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:
- 28 days to the election
- Decision Desk HQ average: Kamala Harris +3.3, as of around noon ET today. Click here to see the latest numbers.
- Polymarket betting odds: 52.6 to 46.7 in favor of Trump.
Programming note: No show tonight — we are broadcasting the Michigan Senate debate (Slotkin vs. Rogers). I’ll see you tomorrow.
Milton!
Having waited on desolate beaches for enough hurricanes, I know the next few hours in Western Florida will take on an eerie calm.
- And then BOOM.
- It’s impossible to understate the power of a 12-foot storm surge and 155 mph winds.
- Depending on the exact landfall, the dirty side of the storm could shove water farther up and into Tampa than ever before.
- Warning: Police stop responding at 45 mph winds.
- People who stay are on their own.
- The mayor of Tampa said that if you stay, you will die.
- The destruction will take years to recover from.
- Many of those who lose their house will be left without insurance.
- Much of Florida’s west coast will look like a war zone – I say that having been to a lot of war zones.
- Wait for it: The coming “politicization” of the storm borders on pathetic.
- The misery in North Carolina rightly points to an administration worried, focused on and spending on the wrong things.
- Calling questions about priorities, spending and missteps “misinformation,” as Karine Jean-Pierre did yesterday, only makes things worse.
- But no, people are saying FEMA is confiscating aid …
- FEMA, according to The New York Times, doesn’t have enough people to staff Hurricane Milton, much less confiscate aid.
- Biden knows: The president canceling his foreign trip is a tacit admission that his administration screwed up both the response and the optics of the response after Hurricane Helene.
- They can’t make the same mistake twice.
What Can Change?
There’s exactly four weeks until Election Day, and Democrats are asking themselves what can change.
- Something must change for Vice President Kamala Harris to reverse Trump’s sudden and dramatic momentum.
- Bright spot: As our friend Chris Cillizza points out, Harris now leads in a New York Times poll both overall and in the category of which candidate represents “change.”
- 2024 is weird: Voters see the sitting vice president as the agent of change even though she told “The View” she wouldn’t have done anything different than President Biden.
- As The Wall Street Journal notes, working-class voters in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin continue to move toward Trump.
- Bad optics: How is she going to campaign as the sitting vice president through the upper Midwest when Florida and North Carolina are in disaster mode?
- NBC News notes a major shift from Hispanic voters in Pennsylvania.
- Bright spot: As our friend Chris Cillizza points out, Harris now leads in a New York Times poll both overall and in the category of which candidate represents “change.”
- Look forward: Other than The New York Times poll above, most polls suggest Harris needs something in the next 28 days.
- Calling Trump racist on “60 Minutes” won’t change the momentum.
- You aren’t going to see a lot more of Doug Emhoff. Since Jen Psaki fawned over his redefining of masculinity on MSNBC, The Daily Mail reports he’s barely a few steps above Harvey Weinstein.
- There isn’t a lot more Harris can promise.
- She isn’t going to get “better” at interviews.
- So how does Harris get a win between now and Nov. 5?
- To be fair: She might not need one.
- Iron rule of politics: Never underestimate Republicans’ (especially Trump’s) ability to screw things up.
Earned Mistrust
For all the hand-wringing in D.C. and at Hamptons cocktail parties about “misinformation” and lack of trust in the experts, media and establishment, the current crisis at CBS News explains everything:
- Tony Dokoupil interviewed Ta-Nehisi Coates about his new book on the Israel-Palestine conflict — I say “book,” but in reality, it’s only a slightly more veiled version of “Mein Kampf.” But I digress.
- Evidently, CBS employees thought Dokoupil went too hard on Coates, and wait for it … CBS management took the employees’ side.
- Fact check: When I first heard about it, I thought CBS employees were mad that Dokoupil didn’t go after Coates harder … silly me.
- What I am reading: The Free Press’ write-up with tapes from the CBS meetings.
- What I am hearing:
- As our good friend Erick Erickson writes, now CBS is bringing in a DEI strategist to help employees cope with the trauma.
- Evidently, the mere questioning of antisemitic bile is too much for some CBS employees to deal with.
- And yet as a good friend pointed out to me,“Trump is criticized for not doing a ‘news’ show on CBS … what a world.”
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.