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Leland Vittert’s War Notes: ‘Crooked Hillary’ and ‘Comrade Kamala’

Democratic presidential nominee, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event at IBEW Local Union #5 on September 02, 2024 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

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.  

State of play


Turning Harris into Hillary

Trump’s best chance is to turn Harris into Hillary Clinton from 2016: A woman so profoundly unlikeable the country sours on her sense of entitlement, among other things. 

The next 63 days of American politics will look something like schoolyard taunting sessions

Due respect: The Michelle Obama days of “When they go low, we go high” are over. Spare me the pearl-clutching. 

Our buddy Chris Cillizza gave a pretty good take this morning…

As MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough laid out, Trump’s best chance comes from making Harris unlikeable. 

Potential new nickname: Harris the Phony

Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in the 1st Summit Arena at the Cambria County War Memorial on August 30, 2024 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Problem no. 1: Trump can’t stop being Trump 

“How Trump keeps undermining his own strategy,” headlines Sophia Cai in Axios

As usual, Cai’s deeply reported story shows the dangers and opportunities of Trump playing to the crowd rather than sticking to policy like his advisers want 

Harris strategy

Harris is running as the underdog, yet she is up in every major national polling average and most swing states.

James Carville — the “Ragin’ Cajun” — lays out his  “imperatives” for Harris

Big coverage tonight:  

President Joe Biden speaks to members of the media before departing the White House en route to Pittsburgh on September 2, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Andrew Leyden/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Is Hamas Doing Enough? 

As the Wall Street Journal and others point out President Biden, the media and the world now blame Israel for Hamas executing their hostages. 

It’s obnoxious on many levels, not the least of which is that they were killed in Rafah where Biden-Harris pressure slowed an Israeli offensive for months — maybe that’s why Team Biden is so touchy…

Fact check: The Israel-Palestine conflict is fueled with money, propaganda, and weapons from Iran. Turn that money and support off, and the Israel-Palestine conflict ends. 

Not doing enough: President Biden now speaks to the press way more than he ever did and far more than Harris does.

MUST WATCH: Click here to watch Netanyahu’s devastating response — we fact-checked it (true) and have the receipts

Thought bubble: Why doesn’t anybody ask if Hamas is doing enough? 

Zoom out: Hamas just gave the middle finger to the world — they don’t want peace. 

At the beginning of the war, we compared the images of Oct. 7 to that of the Nazis — the execution of the hostages brings back the same images of Nazis shooting innocent Jews. 

“Finally you are free,” said Hersh’s mom… at his funeral. 

Watch tonight: Joel Rubin will talk about the complete fallacy of peace talks and cease-fire — it’s just politics for both Biden and Netanyahu. 

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.