps and declare victory, but Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg needs 12. 

Watch tonight: Jo-Ellan Dimitrius helped pick the O.J. Simpson jury and will tell us how the panel is looking for Trump. Former district attorney, now defense lawyer, Michael Discioarro will talk about how Trump's team is setting up for appeals based on jury selection. 

It’s Not Just Rural Whites

Emerson College polling just identified the most significant data point of the 2024 election.

• Supporting Trump or Biden is highly correlated to how many hours you work!
  • “Non-workers are evenly split: 45% support Trump, 44% Biden. Those working 30 hours or less favor Biden over Trump (52% to 37%), while those in the 30-40 hour bracket are divided (45% Biden, 43% Trump). Trump gains support among those working 40-60 hours, with increasing margins as hours increase, peaking at 80% for those working over 60 hours, compared to 7% for Biden.”
  • Pro tip: Number of hours worked doesn't equal higher pay.
    • “Income perception aligns with candidate preference, with those feeling their income is far below average favoring Trump 50% to 32% and those feeling it’s far above average favoring Biden 55% to 29%.”

Let's look at America’s divide between the working class and the professional class.

“Trump’s Bodega Visit Should Scare the Heck Out of Democrats,” says, wait for it, the Daily Beast. 

• The cheering crowds welcoming Trump to a bodega in Harlem on Tuesday present a very different image of Trump supporters than working-class rural whites — or, as Hillary Clinton called them, “deplorables.”
• Blacks and Latinos (who made up much of the bodega crowd) support President Biden by more than ten points less than they did in 2020. 
• Harvard polling shows a rise in young men supporting Trump — they are worried about raising and providing for their families.  

“White Rural Rage”: A few weeks ago, we had the authors of the book “White Rural Rage” on our show. 

• Tom Schaller and Paul Waldman will be back tonight to look at these questions:
  • Do Democrats need to be worried about more than just rural whites?
  • And what of the massive backlash (even on the Left) against their book…

Nicholas F. Jacobs and Daniel M. Shea wrote in a Washington Post opinion called “Want to help Trump? Keep up the ‘White rural rage’ stereotyping” that “it’s almost as if they haven’t learned their lesson: As long as rural America is treated with disdain, should we really be surprised when, once again, it reluctantly turns to Trump?”

And Eric Levitz wrote in Vox, “Don’t sneer at white rural voters — or delude yourself about their politics.” 

Watch tonight: We’ll speak with Francisco Marte, spokesman for the United Bodegas of America, about the shift in support for Trump among Latinos.  

Old Geezers Normalized 

Just this week, the two men who will become the oldest to run or be elected president proved their age: 

• Yesterday, Joe Biden told a whopper — cannibals might have eaten his uncle after his World War II plane crashed.
  • Fact check: There were no cannibals in the ocean where the plane crashed. Even the White House admitted it.
• Trump reportedly fell asleep twice during his trial this week. 

We could easily nitpick the coverage or lack thereof:

• The fact checks of Trump that Biden wasn’t given.
  • Remember when facts mattered?
• The general giggles at Trump's sleep. Even the Daily Beast brought in a sleep expert.
  • Remember when Trump’s walk at West Point brought up calls to invoke the 25th Amendment?

Baked in: The old geezer factor. 

Watch tonight: Democratic strategist Joe Trippi will discuss if both men are old and if there actually is an age problem. 

When They Chant “Death to America,” Believe Them! 

We remember “believe all women,” but how about “believe all terrorists”?

• The calls for jihad and support for Hamas spread daily from Dearborn, Michigan, to the streets of New York City and California’s universities 
• Increasingly, those on the Left either ignore the “Death to America” chants or explain them away
• Forty-four members of Congress refused to label “From the river to the sea” as antisemitic
  • Despite the fact that “freeing Palestine” from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River leaves no place for Israel to exist. 

New York City police cleared out “protesters” at Columbia University who are part of a movement increasingly calling less for a cease-fire and more for the destruction of Israel. 

Watch tonight: Mandana Dayani, a Jewish Iranian woman, who went viral for her video about the Hamas attack, on what it really means to say “Death to America” and why we should actually believe those in the streets mean what they say. 

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. 

Duane Chapman, aka Dog the Bounty Hunter, tells NewsNation’s “On Balance” that, in his opinion, the deaths of Jilian Kelley and Veronica Butler were “absolutely premeditated murder.”

However, Chapman says one saving grace is that the alleged murders took place in Oklahoma, which has the highest per capita execution rate in the U.S.

“Thank God it happened in a place where they believe that a crime is a crime and murder is murder,” he said.

Oklahoma began attempting to clear its backlog of 43 death row prisoners three years ago. Since then, 12 have been put to death. The most recent was Michael Smith on April 4.

While it will be years before the four suspects in the Kansas moms case are tried, much less convicted or sentenced to death, Chapman is already convinced they’ll face the ultimate punishment.

“They’re heading to the death penalty," he said.

On Wednesday, a judge denied bond for the four suspects arrested in connection to the killings.

Tifany Adams, 54; her boyfriend Tad Cullum, 43; Cora Twombly, 44; and her husband Cole Twombly, 50, have each been charged with kidnapping and first-degree murder of Butler, 27, and Kelley, 39.

Battle for the Working Class

In 2016, Donald Trump realized Democrats had given up on working-class voters and won by talking about saying “Merry Christmas” and bringing back tariffs on the Chinese goods that took their jobs. 

In 2024, President Biden is willing to fight for the working-class voters. 

William A. Galston previews Biden’s demographic problems in The Wall Street Journal. 

Biden’s three-day Pennsylvania swing previews his populist economic fight over the next six months:

• Biden will pit Mar-a-Lago against Scranton.
• He’ll say Trump only wants tax cuts for the wealthy. 
• He now advocates for tripling tariffs on Chinese steel.
  • Look back: According to the Democrats and media circa 2016, tariffs don’t work.
  • Doesn't this sound a lot like Trump? 

