NewsNation Chief Washington Anchor and On Balance host Leland Vittert was a foreign correspondent for four years in Jerusalem. He gives you an early look at tonight’s 7 p.m. ET show. Subscribe to War Notes here.  

Airdrop Charade

We can’t or won’t protect our own troops in the Middle East from Iran, but we are going to airdrop Cheerios to Gazans. 

• Well, maybe not Cheerios, but Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) reports in Axios President Biden might soon order C-17 drops of aid into the Gaza Strip.
  • Ravid writes that a U.S. official told Axios, “The situation is really bad. We are unable to get enough aid [in] by truck so we need desperate measures like airdrops.”

Fact check: The domestic political situation for President Biden because of Gaza is “really bad,” thus leading to his push to “do something.” 

Airdropping supplies makes a great photo-op (see photo below from 2016) but is just that: a photo-op … a couple of plane loads will not make a dent in the suffering of millions inside Gaza. 

The Axios article is pathetically one-sided, quoting the U.N. of all groups, considering it just got caught actively helping Hamas:

“Hamas’ civilian police who were escorting aid trucks walked off the job earlier this month after being targeted by Israel, creating a security vacuum that opened the door for armed gangs and Palestinians desperate for supplies to attack and loot aid trucks.”

Ground truth: Hamas routinely steals most if not all aid for its own use – and the terrorist group could easily end the suffering in Gaza tomorrow by releasing the hostages. Never mind Hamas is an armed gang. The quote above is blaming the victim at its finest. 

Look forward: The pressure on Biden will only grow, especially considering he admitted a cease-fire likely won’t happen this weekend.  

New surveillance video from the Israeli military shows the moments a crowd swarmed food aid trucks in Gaza resulting in dozens of deaths. 

Depending on who you believe, the Israelis shot into a crowd of hungry Gazans trying to get the aid, or hungry Gazans trampled each other fighting over the food. The video appears to support the latter (perhaps with some of the crowd attacking the Israelis and getting shot), and we all remember when a failed Hamas rocket landed on a hospital, and it blamed Israel.  

Zoom out: Anjali Huynh (@anjalihuynh) reports in The New York Times Biden’s problems with young voters goes beyond just Gaza.

Final thought: As we’ve reported, Biden is stuck between progressives and suburban swing voters on issues like Gaza, the border, climate and student loans. 

Thus, we’ll see more photo-ops like airdrops of aid in Gaza and meaningless visits to the U.S.-Mexico border. 

Speaking of border visits…

Showdown on the Rio Grande

Reasonable people can agree Trump and Biden’s dueling border visits will be boring and predictable…

Biden will blame Trump and Republicans for not passing the weak yet bipartisan deal from a few weeks ago. 

Trump will claim he secured the border (he didn’t) and blame Biden’s policies that have allowed for and even encouraged the explosion of illegal immigrants flooding across. 

Watch tonight: We sent our reporters into Brownsville (Biden’s stop) and Eagle Pass (Trump’s stop) to ask residents who know the problem best who they blame. 

Respond to this email with how good our prediction of Biden and Trump’s statements was. We’ll read the best responses tomorrow night on air. 

Rise of the Young Conservative Male

America’s intelligentsia now worries their sons will turn conservative. 

Rikki Schlott (@RIKKISCHLOTT) writes in The New York Post about young men rebelling against their woke parents:

• “Teens go against the grain, and the most rebellious thing a young person coming up in this ultra-progressive era — when left-wing politics are shoved down their throats by their schools, marketing campaigns and celebrities — can do today is swing right.”

It’s true: Young men far more than young women identify with conservative ideology. 

Maybe it goes deeper: They are tired of being called transphobic and racist for listening to country music and wanting to keep boys off their sisters’ sports teams.

Fact check: This isn’t Reagan conservatism. Much of the young conservative movement on social media and on campuses is “own the libs” B.S. pushed by Turning Point USA and similar organizations with questionable motives. 

The Truth about Sanctuary Cities

The Laken Riley case brings the border crisis to every city in America, especially sanctuary cities. Riley’s alleged killer lived with four or five other illegal aliens in a single-bedroom apartment outside of the University of Georgia. 

Athens, and more broadly the county, is a sanctuary city.

Watch the sheriff campaigning on not cooperating with ICE.  

It only makes sense: Illegal aliens head to cities and towns that provide them with the best opportunities. 

Watch tonight: We’ll investigate if the grisly murder will turn usually liberal folks in a college town into border hawks.

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.