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.
80 Years Later
President Joe Biden will speak tomorrow in Normandy. He will lay out that, once again, the world needs America (and him) to save it from the tyranny of authoritarian regimes — this time Putin and Trump rather than Hitler.
The whole “80 years later in Europe” thing isn’t exactly a comparison he should welcome.
- Back then, we had Churchill and Roosevelt and De Gaulle.
- Now, we have Macron, Biden and whoever wins in the United Kingdom.
- Would you want to go to World War III with them?
Big shoes to fill: Forty years ago tomorrow, then-President Ronald Reagan gave his famous Pointe du Hoc speech where he said, “Behind me is a memorial that symbolizes the Ranger daggers that were thrust into the top of these cliffs. And before me are the men who put them there. These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war.”
Body blow: Just as Biden landed in France for a full day of rest before his speech, the Wall Street Journal dropped a devastating piece: “Behind Closed Doors, Biden Shows Signs of Slipping.”
There is lots to unpack there, including that their best on-the-record source — Kevin McCarthy — directly contradicted his statements at different times.
- In the Wall Street Journal piece: “‘I used to meet with him when he was vice president. I’d go to his house,’ McCarthy said in an interview. ‘He’s not the same person.’”
- From the New York Times in March 2023: “Privately, Mr. McCarthy has told allies that he has found Mr. Biden to be mentally sharp in meetings.”
- From The Hill in May 2023: “‘Very professional, very smart. Very tough at the same time,’ McCarthy told reporters at the Capitol of his talks with Biden.”
The problem: The Wall Street Journal confirms what America sees from Biden: the confused sentences, his using the short stairs on Air Force One, the lack of press access and the clear lapses in memory.
- For example, reporting today says Biden confused the president of China, Xi Jinping, and the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, in a Time interview.
The solution: The real problem is the White House’s inability to do anything about the problem. They went scorched earth on the Wall Street Journal, but all of the things that could solve the problem they can’t do, like:
- 📺 A couple of wide-ranging interviews with fair TV anchors
- 🎤 A couple of press conferences
- 🎉 Schedule more events where he interacts with the public
- 🗺️ A roadshow of campaign events crisscrossing the country
- 🩺 Allow his doctors to talk to the press
No rules 💭: The Wall Street Journal dropped the piece literally as Air Force One took off for France, ending the last (somewhat) sacred rule of not hitting the president when he was abroad. Is this a signal from Rupert Murdoch the gloves are off?
Rise of the Boy Mom
“I have come to believe the conditions of modern boyhood amount to a perfect storm for loneliness. This is a new problem bumping up against an old one,” writes self-described boy mom Ruth Whippman in the New York Times in her piece, “Boys Get Everything, Except the Thing That’s Most Worth Having.”
- Important question: Is a #BoyMom simply the mother of boys, or is it more?
Evidently, boy moms are under attack.
- In a USA Today article, Mary Walrath-Holdridge writes, “What is a ‘boy mom’ and why is it cringey?”
- She goes on to say, “A ‘boy mom’ is something of a negative character archetype oft-recognized on the internet. The term itself is slang to refer to a specific kind of parent who is perceived as being overly fixated on their male children, often to the detriment of other female children or people in their lives.”
- Rachel Verona Cote writes in the Washington Post, “The case against ‘BoyMom.’”
- She goes on to say, “Explicitly descriptive, BoyMom delivers new mothers of sons a glimpse of their muddy, knockabout future — or more insidiously, prescribes a version of childhood that aligns with one inflexible interpretation of young masculinity.”
Better Off Under Jim Crow?
Biden’s weakness with Black voters, especially young Black men, is undeniable and a huge opportunity for former President Donald Trump.
- So why did one of Trump’s top Black surrogates say Blacks were better off under Jim Crow, or did he even say that?
- Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., came out swinging against a Philadelphia Inquirer story reporting he kind of, sort of did say that at an event for Black voters.
- Mediaite picked up the story from there.
- And House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., went nuclear on his fellow congressman.
Did Donalds, or didn’t he? Click here to watch for yourself Jeffries’ comments and Donalds’ response.
Some analysis 💭: From now until the election, expect massive Democratic freakouts over all things Trump or his surrogates say that they can brand as “racist,” whether or not it is, in fact, racist or even taken in context.
DDHQ Polling
The American consumer is done…
New NewsNation/Decision Desk HQ polling shows 62% of voters cutting back on purchases, including over half of those people cutting back on groceries, and 58% living paycheck to paycheck.
No surprise: Jennifer Lopez canceled her tour because of low ticket sales.
- Yes, but Lopez’s music sucks, and Taylor Swift sold out stadiums at, in some cases, thousands of dollars per ticket.
Follow the money: The most insightful financial account on X, @unusual_whales, writes,
“The median mortgage payment in the United States hit a new record high of $2,894 per month, for May 2024 (that’s an increase of +14% from 2023, +23% from 2022, and +78% from 2021), per Redfin.”
Zoom out 📷: Wages aren’t increasing at 14% or 23% or 78%, meaning Americans have less and less discretionary income in their bank accounts. New York Times polling shows that two-thirds of Americans think the economy is doing “fair” or “poor” compared to “excellent” or “good.”
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.