As the New York Times race to 270 map shows, Trump has the advantage. 

Churchill wisdom: Anyone can rat, but it takes a certain amount of ingenuity to re-rat.

Biden and Democrats not only abandoned the working class, they scorned them. 

• They called them racists. 
• They demanded they buy EVs. 
• They made them pay to forgive rich kids’ student loans. 
• They allowed 7.2 million illegal immigrants in.
• They allowed boys to play on their daughters' softball teams. 

Joe Biden has six months to re-rat and become “Scranton Joe” again — re-ratting takes ingenuity. 

Debates are Anti-Democracy

Here is a new chapter in our “1984” world — debates are anti-democracy. 

David Frum writes in The Atlantic, “Why Biden Should Not Debate Trump,” going on to say, “The networks want their show, but to give the challenger equal status on a TV stage would be a dire normalization of his attempted coup.”

• Look back: We predicted this a week ago in our segment with George Will about whether there will be debates. 
• Be honest: If Democrats thought debate(s) would benefit Biden, they would go all in.  

The refs: As George Will pointed out, the media will largely decide this — either they push Biden to debate or give him cover for refusing. 

Who Are These People?

Pro-Palestinian, Pro-Hamas and Pro-Iran protesters plan mass rallies tonight — we’ll have live coverage. 

• The Washington Post reports on the problems they pose to the Biden campaign and highlights yesterday’s protest in Scranton.

Wait, Scranton, really? A lot of pro-Hamas folks in Scranton? Of course not. 

Our questions: 

• Who ARE these people? 
• Who funds them? Who is their leader?   
• How did they physically get to Scranton?   
• Why don’t they ever give interviews?  
• Does the Department of Justice and the FBI track them, especially the ones yelling “Death to America” or waving Hezbollah flags? 
• Where’s the Anti-Defamation League or Southern Poverty Law Center?
  • We asked the ADL to come on tonight — it declined. We asked about funding for the pro-Hamas types, and it said, "Honestly, we don’t know who is funding these for the most part. It's very hard to tell."

Thought bubble: What would or should be more important to the ADL is exposing the funders of groups calling for the murder of Jews.

George W. Bush Was Right

The University of Southern California’s Jew-hating valedictorian took to CNN last night and doubled down on social media posts that all but call for the end of Israel.

•  “I stand by exactly what I stand by,” the New York Post quotes her saying to another outlet.

If you watch the clip from CNN, she’s better than White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre — seriously.

• Yes, she’s smart. She’s the USC valedictorian with at least a 3.98 GPA and a minor in “Resistance to Genocide.”
  • But who’s training her? 
  • Who’s paying the media consultants? 
  • Where is she learning to walk the knife edge without a single “ah” or “um”? 

The backstory from last night’s show: 

• USC disinvited its Muslim valedictorian from giving a graduation speech.
• Asna Tabassum liked antisemitic and anti-Zionist speeches and writings online and got exposed.
  • “I am both shocked by this decision and profoundly disappointed that the University is succumbing to a campaign of hate meant to silence my voice. I am not surprised by those who attempt to propagate hatred,” she said in response.
• New standard: Exposing those who parrot terrorist talking points is hatred.
• USC released a statement saying in part, “Unfortunately, over the past several days, discussion relating to the selection of our valedictorian has taken on an alarming tenor.”
• Moral clarity: USC isn't much better than Tabassum.
  • Hiding behind “it’s not safe” is cowardly — like terrorists who kill women and children. Then again, it's a big university … so it’s par for the course.

Ground truth:

• The liberal intelligentsia at USC can't stomach telling a Jew-hating antisemite she can't speak because she parrots terrorist talking points.
• The rich donors won't tolerate a Jew-hating antisemite speaking.
• So the university hides — they are a bunch of cowards.

Larger point: Who threatens who?

• Is it the Jews or anti-Israel types causing the problem?
• USC’s logic: It’s the Muslims in America who are threatened by the Jews.

BUT — Asna Tabassum and her friends don't leave room for Jews to exist.

Yet, criticizing her is Islamophobic. According to USC, criticizing her is hateful.
Former President George W. Bush was right: You are either with us ... or you are with the terrorists.

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. 

Backfire

It’s Day 2 of the Donald Trump trial in New York, and it’s awfully boring. 

• MSNBC profiled released juror Kara McGee.
  • On second thought, perhaps we shouldn’t worry about jurors wanting to write books post-trial.
    • After enduring this circus, they should get book deals. 
  • As of writing, they haven't empanelled a single juror.

Big picture: Americans have a fundamental sense of fair play…

• The CNN and MSNBC sets outside the courthouse fall afoul of that sense
• Spending the next eight weeks of Americans’ lives focused on how Trump accounted (on his internal business records) for otherwise legal payments among two consenting adults just feels like overkill. 

Thought bubble: The inherent boredom helps Trump. 

Just the politics:  

• Joe Biden faces problem after problem every day:
  • The economy
  • Israel and Iran
  • Pro-Hamas protesters at home
  • His electric vehicle dream falling apart
  • Black and Latino voters abandoning him in Georgia and North Carolina 

Trump’s trials let him do what he does best: Play the victim 

• Be fair: Did Trump buy off Stormy Daniels and likely hide how he did it? YES!
  • Will Americans see that as enough to break 250 years of tradition and charge a former president with a crime? NO!
    • Everyday swing voters see that it will grate on them.  

Watch tonight: George Will joins us on whether the Trump trials will backfire on Democrats. 

Falling Apart

The Supreme Court seemed skeptical of using a law born out of financial crimes to prosecute Jan. 6 rioters and even Trump.

The New York Times cites a particularly sharp question from Justice Clarence Thomas: “There have been many violent protests that have interfered with proceedings…Has the government applied this provision to other protests?”

Look forward: The Supreme Court throwing out many of the Jan. 6 cases, and especially the Trump charges, will only play into Trump's hand. 

Immediate response: If Democrats weren’t so busy salivating over whatever juror No. 89 said in Manhattan court today, they would be trashing the Supreme Court. 

