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.

Applications are Down and Law Firms are Pulling Out

Harvard’s endowment is larger than the GDP of a hundred-plus countries — some would call that “FU” money — and that’s what it has said to Bill Ackman and his withering attacks as well as to other donors.

Money isn’t everything:

• Early applications are down 17%, and Paul D. Thacker reports the school took down some of its pronoun guidance. 
• Edelson PC, one of America’s premier plaintiff’s law firms, will no longer attend Harvard Law recruiting events in protest of Claudine Gay’s testimony whitewashing the attacks on Jewish students.
  • Read its letter, posted by Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) on X, formerly Twitter. 
  • Watch tonight: Jay Edelson (@jayedelson), the firm’s founder, joins us.
    • Jay reads War Notes, so get ready for some interesting questions, like:
      • What suits are coming from those hurt by DEI?
      • Can 50-year-old white guys start suing because they were passed over?

This isn’t over:

• The Boston Globe editorialized: “Did Claudine Gay plagiarize or not? Harvard should be clear.”
  • It said: “Last week the university’s governing board released a confusing statement that appeared to confirm a few instances of plagiarism — without using that word. It said a review by scholars had confirmed ‘instances of inadequate citation’ in Gay’s work, but also that she did not violate ‘standards for research misconduct.’ The statement also said she would be seeking corrections to add citations and quotation marks in two papers. The statement seems contradictory. If Gay didn’t violate any standards of research, why would she need to correct anything?”
  • As we showed you last week, plenty of academics and the Harvard Crimson says she did. 

Iran’s Math

The United States will announce the formation of an international task force to protect shipping lanes from Iran’s Houthi rebels in Yemen. Ten percent of the world’s commerce passes within range of their very cheap but deadly “one-way drones,” aka flying bombs. 

At the last count, U.S. warships have intercepted at least 37 drones aimed at the Navy ships or commercial vessels. Depending on the interceptors used, we’ve spent roughly $100 million to take out $25,000 drones. Iran loves that math.  

• President Biden’s refusal to order attacks on the Houthi radar and launch facilities in Yemen remains perplexing but predictable. His foreign policy team remains far more scared of what happens if it does something rather than the provocative effects of doing nothing. 
• One more thing: We don’t have unlimited supplies of sea-based surface-to-air interceptors. If Hezbollah joins the war against Israel or China attacks Taiwan, America’s manufacturers aren’t ready. 

Nikki on the Rise

Weekend poll numbers show Nikki Haley within 15 points of Trump in New Hampshire. 

• As we told you Thursday, this is Haley’s “moment,” but moments are like product launches. They expose customers or, in this case, voters to the product or candidate, and their ratings either go up or down. 

In case you missed it: Ron DeSantis’ super PAC, Never Back Down, backed down … or more specifically its leader Jeff Roe left. Never Back Down started with over $100 million and never feared spending it only to see its candidate’s numbers go down.  We predicted it: DeSantis would be this year’s Scott Walker. 

In the Meantime: Trump This Weekend Said Illegal Immigrants were “Poisoning the Blood of our Country”

• Fact check: As much as the New York Times and others apply a pathetic double standard to hate speech —  see its recent wet kiss to pro-Hamas demonstrators —  it is not wrong to compare Trump’s rhetoric to Hitler and other white supremacists. 
• Political reality: Trump gave the quote to the “National Pulse,” which leans into the MAGA/Trump worldview. Let’s be honest: It is not by accident or coincidence that he uses this language for this audience. 
• And more coming: NewsNation’s own Jorge Ventura reports from Eagle Pass the surge of illegal immigrants now resembles a tsunami.
  • It’s so bad that Ventura reports the Border Patrol closed legal crossings, including the international railroad bridge, to process and often release the illegal crossers.
  • So many people are coming to America because they know they will get released into the United States. We are shutting down supply chains for American companies that employ Americans. 

Betting Against America 

Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) made major stock market bets against America. 

• The X page for Unusual Whales cites Tuberville’s disclosure forms showing, among other shorts: Tesla, U.S. Steel and Microsoft.
  • Tesla is in almost every American’s 401(k) or union retirement or pension fund. 
  • When America does badly, Tuberville, who votes on legislation affecting all of these companies, makes money.
    • He’s not the first Senator to do this — watch our discussion with Michael Farr a few months ago about this. 

Watch tonight: Trish Regan will discuss the extraordinary ability of members of Congress to beat Warren Buffett in their spare time and the dangers of betting against America. 

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.