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.  

Everything is Backfiring

For all the “fact checking” of Donald Trump’s remarks, he said one thing today that is undeniably true: “I am much more popular after weaponization.” 

Yet Democrats can’t give it up. You can decide why Democrats seem far more interested in having the courts stop Trump than they are in stopping him at the ballot box. 

“Unfortunately for America, the court isn’t necessarily wrong,” said Dana Bash on CNN after the Supreme Court announced its decision. 

• Or  “It will be up to the American voters to save our democracy,” said the Colorado Secretary of State. In other words, we tried to prevent Trump from running, not because he broke the law, but because we view him as a threat.

What, What?! Voters, rather than courts, deciding who can run for president ISN’T good for America. And in there lies what Democrats really think.

• Trump can win
• They would rather disqualify Trump than run against him 

And what’s worse for Trump haters (both Democrats and Republicans) is that the lawfare against Trump isn’t working. 

Example after example, every case against Trump is falling apart: 

• Georgia election interference case: The District Attorney charging Trump likely seriously violated ethics rules, if not committed perjury.
• D.C. Jan. 6 trial: Supreme Court now hearing Trump’s immunity claims.
• Florida classified documents case: On hold. 
• Colorado ballot case: Unanimous ruling against the Colorado Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court’s 9-0 ruling allowing Trump back on the ballot should — but won’t — be an embarrassing wake up call to all the cable anchors and columnists on the Left that gave significant weight and chance to a Colorado state judge keeping presidential candidates on the ballot. 

A media that allows their hatred of Trump to overreach their adherence to journalistic standards and fairness will say and do things that make themselves look stupid. 

Like David French who wrote an op-ed in January for the New York Times called, “The Case for Disqualifying Trump Is Strong.”

• In it French writes, “Since the rise of Trump, he and his movement have transgressed constitutional, legal and moral boundaries at will and then, when Americans attempt to impose consequences for those transgressions, Trump’s defenders and critics alike caution that the consequences will be dangerous or destabilizing.”

• The case wasn’t strong; it was all about hating Trump. Thankfully, there remains an institution in America where hatred of a person doesn’t change the facts or the law. 
• I am not a lawyer and even I knew the Supreme Court would and should put an end to the foolishness.

The CNN reaction and French’s column shows why everything is backfiring against Trump. 

The American people (and evidently a unanimous Supreme Court), even those who don’t like Trump see this for what it is: An attempt by the elite to “disqualify” Trump rather than beat him at the ballot box. That isn’t good for America. 

All Things Immigration

Laken Riley’s name did come up this weekend, kudos to CBS News anchor Margaret Brennan for asking Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas the question.

Mayorkas needed a cue card to double check his statement on the illegal immigrant who allegedly killed the 22-year-old Georgia nursing student. 

Whatever the White House approved did not include saying the illegal immigrant shouldn’t have been here to begin with…as we said all last week. 

Laken Riley died because the Biden administration’s immigration system worked EXACTLY as designed. 

Zoom out: Immigration is becoming a proxy for the disorder that Americans feel. In some polls, voters say immigration is the number one issue for them. Like education in 2021 Virginia general election 

“I make no apologies”: During a 2021 press conference President Biden defended his roll back of the Trump-era immigration executive orders. One wonders if he would say that to Laken Riley’s parents. 

Watch tonight: We’ll talk to Geraldo Rivera, who has a lot of experience talking about sanctuary cities, going all the way back to 2007.

Speaking of 2007, Barack Obama spoke in very different ways about the border then. How things change so much.

Immediate Ceasefire

Vice President Kamala Harris (on behalf of her boss) made her strongest statement yet about Israel’s war with Hamas, demanding, “There must be an immediate cease-fire for at least the next six weeks.”

• Just a few questions:
  • When was the last time Biden or Harris made a major speech demanding the immediate release of all hostages, including around ten Americans, held by Hamas?
  • Why is President Biden optimistic about a “deal” when Hamas won’t even give negotiators a list of living hostages? 
  • If they are really care about the long term plight of innocent Palestinians, why are they okay with Hamas staying in power to torture them, steal their aid for another war against Israel, and allow sharia-like law to be used against women and gay people? 

I have many more questions, but there is a bigger issue here…the hostages: 

• The Wall Street Journal currently says and does more publicly on a daily basis, including having a permanent banner on its website for its reporter detained in Russia, Evan Gershkovich, than the Biden administration does for hostages held by Hamas.  
• As seen in example after example, the Biden administration prioritizes their political standing with American Arabs over Americans held belowground in Gaza, tortured and raped by Hamas on a daily basis. 
• I wasn’t born yet when the Iranian hostage crisis created such intense American interest that ABC News started Nightline to report on daily developments 

But maybe airdrops will solve everything. 

Again more questions:

• What thought went into it so America and Americans will benefit from it? 
• Will we now get some American hostages back? 
• Will we get intelligence on the leaders and tunnels? 
• Will this help turn the Gazans against Palestinian leaders?  
• Or…was it an election year photo opportunity?  

At least the money for the c-130s didn’t go to the United Nations.

• Newly released intercepts of U.N. employees show them talking about kidnapping Israelis on Oct. 7, yet the media still quotes the U.N. as an independent and honest broker. 

No Wonder People Hate Washington 

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio finally figured out how to solve America’s problems as chair of the judiciary committee. He will get to the bottom of Google’s woke AI machine that created pictures of female Asian Nazis and Black founding fathers. 

Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) quoted in The New York Post Jordan’s letter that said, “In light of new reporting regarding how Alphabet intentionally biased its AI model, Gemini, by giving it instructions that distort the results shared with Americans… we write to inform you that the committee views the subpoena as covering material relating to this technology.”

We ridiculed Google’s history-rewriting AI adventure and warned of the serious consequences from programers trying to bring 1984 like social change.  

That said, this is why people hate Congress.

• There is real work to be done:
  • Immigration
  • Funding for Ukraine
  • Funding for Israel
  • A budget to be made
  • Reforming social security and Medicare
  • Restoring the American military to first in the world status 

Yet, both sides focus on the culture war, of which the framers had zero intention for Congress to ever touch.  

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.