Look backward: Will Democrats come to regret using Jan. 6 as a wedge issue rather than an opportunity to heal and bring the country together? 

Ground truth: A lot of people did some VERY bad and violent things on Jan. 6, and they should be prosecuted and jailed. 

Can't we all agree jailing grandmothers who went into the Capitol for ten minutes and, even according to the government’s own case, did nothing violent is a bad idea?

Watch tonight: We’ll talk to Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., about how Democrats can continue claiming to be the champions of democracy while attacking its institutions. 

Where are the Free Speech Types?

NPR just suspended the editor who blew the whistle on the radio network's far-left bias.  

• Yet there have been crickets from all the free speech types.
  • Yes, but private employers aren't restricted by the First Amendment.
  • Yes, but NPR receives public money — things could get interesting.

More importantly: The suspension opens NPR up to lawsuits, and lawsuits involve discovery. Discovery is fun — not for the targets, but for those doing it and reporting on it. 

Plus, it opens NPR up to pattern and practice investigations — in other words, looking at whether they treat employees fairly regardless of their political viewpoints. 

• The National Review delivers a devastating fact check on that: “NPR Unmasked: New CEO Flaunts Lefty Bias on Social Media after Editor’s Damning Exposé”
  • Why is it OK for the CEO to “flaunt” her lefty ideas if Uri Berliner can’t talk about the lefty ideas at NPR? 

Zoom out: What is free speech anymore?

• Chanting “Death to America” is OK in Dearborn, Michigan.
• But Trump talking about a judge’s Democratic activist daughter should land him in jail? 

Waiting Game 

The longer Israel waits for overt military action against Iran, the relatively less it will do — that's supposition but good supposition.

More importantly: Why haven’t we heard anything from Biden, who so badly wants restraint, about America and its allies bringing nonmilitary action upon Iran? 

Watch tonight: Ambassador John Bolton joins us tonight with how Tehran is looking at things. 

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. 

Anticipating a backlash from her followers, in the caption, she wrote, "Cue the divisive, close-minded thoughts and unfollows in 3...2...1."

Steele, now the host of "The Sage Steele Show" on Bill Maher's podcast network Club Random Studios, appeared Monday on NewsNation's "On Balance" to discuss the reaction to the photo and her views on the political divide in the country.

"The fact that he even won that election in 2016, I remember how it felt. And I was absolutely shocked as I think most of America was," Steele said. "But I also think in hindsight ... what was going through my mind that night was, 'Wow, America really is tired of the crap and the swamp.'"

Steele's comments reflect a broader sentiment captured in a recent New York Times poll, which found that 42% of Americans believe the Trump presidency was mostly good for the country, compared to just 25% who feel the same way about the current Biden administration.

The divide between the political and cultural elite and the rest of the country has become a major point of contention, with figures such as Katie Couric suggesting that "socioeconomic disparities" and "class resentment" are driving the anti-establishment sentiment among Trump supporters.

Steele, who has been outspoken on political and social issues, says she was raised in a diverse household and has always valued diversity of thought, even when it has led to her being "crushed and canceled" in the past.

"I now call them out on it. It feels kind of good. I think it's important," Steele said, referring to those who she believes are not practicing the tolerance and acceptance they preach.

The debate has also spilled over into the realm of sports, with ongoing controversies surrounding transgender athletes competing in women's sports. Steele has been outspoken on this issue, saying that 79% of Americans polled believe men's and women's sports should remain separate.

"This is not rocket science. I'm not even close to a scientist. This is common sense," Steele said.

See Gates, Bob

Iran’s attack on Israel this weekend and Israel's promised “clear and forceful” counterattack on Iran proves former Defense Secretary Bob Gates correct once again. 

• "I think (Vice President Biden) has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades,” Gates said back in 2014. 

Again, Biden’s problem isn't that he’s wrong — it’s that he shows no desire to understand why whatever he’s doing (push for electric vehicles, student loan forgiveness, Bidenomics) isn’t working. 

Look back: He’s got the same national security adviser who bragged the Middle East was “quieter today than it has been in two decades” just over a week before the Oct. 7 attacks. 

Look forward: Biden becomes Obama 

• Former President Barack Obama famously lost all meaningful deterrence in the world when Syria’s Bashar al-Assad crossed his red line on chemical weapons, and Obama did nothing. 
• Putin and the ayatollah both defied Biden’s warning of “DON'T!”  
• As well the Israelis — they have no other choice (more on that below). 

Warnings, red lines and “don’t”s are only worth something in the world if they are backed up by consequences. Mr. Biden’s are not and nor were Mr. Obama's. 

When our allies don't trust us and our enemies don't fear us, the world is a far more dangerous place. 

Fundamental misunderstanding: 

• Biden’s domestic election considerations drive much of his foreign policy. He must show the left of his party he is constraining Israel. 
• This shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the Israeli psyche. The more supported Israel is, the less it feels the need to strike and the more likely it is to heed private pleas of restraint.
  • For example, during the Trump years — even during a war with Gaza — Israel showed far more restraint, never fanned the flames of hitting Iran and rarely acted unilaterally. 
  • The 1991 Gulf War illustrated a perfect example of how to keep Israel out of a conflict.
    • Former President George H.W. Bush, faced with Israel hitting Iraq in response to Saddam’s Scud launches, doubled down on support for Israel.
      • The Israelis held their fire. 
    • To prove my point:
      • Imagine if rather than Biden’s “readout” of his call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden held a press conference Sunday announcing:
        • The reimplementation of all Trump-era sanctions against Iran and a return to the maximum pressure campaign (which worked)
        • The threat of a full oil embargo should Iran strike again 
        • A demand that the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Spain all cease their commercial cooperation with Iran
        • A clear statement that a choice to do business with Iran is a choice not to do business with the U.S. 
        • Threaten to de-list any bank from SWIFT that does business with an Iranian-linked bank 
      • The Israelis would gladly call back their jets. 

