Leland Vittert’s War Notes: The Hangover Makes It Worse

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.

Trifecta of Failure

In short: Republicans got their rear ends handed to them on the impeachment of Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, the standalone Israel aid bill and the border deal. Senate Democrats just boxed them in on standalone aid to Ukraine.

What do Republicans have to do to get a win?

After that trifecta of failure yesterday, a senior member of House leadership texted me he was going to “drink heavily,” and who can blame him or all of them collectively? But today, they woke up with a hangover, are on defense again facing Democrats outflanking them, have a fractured caucus with Trump playing spoiler, and, worst of all, nothing to show for it.

To make matters worse: The Senate is likely to pass a “clean” foreign aid bill with funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan without the border security measures, so Republicans in the House will now have to answer for voting “no” on Israel aid (more on that later) without getting anything on the border.

Thought bubble: It’s not as if Democrats are playing fair or even honest in their talking points, but all is fair in love and war.

EAGLE PASS, TEXAS – JANUARY 08: U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas holds a press conference at a U.S. Border Patrol station on January 08, 2024 in Eagle Pass, Texas. Mayorkas visited Texas border areas where large numbers of migrants had been crossing over the Rio Grande from Mexico just weeks before. The number has recently dropped dramatically, according to Mayorkas since the Mexican government ramped up enforcement actions, slowing many migrants from reaching the U.S. southern border. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

Republican state of play:

For a party that wants to run on border and national security issues, they aren’t showing much of an ability to deal with them:

1. Impeachment of the secretary of homeland security:

Republicans failed in their purely PR stunt impeachment of Mayorkas. Reasonable people can disagree on the merits of an impeachment, but calling a show vote on the floor and losing is just pathetic.

Read: Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wisc., in The Wall Street Journal explaining why he voted no.

From Mike Allen’s Axios AM newsletter: “Republican leaders are vowing to bring impeachment back to the floor — as soon as they have the votes.”

Thought bubble: They thought they had the votes this time.

Watch tonight: House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., who led the impeachment effort, joins us tonight to explain why impeaching Mayorkas is something other than political theater.

2. Tying Ukraine aid to border security

Republicans in the Senate defied the odds and press by tying Ukraine funding to border security, and they got meaningful concessions from Democrats.

It wasn’t perfect, but even the Wall Street Journal and Border Patrol union supported the bill.
Republicans in the House and Senate killed the compromise.
End result: They delivered the Biden campaign talking points (however insincere they may be) on a silver platter.

Hans Nichols writes in Axios, “In a stark reversal of his campaign messaging, President Biden vowed to tell voters ‘every day between now and November’ that former President Trump and his GOP allies in Congress are the ‘only reason the border is not secure.’”

3. Republican’s insurance policy fails

After the epic failures above, Republicans planned to pass a “clean” Israel aid bill of $17.6 billion. They hoped this would provide negotiating leverage with the Senate on Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan aid and maybe even bring back the border negotiations.
That failed too.

Bottom line: Never underestimate Republicans’ ability to screw things up.

Also, never underestimate Vladimir Putin. As our friend Colby Hall points out in Mediaite, Putin’s interview with Tucker Carlson was perfectly timed to put congressional Republicans in a tough spot on any Ukraine aid vote.

Honest question: The MAGA wing of the Republican Party loves to talk about the art of the deal, but why do they let Putin play them so easily?

Thought bubble: Carlson is mercifully irrelevant in the political conversation, save the insular crowd of MAGA Twitter, so why does he occupy such a huge part of liberal brains to the point that the European Union is considering sanctioning him? That will only turn him into a martyr.

Blinken Knifed in the Back

Being secretary of state is punishing — the travel, the hours, the bureaucracy — and then while Antony Blinken hopscotches on his fifth trip to the Middle East since Oct. 7, Politico knifes him in the back with Nahal Toosi’s article, “Is Antony Blinken Too Nice to be Secretary of State?”

The Israel-Hamas war is the toughest crisis yet for America’s top diplomat, and he’s struggling.

Thought bubble: “Do you want a diplomat who is a prick?”

The piece eviscerated Blinken for not getting more “concessions” from the Israelis. Never mind that Israel is the victim in all of this, but facts don’t seem to matter to Toosi, who is far more interested in the danger to Biden from progressives on his left flank.

Blinken responded, ever the diplomat, saying, “I’ll let others speak to my character, and all I can say is that most people who assume the position that I have the great privilege of assuming now don’t get there by being nice all the time.”

Boston, MA – January 6: Walgreens is closing one of its locations at 416 Warren St. in Roxbury. (Photo by Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

The Case of the Closed Walgreens

All of the policies championed by the elite to feel good at cocktail parties don’t affect them but crush the working class.

Policy: Defund the police, cancel bail and don’t prosecute shoplifters.

Result: Walgreens closes stores in cities like Boston.

Spin: Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., said, “When a Walgreens leaves a neighborhood, they disrupt the entire community and they take with them baby formula, diapers, asthma inhalers, life-saving medications, and, of course, jobs. These closures are not arbitrary and they are not innocent. They are life-threatening acts of racial and economic discrimination.”

Thought bubble: Companies like Walgreens just want to make money. Pressley and other progressives want policies that mean Walgreens can’t make money. Thus, poor people don’t have a place to get diapers or asthma inhalers.

Bottom line: You can’t defund the police and have Walgreens in poor neighborhoods. Pick one.

Watch: A thief with zero threat of consequences tears through an Apple store in Oakland, California. What’s the over-under on when Apple leaves Oakland?

Policy: The war on energy to protect the climate sends diesel prices sky-high for farmers.

Result: As Successful Farming puts it, “Beef prices hit the stratosphere.”

Grocery prices overall are up 20% since the beginning of the pandemic. Now, more Americans won’t be able to serve their kids protein.

Policy: $15 or $20 an hour minimum wage.

Result: $18 Big Macs, and now, McDonald’s said it will focus on affordability.

Thought bubble: It will also focus on robots destroying entry-level jobs for the very people the minimum wage laws are supposed to help.

Policy: Seattle introduces a $5 fee to give its delivery drivers a “living wage.”

Result: As chef Andrew Gruel pointed out on X, formerly Twitter, DoorDash sales dropped in half, and now, “drivers can’t make rent.”

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.