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.  

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.