Watch tonight: Senator Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, member of the Senate Committee of Armed Services and combat veteran, will discuss her bipartisan push in the Senate for those kinds of sanctions. 

Zzzzz Trump Trial

Former President Donald Trump reportedly fell asleep in the opening hours of jury selection for the Stormy Daniels hush money trial. 

• REALLY? Trump is the ultimate showman: Did he really go to sleep or just act like he was asleep? Does it matter? 
• Look forward: We have weeks of jury selection to come. Famed jury consultant Jo-Ellan Dimitrius joined us last week to explain just how unusual (unfair?) the Trump process will be — it was a fascinating segment and worth watching. 

The politics: ABC host George Stephanopoulos thought he had New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu cornered on how Trump’s problems will make him unelectable. Sununu delivered a strong cross back about supporting Trump: “Yeah. Me and 51% of America.” 

Honest question: First Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., and now Sununu — has Stephanopoulos lost his fastball? 

Watch tonight: We’ll have Jo-Ellan Dimitrius and Tom Dupree on to discuss the latest in the jury selection process. Bill O’Reilly will get into the politics of it. 

Union Joe Warning

The Teamsters just wrote a $5,000 check to Missouri populist Sen. Josh Hawley. Aside from his stands on social issues, it’s hard to call Hawley a Republican.

BUT as Axios points out, the traditionally Democratic union’s contribution should send a warning to Union Joe.

Exit Polling for Movies

The new movie “Civil War” debuted over the weekend. 

• Watch our segments last week about the progressive love of framing traditional Americans as dividing America. 

From Deadline: “Screen Engine/Comscore’s PostTrak polled Civil War attendees’ politics reporting that 22% considered themselves Liberal, 19% were Democrats, 11% considered themselves moderate, whereas registered Republicans (6%), Evangelical Christians (6%) and politically conservative folks (5%) showed up as a minority.”

Maybe, just maybe, progressives in America deserve some of the blame for dividing the country? 

Combine the Deadline exit poll with the New York Times polling showing a growing nostalgia for America under Trump.

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. 

Machine Gun Teenagers

If you watch one thing today: Click here to see the Memphis police chief brief the media on the two teens who shot and killed one of her officers.

• Of particular note, the gunman had been arrested earlier this year in a stolen car for, among other things, illegally possessing a semi-automatic gun that had been modified into a MACHINE GUN.
• And he was released without bail, meaning he was released on a pinky promise to show back up — now, he’s accused of killing a cop.
  • Flashback: It’s a similar story to the killing of New York City police officer Jonathan Diller. 

Chicago’s Mayor Brandon Johnson has an idea — it’s the cops’ fault. 

• No, really. Johnson all but eulogized Dexter Reed, a 26-year-old felon who police shot and killed after he allegedly shot first.
  • Johnson said, “I am personally devastated to see yet another young Black man lose his life during an interaction with the police. … My heart breaks for the family of Dexter Reed.”
  • Reed didn't “lose his life during an interaction” — he shot at police. Police shot back. 
  • It doesn't matter if you are Black, purple, a unicorn or white. When you shoot at cops, they shoot back. 
  • In case you are wondering, Reed was also out on bail for a weapons charge. 

It sounds simple: How do we protect Black lives if we don't lock up the people shooting Black people? 

Ground truth on “gun violence”:

• There are 300 million guns in America 
• They are enshrined in our Constitution 
• Confiscating them is impossible
• Criminals will always be able to get guns 

How can those on the Left honestly talk about stopping gun violence if they won't simply enforce the gun laws (especially regarding felons in possession) we already have? 

All the other victims:

• Homicide by another Black person is now the leading cause of death for young Black males. 
• Why don’t their lives matter? 
• Why doesn't Mayor Johnson hold news conferences to talk about them? 
• Can you imagine him saying:
  • “I am personally devastated to see yet another young Black man lose his life during an interaction with another Black man. My heart breaks for the family of Jeremy Smith.”
  • “I am personally devastated to see yet another young Black man lose his life during alleged gang violence. My heart breaks for the family of Akeem Briscoe.”

Sotomayor Stays

Sam Baker reports in Axios that Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor won't resign and open her seat before the 2024 election. 

• We told you about Democrats' push for the 69-year-old to leave and thus not risk losing another Supreme Court seat should Trump win.  

To be fair: Resigning on speculation is a risky play. 

To be political: Her staying and allowing Democrats to run on filling her eventual seat might be MORE motivating to voters. 

Why WOULDN'T Iran Attack?

The all-out war in the Middle East President Joe Biden and his team bent over backward to prevent, as predicted, appears imminent. 

• The Wall Street Journal reports Iran will strike Israel in the next couple of days.
  • That could mean many things. An actual attack by Iran-launched missiles at Israeli targets in Israel would trigger a massive IDF response, and they’ve been practicing. 
  • A strike by Iranian proxies against Israel seems more likely. 
  • This all comes back to the Biden administration’s policy. In an attempt “not to escalate,” his team:
    • Emboldened the Iranians and their proxies
    • Made Israel feel isolated and needing to lash out
    • Failed to set a standard of deterrence 

Weakness is provocative in the sandbox and the Middle East, hence Israel's overt threats of massive retaliation. 

These are dangerous times.

Political fallout: Much of Biden’s policy over the past six months centered around placating pro-Hamas Democrats.

• If there is a war, oil prices will spike, inflation will go up, and it will cost Biden far more politically than if he had handled things correctly to begin with. 

Trump Trial Starts

Few things weigh on a man like a criminal trial.

• Eight-hour days in a courtroom
• Long, boring arguments by lawyers
• Your freedom hanging in the balance

Donald Trump will start facing weeks of those days Monday. 

Watch tonight: Former Trump 2020 campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh joins us to discuss what Trump's days will be like now, how much stamina Trump really has and what it could be like traveling with the former president as he juggles criminal trials and running for president. 

Our friend Elizabeth Prann will be anchoring tonight. See you next week! 

