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 9 pm ET show. Subscribe to War Notes here.  

As promised: Our interview yesterday with former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson revealed some amazing nuance about President Trump’s peace plan for Ukraine. 

• Click here to watch. 

Must-watch tonight: Ambassador John Bolton, national security adviser during the last Trump-Putin summit, joins to answer some important questions.

• What leverage does Trump have over Putin?
• Will Trump use that leverage?
• What happens if Putin tells Trump to pound sand?

Fun flashback: Donald Trump hasn’t changed in 30 years.

• Watch Roger Ailes interview Trump in 1995 here. 

Measles for Dummies: You’ve heard the fear over measles – how about some facts?!?!  

• Dr. Deborah Birx joins us tonight, plus why we never heard about measles during Biden’s time in office.
  • Taking bets: How long until CNN or MSNBC has a “measles case count” ticker on the bottom of their screens?

Pro-shutdown Democrats: Our buddy Erick Erickson is out with a must-watch on Senate Democrats who will decide whether or not to keep the government open.

• Republicans in the House passed a bill to keep the government funded for seven months.
• The Senate must pass the bill by Friday night with 60 “yes” votes or the government shuts down Friday.
  • Right now, Senate Democrats appear unwilling to vote with Republicans – wow – just wow. 
• Look back: A few months ago, Democrats demanded Republicans keep the government open – now, Senate Democrats will vote to shut it down.
  • Erickson with why shutting down the government will hurt Democrats and those they profess to protect. 

Disappeared!

Those supporting Hamas sympathizer Mahmoud Khalil say his upcoming deportation is akin to when Pinochet threw political enemies out of planes over the Atlantic.

• Khalil organized the Columbia University protests that called for genocide against Israel.
• He also called the rape and murder of innocent civilians “justified resistence.”
  • Don’t believe me – ask The New York Times.
    • Let’s briefly review 📰: As reported by The New York Times, Mahmoud Khalil acted as spokesman and negotiated for a group that wants to eradicate “western civilization.”
    • Charlie Kirk lays out a devastating case against Khalil here. 

• Why should he be allowed to stay? 
• What exactly is the defense of that? 
• SPARE ME: Khalil is in America as a guest of America – that’s what visas and green cards are.
  • He is currently in detention pending deportation for violating the terms of his green card.
  • The law is black and white on this … you can find it on the State Department website.
    • The secretary of state, at their discretion, can revoke a green card for, among other things, if a holder:
      • “Endorses or espouses terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support a terrorist organization.”

• Guess what, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.? The government doesn’t need to prove a crime. 
• Khalil signed up for this when he got the opportunity to come to America.
  • Better question: “If You Hate America, Why Come Here?” headlines The Wall Street Journal’s Matthew Hennessey.

Shame everywhere: The Anti-Defamation League posted a statement thanking the Trump administration for arresting Mahmoud Khalil:

• “We firmly believe there should be swift and severe consequences for those who provide material support to foreign terrorist organizations. … We appreciate the Trump Administration’s broad, bold set of efforts to counter campus antisemitism — and this action further illustrates that resolve by holding alleged perpetrators responsible for their actions.”
  • Among those calling the ADL’s statement shameful are former Obama staffers turned podcasters:
    • “Pod Save the World’s” Ben Rhodes writes, “Shameful.”
    • “Pod Save America’s” Jon Lovett tweets, “This statement is shameful … Couldn’t be more disgusted. Nobody should give the ADL another dime, and nobody should pretend this is an organization that speaks for American Jews. I’m out.”

• Rhodes earned the nickname “Hamas” in the Obama White House because he hated Israel so much. 
• The fact that Khalil’s deportation is controversial says so much about where America is and the long road we have back to sanity. 

Republican Bullying

Republicans risk turning their No. 1 winning issue into a political liability.

• What I am thinking: It serves them right.
• Case in point: The new Republican sport of picking on transgender people.
• Poster child: Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas.
  • He’s the chairman of a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee – big man, you see.
    • Evidently, the congressman’s mother didn’t teach him manners and/or he had a tough time in high school. 
  • He keeps using his power as chairman to refer to Rep. Sarah McBride, D-Del., who is the first openly transgender member of Congress, as “Mr. McBride.” 
• Not to be outdone, Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., who posted an old picture of McBride, saying, “Tim ‘Sarah’ McBride is a biological man and always will be.”
  • 📝 Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., piled on, writing that McBride “is still a man.”

• It’s mean.
• It’s petty. 
• It’s politically really stupid.
  • Forget being beneath the office – it’s beneath human decency.
  • Favorite quote 🚽: The editor of The Salt Lake City Tribune once referred to such behavior as “akin to drinking water out of a toilet bowl – dumb, distasteful and, when observed, embarrassing.”

Predictable: The New York Times and Politico love nothing more than chronicling Republicans behaving badly. 

• Hold my beer: Texas never wants to let a culture war go to waste.
  • Not to be outdone by Self, a Republican state representative in Texas wants to make being transgender a felony.
    • “Tom Oliverson bill, would make it a state jail felony if a person ‘knowingly makes a false or misleading verbal or written statement’ by identifying their sex assigned at birth incorrectly to a governmental entity or to their employer. State jail felonies in Texas are punishable by up to two years in jail and a fine of up to $10,000,” writes NBC News.

Wait, what: A felony for pronoun usage – slow clap.  

Seriously: You have solved all your problems in Texas, and now, the government will criminalize what pronouns grown adults use.

• What happened to limited government?!?! 

War Notes takes an unflinching view:

• No boys in girls sports. 
• No boys in girls bathrooms. 
• Absolute parental rights in schools.
  • It’s common sense.
  • It’s fair.
  • It’s basic decency.
  • It’s American. 

• And those four litmus tests apply to treating everyone with dignity and respect, regardless of what pronouns they use.  
• If Republicans aren’t going to be nice, at least be smart. 

Political lens: Republicans won big on no boys in girls sports. 

• It’s an 80/20 issue; an overwhelming majority of Americans agree.
• Americans, at their core, are nice people – thankfully, the sewage pond of discourse on Twitter, aka X – and Congress – isn’t real life. 
• I don’t have polling, but I suspect bullying someone who is transgender or criminalizing adult pronoun usage is 80/20 the other way.
  • Bullying trans adults who are just living their lives is bad politics.
• Conclusion: Republicans’ stance on no boys in girls sports is a huge winner – but they will turn it into a huge loser with cruelty. 

Finally, fairness: Nobody likes a bully – and it usually ends poorly for the bully.

Tune into “On Balance with Leland Vittert” weeknights at 9/8 CT on NewsNation. Find your channel here. 

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