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. 

Masters of the Air

Tonight after the show, pour your favorite beverage and relive the glory of the Greatest Generation. It’s good to remind ourselves of people who actually put their country first and brought to life through their sacrifice the greatest period of economic expansion and security ever experienced by mankind. Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg (“Saving Private Ryan,” “Band of Brothers” and “The Pacific”) launch “Masters of the Air” on Apple TV tonight.

The nine-part series follows the 100th Bomb Group of the 8th Air Force that flew near-suicide missions from Britain into the teeth of Hitler’s air defenses.  

Watch the trailer.

Thought bubble: For decades, Americans listened to their parents, and later, grandparents, when they would tell us about World War II, where they were when they learned the news of Pearl Harbor and what they did next. We learned about the Memphis Belle and D-Day. We heard stories about people they knew before the war who didn’t come back. My grandfather, like many of the Greatest Generation, rarely talked about what they did in World War II … it just wasn’t done. But by example, they taught us the lessons from those hard years. 

• As President Ronald Reagan said looking out on the cliffs above Normandy on the 40th anniversary of D-Day, “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.”
• Most of them are gone. On the 82nd anniversary of Pearl Harbor in December of last year, there were only a few left.
  • The youngest active duty military personnel were only 17. That makes them 98 today.

Time heals all wounds, but it also lets us forget the horrors and the lessons of those wounds.

• When Reagan spoke those words 40 years after D-Day, he oversaw a military unmatched around the world — sadly, that is no longer the case.
• Now more than ever since World War II, America’s place in the world is under threat and challenge, and the lessons of the Greatest Generation are fading.

Debate Decision

Nikki Haley’s campaign dismissed talk of the RNC declaring Trump the “presumptive nominee” by saying, “Who cares what the RNC says?” 

• Follow the great reporting by two of our favorite guests: Dave Weigel and David Drucker, the latter of whom wrote about it in The Dispatch.

Haley has a point —

• Trump skipped the RNC debates.
• Trump did not care what the RNC said in 2016.
• Republicans got whipped in 2018, 2020 and 2022. 

The Haley campaign’s response continued by saying, “If Ronna McDaniel (RNC chair) wants to be helpful, she can organize a debate in South Carolina, unless she’s also worried that Trump can’t handle being on the stage for 90 minutes with Nikki Haley.” 

Points to Haley for her sandbox strategy in taking on Donald Trump. 

• “​​Bring it, Donald. Show me what you’ve got,” she told a crowd last night in South Carolina. 

Trump is worried — otherwise, he wouldn’t be threatening Haley donors. On Truth Social yesterday, he posted, “Anybody that makes a ‘Contribution’ to Birdbrain, from this moment forth, will be permanently barred from the MAGA camp.” 

That’s how bullies acted in high school: “If you are nice to [XYZ person], you can’t come to my party.” Full disclosure: I was bullied, so I have a particular loathing for them.

The only way to win against bullies is to embarrass them. Haley is trying and has a very powerful ally: Rupert Murdoch. 

Three of the six editorials on the Wall Street Journal homepage this morning favored Haley, and none favored Trump. 

• “Trump Should Debate Haley” headlines Daniel Henninger (@DanHenninger), who then writes, “Too many independents and unhappy Republicans don’t know enough about what exactly the former president would do next time.”
• Karl Rove (@KarlRove) says, “Trump Throws a New Hampshire Tantrum” and writes, “After his primary victory he should be trying to unify the GOP. Instead he’s spreading ill will.”
• The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board writes, “Haley Revealed Trump’s Weaknesses,” going on to say, “Her strong close in the New Hampshire primary justifies her decision to stay in the presidential race.”

WAIT WHAT: Where was THIS Nikki Haley for the past 11 months?!?! 

Farmers Unite

European farmers say they’ve had enough. From Germany to Belgium to France, farmers now block highways parking their tractors on the roads rather than on fields. 

• They are angry about a lot of things — many of the same policies the elites in America would love to enforce:
  • pollution regulation,
  • water restrictions, 
  • free trade agreements, 
  • fuel prices, 
  • or in the United States, taxes on passing down family farms.

Watch tonight: Tom Slater joins us to discuss his excellent piece about traveling with 30,000 fed-up German farmers. 

Thought bubble: Paul Harvey famously voiced “So God Made a Farmer” — perhaps in addition to feeding us, the farmers can save us from other things, too. 

Immigration is the New Merrick Garland 

Democrats finally decided they would compromise on the border, but Republicans don’t want to so they can use it as a campaign issue. As Punchbowl reports, Senator Mitch McConnell would not commit to a border deal. 

From the Politico Playbook:

• “Already, some Republicans are trying to blame Democrats for talks falling apart. “The Democrats prefer the issue than any solution,” Sen. TIM SCOTT (R-S.C.) told Fox News’ LAURA INGRAHAM last night. Yet we can all clearly see what’s happening here — and that ain’t it. As one rather frank senior GOP aide said to us last night: “It’s very clear that a large group of Republicans in the Senate and the House no longer want to do border security. … Trump wouldn’t have his issue to run on. That’s what’s going on here: They don’t want to give up that issue.”

Consumer Sentiment Based on Political Party 

President Biden spoke this afternoon on the success of Bidenomics: “Just last week, we saw the biggest jump in 30 years in how positive consumers are feeling about the economy.” 

This is true, just look at the top-line data from the University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers. Biden’s press secretary explained on CNN that it’s because Biden’s economic policies focus on “equity.” 

• Watch here.

In reality, his economic policies dispositionally help demographic groups that closely identify with the Democratic Party.

• College loan forgiveness by definition helps college graduates.
• Tax credits for electric vehicles help urbanites rich enough to buy a $70,000 Tesla. 
• The federal government’s lax work-from-home policies help federal workers. 

As my buddy Michael Farr points out, nothing shows that better than the University of Michigan consumer surveys. The real issue is the massive divide between how Democrats and Republicans view the economy.

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.