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. 

Instead, Dershowitz was part of the “Dream Team” that won Simpson a “not guilty” verdict in his famous double murder trial. And now that Simpson has died, is there anything he can reveal?

No, he says.

“Lawyer-client privilege applies to the death of the client and the death of the lawyer, so I can never disclose my own belief or feelings about his innocence or guilt.”

But Dershowitz told NewsNation’s “On Balance” he will always share what he says the defense proved in court: that Simpson was framed.

“The police tampered with evidence, created a piece of evidence by taking a piece of a sock they had found in front of O.J.’s bed and pouring blood on it from a test tube."

Questioning that one piece of evidence, Dershowitz said, caused the jury "to have reasonable doubt about the other evidence.”

He says the Simpson trial was a massive example of the cultural divide in the U.S. — one he personally experienced.

“People would come up to me and either hug me if they were Black, or in one case spit at me or yell at me and scream at me if they were white. People refused to talk to me, (but) nowhere close to what happened when I defended President Donald Trump in his Senate impeachment (trial). I lost close friends.”

Will They Debate?

Donald Trump laid out his challenge, mano a mano, in a Truth Social video. 

• He asked the Commission on Presidential Debates to lay out the terms for this year’s anticipated three presidential and one vice presidential debate.

• It’s only April: Trump views nothing more helpful to him than the side-by-side of him and Joe Biden — for obvious reasons.
  • Biden refusing to debate will become a proxy for his age and senior moments. 
• Look back: Trump bombed in the first 2020 debate, and his polling crashed. 
• Look forward: How does Biden not debate and keep calling Trump a threat to democracy?
  • What is more democratic than debates?

More to lose: Biden clearly has more to lose, especially as he’s now beating Trump in the majority of polls. 

• And he’s now leading in the betting markets. 

Be fair: Debating Trump is high risk, low reward for Biden. 

The argument: Democrats and their friends for months have said that Biden doesn't need to debate because Trump didn’t debate before the primary elections AND because it would “platform” Trump's lies. 

• Convenient. 

Watch tonight: George Will will relive the greatest debate moments and tell us if the media that usually protects Biden will shame him into debating. 

O.J. Dead

By the time you read this, O.J. Simpson should have arrived at his duly reserved space in hell. 

• His death takes us back to perhaps the very first issue over which 24-hour cable news truly divided the nation.
  • Who doesn't remember where they watched the Bronco?
  • Who doesn't remember their feelings about the trial? And his acquittal? 
  • It might have been the first time white Americans realized how Black Americans felt about the criminal justice system, and 28 years since the verdict, many of the same issues exist. 

Watch tonight: Alan Dershowitz, one of O.J. Simpson’s lawyers, will tell us if he thinks the country was better off because of O.J.'s acquittal. 

Trump Jury

On Monday, Trump’s first criminal trial begins. It’s hard to imagine a crazier sentence to write so nonchalantly. 

• Like all accused criminals, he enjoys the right to the presumption of innocence and a trial by an impartial jury.
  • IMPARTIAL?  
  • How do you find one person, much less 12, in America who doesn't have an opinion about Donald Trump?
  • And in Manhattan, where residents voted 86.7 to 12.3 for Biden in 2020.

Ground truth: Even Trump-skeptical or Trump-hating criminal attorneys in New York admit Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's case is as thin as turnip soup! 

The math: Bragg needs 12. Trump needs one. 

It all comes down to the jury:

• What cable news show they watch
• What they read
• Who they voted for
• Plus 1,000 other secret tells…

Watch tonight: We’ll have Jo-Ellan Dimitrius, who famously helped select the jury for the O.J. Simpson trial and Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial, to discuss whether the jury will give Trump a fair trial in New York City.

Political bonus: Voters see the Trump hush money case as the most serious … really?

Photo-op Fail

The Navy’s crack social media team deleted its post showing the commander of a guided missile cruiser observing a “live fire exercise” through a rifle with the scope mounted backward. 

• The caption originally read, “From engaging in practice gun shoots, conducting maintenance, testing fuel purity and participating in sea and anchor details, the #USNavy is always ready to serve and protect.”
• And their post helpfully tagged those behind the camera who helped with the shoot.
• AND NOBODY NOTICED. Most of all, Commander Cameron Yaste, who has a master of science in astronautics.
  • What is astronautics? 
• No, really, what was he looking at? The scope was backward and had its cap on.  

Be fair: It likely went like this: “Here, sir, hold this.” Then, someone took a photo, and off the photo went.

Be smart: This is about an issue bigger than a failed photo-op…lord knows there are bad pictures of me. 

• Someone took the picture and didn't notice
• Someone sent the picture alone and didn't notice
• Someone approved the picture and didn't notice
• Someone approved the Instagram and didn't notice

The Marines famously say, “Every Marine is first and foremost a rifleman.” 

• Even aviation officers go to The Basic School. 

Red Dress

Jeff Bezos’ fianceé, Lauren Sanchez, gave new meaning to the country song “Red Dress” last night.

Who knows what statement Sanchez wanted to make — but she made one! 

Then there was the Clintons, Bezos himself and, of course, the president. 

Watch tonight: Body language expert Greg Hartley will rewind the red carpet tape to show us what happened. 

“Civil War” Out Tomorrow

America’s second civil war starts tomorrow in theaters — watch the trailer for “Civil War.”

• Texas and California become allies in the movie, so it’s not exactly representative of real life.
• From the New York Times: “(Director) Alex Garland Answers the Question: Why Make a Film About Civil War Today” — maybe it's a little close to home?
  • Is liberal America a little too interested in portraying America's working class as ready for war? 

Watch tonight: Batya Ungar-Sargon has traveled America talking to working-class voters for her excellent book “Second Class: How the Elites Betrayed America’s Working Men and Women.” 

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. 

The GOP has "a real problem on abortion,” he told NewsNation’s “On Balance.”

“For years, the message was ‘Rove vs. Wade should never have happened. This should be a state-level issue.' The Supreme Court says ‘OK,’ and now they’re like ‘whoa … it shouldn’t be a state level issue. We should have a federal uniform law.'”

Erickson says the problem stems from a lack of leadership, and he spares no feeling about the reason.

“The problem is when you’re lead by someone who has no impulse control, it trickles down to everyone else. Why come up with a message when Donald Trump’s just gonna blow it up? No one even tries.”

Erickson says Republican candidates who focus on inflation and crime will win in November, while those less-disciplined — the ones who can’t come up with a comprehensive message — will lose.

“Peace” with Hamas Is Impossible 

An Israeli airstrike killed three sons and other family members of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. A video shows him responding to the news from luxury in Qatar, saying, “I thank Allah for the honor that my children and grandchildren have been martyred.”

Hamas’ charter calls for a second holocaust of the Jewish people and to continue the fight from there. There is nothing in the Hamas charter about living in “peace.” 

This is very different than grieving Gold Star mothers or Americans who regret they have but one life to give for their country. America seeks peace, while Hamas seeks destruction, death, rape and power — that is the political side of militant Islam.

“Peace” with such people is impossible.

During my four years in the Middle East and decade since I have returned, the common question centers around “peace,” how to get it, why we don't have it and if it’s possible. 

When I first arrived and even for years covering the conflicts there — not just between Palestinians and Israelis but between Sunni and Shia Muslims too — I would have some thoughtful answers, especially about the Palestinians and Israelis, including the trades of land in the West Bank and more.

I now know that what Golda Meir said, the former Israeli prime minister Biden loves to quote, is the only explanation: “Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.”

It’s really that simple.

Zoom out: Israel understands who it is fighting against and the rules of militant Islam warfare. 

• This article from retired IDF Brigadier General Yossi Kuperwasser and former head of the IDF Intelligence Corps’ Research Division makes the case for Israeli escalation with a direct strike against Iran. 
• In Washington: President Biden’s team should take note that Israel lashes out when it feels unsupported by Washington, D.C. 

2024: Abortion Versus the Economy

Over 20% of Americans skip meals to pay for housing, yet your tax dollars now underwrite the European vacations of college grads thanks to student loan forgiveness … welcome to 2024. 

That sentence alone should make any fair-minded American's blood boil. Not to mention, today’s stubbornly high inflation numbers show there are no free lunches for a president who fancies himself “Scranton Joe.”

• High inflation numbers mean grocery prices and other items will keep getting more expensive faster. This makes a June interest rate cut that would lower house, car and credit card payments less likely. 
• Bloomberg reports even lower rates won’t lower the energy costs that have risen since the start of the pandemic.

YET, Democrats might win in major swing states thanks to Republicans' continued political malpractice on the abortion issue. 

Welcome to 2024. 

We’ll get to Republicans in a minute. 

• Watch tonight: Erick Erickson on Republicans' own problems and whether Biden’s new executive order on the border will fix things for him.  

BUT FIRST: Geraldo Rivera will discuss tonight what Democrats will do about the craziest among them.  

Politico’s Playbook newsletter quotes longtime Biden aide and former chief of staff Ron Klain caught on a recording saying, “‘He does two or three events a week where he’s cutting a ribbon on a bridge. … You go to the grocery store and, you know, eggs and milk are expensive, the fact that there’s a f***ing bridge is not [inaudible].’” 

Fact check: Biden's policies do spend a lot of money, but they do nothing to bring down grocery prices — in fact, they increase a lot of prices. 

Be careful what you wish for: Grocery prices aren't what Biden wants to be talking about. 

Ready-made attack ads: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., went on Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show” to extol the virtues of Biden's student loan forgiveness plan that mostly helps progressive entitled (and by definition) college-educated folks.

• Things Ocasio-Cortez says higher earners will do with the tax dollars of lower-paid Americans who didn't go to college:
  • Buy a house
  • Have a kid
  • Travel
  • Go back to school to “pursue a career they otherwise wouldn’t have” 
• Or this clip from Ocasio-Cortez’s alter ego, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, where she advocates for no taxes for Black people.

Watch tonight: “Dirty Jobs” host Mike Rowe joins Cuomo for an hour-long special “Trading Up” at 8 p.m. E.T. only on NewsNation. The special event features a live studio audience … along with the blue-collar millionaires who found success without a college degree. 

Wake-up call: While seemingly disconnected, the economy and crime are issues that come down to how people feel.

• Want to know why middle-class Black voters are leaving the Democratic party? Ask Alexi McCammond, who opines in the Washington Post that “passionate proposals from a small minority of leftists, namely to defund the police, exacerbated the perception that Democrats are out of touch with reality, handing Republicans a winning attack in competitive races. Now, more moderate Democrats are working to change the age-old perception that their party is ‘soft’ on crime.”

Where we are: California’s 99 Cents Only stores are all closing. They cite inflation and crime as the reasons why. 

By His Side?

Former President Donald Trump goes on trial Monday, but will his wife be there? 

• Wait, what? Somehow, the idea of a former president on criminal trial MONDAY doesn't get our attention. 
• Honest question: Will Melania be there?
  • Hillary Clinton stood by former President Bill Clinton, even through the Monica Lewinsky scandal
  • Countless other political wives have walked the courthouse steps 
  • What does it say if she is or isn't?
• Arwa Mahdawi describes her as the Trump campaign’s secret weapon in an opinion piece in The Guardian after Melania attended Trump's $50 million fundraiser in Palm Beach. 

Ground truth: John Paulson’s $110 million estate is a little different than a New York courtroom. 

Barefoot Canoodling

As if flying these days isn't bad enough, check out this picture of a barefoot couple canoodling across a row of seats. I don't recognize the airline.

Thought bubble: When was the last time you were on a plane with an empty middle seat for this even to be possible? 

We are a long way from how flying was in our parents' day. 

Closing the Gates

Going into summer, President Biden will reportedly bring back some of the Trump-era policies designed to slow the flow at the border.

OK. Now what? 

• The executive order would make it harder to claim asylum and give border agents more discretion. Yes, these are all things Biden claimed he couldn't do or were un-American when Trump did them but would have the net effect of fewer illegal immigrants making it to the American city of their choice and calling friends from the home country to come on in too. 

Border crossing numbers are like economic numbers — they can “get better,” but people will still feel the same way. 

Ground truth: The border crisis isn't just at the border. It’s in every American city, town and hamlet.

• It’s the lack of infrastructure: hospitals, schools, police, housing 
• The economic cost: free gift cards
• The public safety issues: crime, shoplifting gangs, panhandlers, street sellers 

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. 

Biden Now Negotiating for Hamas 

Worse than negotiating against itself, the United States is now negotiating against Israel on behalf of Hamas. There is no other way to read Barak Ravid’s tweet that the U.S. CIA director continues to throw more and more at Hamas in the HOPES of a deal, any deal, to placate the American political Left. 

Ground truth: Hamas knows time is on its side. Let's look at the cycle:

• Hamas continues to reject cease-fire deals that would help Palestinian civilians.
• Israel continues trying to free its hostages.
• Hamas keeps using Palestinian civilians as human shields.
• World opinion continues to turn against Israel.
• America puts more pressure on Israel rather than Hamas.

Bottom line: At this point, why WOULD Hamas make a deal? 

View from America: Ravid quotes Secretary of State Antony Blinken: “So much of the understandable outrage and anger is directed at Israel for the plight of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, but some of that might also need to be directed at Hamas. It is astounding to me that the world is almost deafeningly silent when it comes to Hamas. “

Wait what? “But some of that,” he said.

• How about all of it? 
  • Hamas routinely tortures and kills its own people.
  • Vows to destroy the state of Israel and kill Jews worldwide.
  • Steals aid. 
  • Still holds hostages and now tacitly admits to killing many of its Israeli captives.
  • Systematically rapes and tortures.
  • Uses the people it professes to fight for as human shields.
• And the U.S. secretary of state only believes Hamas deserves some “outrage and anger.”

With “friends” like Bliken, who needs enemies? 

Can you imagine being one of the hostages' families meeting with Kamala Harris today, a woman who speaks often about a cease-fire and rarely, if ever, about your loved ones? 

Why did Team Biden turn? Turns out the leader of Vanderbilt’s pro-Hamas rally is quite close to the administration. 

Where it’s going: Steve Guest offers the side-by-side of what's happening in Dearborn, Michigan, where “Death to America” chants are no longer out of place. 

• Thought bubble: In America, people have the right to chant, “Death to America” – what if someone in the audience started chanting, “Death to Muhammad”? 
• Would they be protected in Dearborn as well? 

We’re Not That Divided — Why Isn’t Anybody Talking to These People?

Two of Washington’s best people, not to mention best reporters, Jim VandeHei (@JimVandeHei) and Mike Allen (@mikeallen), just wrote “Behind the Curtain: America's reality distortion machine” in Axios.

• In the article, they write, “Deep divisions exist on some topics. But on almost every topic of monthly outrage, it's a fringe view—or example—amplified by the loudest voices on social media and politicians driving it.”

It’s worth a read. They note that 90% of Americans say free speech is extremely or very important! 

• “Hell, almost 80% think the right to own a gun is important to protect,” they write.

YET no politician is talking to these normal, undivided Americans.

• As we noted last week, on a variety of positions (like crime, welfare and gay marriage), Bill Clinton in 1996 would be labeled a right-wing nut today. 
• Yet today, the closest to a Clinton Democrat is Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., with the truly radical position that squatters deserved to be thrown out. 

Watch tonight: We try to speak to you reasonable, undivided folks every night! 

Sex in Libraries and Street Takeovers

Depending on how you slice the statistics and what statistics get reported to the FBI, Democrats can rightly claim “crime is down,” although in places like D.C., it's up double digits. 

Perception, not statistics, is reality. 

Consider this New York Post headline: “Fed up librarians struggle to contain rampant sex, drug use and violence at branches across the country.”

Or this video of the latest American intersection turned demolition derby.

Bottom line: People don't feel safe anymore — there are no rules. They see it. They feel it. No amount of statistics will help. 

The real victims: Heather Mac Donald delivers a devastating indictment of who our lawless society hurts the most.

• “Blacks between the ages of 10 and 24 died of homicide at nearly 25 times the rate of whites in that age cohort. The shooters are overwhelmingly not the police and not whites, but other Blacks.”

Missing Moms Police Problems

Police in Oklahoma, unable to find two moms who disappeared into America’s most desolate terrain, have two words for the worried public: “Trust us.” 

• Which is hard to do considering the homicide clearance (solving) rate in Texas County, Oklahoma, is a dismal 33% when measured from 2018 to 2022.  

Veronica Butler and Jilian Kelley disappeared more than a week ago driving 17 miles from Kansas to northern Oklahoma to pick up one of the women’s children. They never made it. Police found their car partially hidden off the highway.

• Since then, they have told the media to pound sand and family members of the women not to talk.
  • Yet they haven't found the women.
  • They have offered no suspects.
  • They have no search grids or search efforts underway. 

Zoom out: 

• Oklahoma homicide clearance rates, courtesy of NewsNation’s analysis of Murder Accountability Project data.
  • Since 1965 (to 2022) — 79%
  • But that drops over recent years — since 2014, just 60% of homicides are cleared.
  • Since 2018 — 58%
  • Texas County — even worse — 33% of homicides have been cleared from 2018 to 2022 (though there was a lower number of homicides).

Thought bubble: Have you ever watched “CSI”? Or even “Law and Order”? 

• It’s pretty pathetic to only solve a third of recent homicides considering all the new crime-solving technologies in forensics and surveillance we have gained since 1965, when our data begins.

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. 

“Trump Can’t Win, But Biden Could Lose” 

In today’s edition of War Notes, we will once again examine Donald Trump, much like the Palestinians, “never missing an opportunity to miss an opportunity.”  If you haven’t yet, check out last Monday's edition and our discussion with Bill O’Reilly.

Now onto the news: 

• Over the weekend, Trump nearly doubled Biden's record-breaking incredible $25 million fundraising haul and brought in above $50 million in Palm Beach. As predicted, the media didn't cover it … but still, Trump could have basked in the glory of the win. 
• He could have also called up Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and talked about endorsement possibilities after The Rock said he wouldn't endorse Biden this time around. Bill O'Reilly has a great write-up. 
• Trump could focus all day on Biden’s attempt to circumvent the “rule of law” and once again forgive tens of billions of student loans.
  • Trump could hammer over and over how it’s a blatant attempt to buy off college-educated progressives on the backs of working-class Americans. 

BUT NO, beginning Sunday night, Trump started talking about abortion, which is Republicans' political equivalent of the immigration issue for Democrats.

• As Trump all but admitted in his Truth Social post, when Republicans talk about abortion, they lose!
  • Here is the four-minute video on Truth Social of him trying to kick the issue to the states, which, much like Biden's Israel policy, makes absolutely no one happy, especially former Vice President Mike Pence. 
• The media almost loves nothing more than talking about abortion because no matter what they say, it’s universally bad for Republicans. 

It is truly inexplicable.

Trump’s refusal to play smart is one of the reasons “I don’t think Trump can win … but Biden could lose.”

Our newly engaged (congratulations) political editor, Chris Stirewalt, penned his Saturday morning newsletter with that piece of insight from a friend of his and points out how Trump's ceiling in swing states remains the same. It’s Biden who lags behind his 2020 numbers. 

Death to America in America

Emboldened by Israel’s forced withdrawal at the behest of the Biden administration this weekend, the same Democrats voting “uncommitted” in Michigan went full jihadi. Watch the video here, where you can hear protesters chant “Death to America.” 

It's the Democrats' “very nice people on both sides” moment. Even Hillary Clinton got shouted down at her alma mater.

BUT BUT BUT, Biden isn't bending to those jihadis in Dearborn, just the Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., types — the latter of whom specifically wants “consequences” for the Israelis.

Ground truth: People long mocked President George W. Bush’s doctrine: “Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.” It was BRILLIANT and simple.

• Kneecapping an ally in the time of war is material support for the other side, which in this case is Hamas and its controllers in Tehran. 

The Wall Street Journal put it this way in yesterday’s editorial: “Democrats Play into Hamas’s Hands.”

• The editorial board writes, “Democrats claim to be looking out for Israel’s best interests, but that’s for Israelis to decide. The threats to withhold weapons from an ally must overjoy Hamas, whose strategy of hiding behind civilian deaths is the real source of Gaza’s humanitarian tragedy.”

BUT BUT BUT, the do-gooders are only worried about starving Palestinians. 

According to little reported but verifiable information from the Israelis, Hamas gunmen took over, or at least at times controlled, the World Central Kitchen convoy Israel attacked. 

Does that make the attack justified? Not really. But it underscores an undeniable point that the blame for the suffering of Palestinian civilians lay squarely in the hands of Hamas! 

Yet America’s media keeps doing the bidding of their “friend” Jose Andres. 

“For me, this is personal,” cried Chris Wallace of CNN, whose idea of a warzone is non-box seats at a Washington Commanders (previously “Redskins”) game. 

• He went on to say, “I know Hamas is hiding in a civilian population. But there’s got to be some way Israel can fight this war without killing so many innocents. Without killing people like Damian (a World Central Kitchen volunteer his daughter knew). Sometime over these six months, continuing to fight this war this way became unacceptable.”

Ground truth: Wallace and his buddies at the Commanders games don't get that war is awful. Dozens of Israeli troops have died, and thousands have been injured, to save Chris’ beloved “innocents.” Quite simply and sadly, there is no way to beat a terrorist force embedded in a civilian population without killing some of the civilian population.

•  The blame for those deaths lies with terrorists using hostages and human shields. It’s that simple. 

Compare Democrats Above to Fetterman, the Radical 

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., is now officially an outlier in the Democratic Party.

• Among his unorthodox views:
  • Hamas needs to immediately release the hostages. He said, “You don't have to agree with every leader's views, but we have an opportunity to stand with Israel ... that's what I've decided to do.”
• Squatters are bad. He followed this up by saying, “I am not woke.” 
• We need to deal with violent crime. 
• The Chinese Communist Party shouldn't buy American farmland. 

The Press Doesn't Get It

Ahead of D.C.’s Nerd Prom, aka the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, the White House Correspondents' Association is out with their 2024 award winners for excellence in coverage of the Biden White House.

Honest question: How do these stories differ from White House press releases? 

For reference, we went back and looked at the White House Correspondents’ Association winners from when Trump was president. Not a single winner of the WHCA awards over the four years of Trump could be seen as writing something positive. 

Southwest Video

It’s either terrifying or reassuring that a Southwest Boeing 737-800 safely made it back on the ground after part of the engine cover ripped off during departure. 

Video from the front and back of the wing shows pieces of the metal skin ripping off. 

It’s hard to know if more of these incidents are happening or if we are just hearing about them more, but the reporting, especially about Boeing itself, is terrifying.

• Christopher Rufo’s piece “It’s an Empty Executive Suite” takes you inside a company that clearly lost its way on the yellow brick road of diversity, equity and inclusion and is trying to please Wall Street rather than build safe, reliable airplanes. 

This isn't political — or at least it shouldn't be. It’s about the values divide in America.

Traditionalists want safe airplanes flown by well-trained, competent pilots — it’s that simple. 

• Progressives want companies that build airplanes to focus on DEI and airlines to receive accolades based on diversity rather than safety. 

For example, Jamie Dimon of J.P. Morgan just warned the economic environment “could eclipse anything since World War II.” 

• Yet he spent four pages in his yearly letter exalting the importance and success of DEI.

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.