Leland Vittert’s War Notes: Dad Power

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.  

On the first morning as Donald Trump’s VP nominee, JD Vance and his wife Usha headed to Walgreens – as did I to get a charging cable for my headphones. For those wondering, Walgreens was out of charging cables — maybe they were all shoplifted. But I was one aisle over from Vance and could hear him with his kids and wife. The kids were pulling things off the shelves — Vance and his wife were trying to distract them … it was a remarkably NORMAL situation and interaction. 

Vance’s challenge will be bringing that humanity to the stage Wednesday night. 

Chris Cillizza wrote a great thread on X on why Trump picked Vance — it’s hard to argue with any of his points. 

Big picture: By picking Vance, Trump fully transformed the Republican Party from Reagan’s “Morning in America” into the Trump populist party of “Make America Great Again.”  

• Fair question: Where do the country club Republicans go? Nikki Haley’s speech tonight will give us a good idea — she will be speaking later in the evening.
  • “The Trump-Vance Ticket is a Repudiation of Free-Market Conservatism,” writes Victoria Guida in Politico. 
  • Watch tonight: George Will on the new Republican Party and where old-fashioned conservatives go.
• Thought bubble: Our senior producer Bob Morrissey writes, “Unity schmunity – the RNC is punishing DeSantis and Haley by putting them in an hour not broadcast by the networks.”
  • Tune in tonight 📺: We’ll have full coverage of Haley’s speech. 

Hottest take yet: Someone told me, “Vance is the reverse of Harris. They are both insurance policies. Dems will not get rid of Biden because then have to deal with Harris. Dems will not get rid of Trump because then have to deal with Vance.”

Watch tonight: Trump defender Rep. Jim Jordan joins us to discuss Trump’s plans to expand the electoral college map.

On the floor: The RNC’s carefully planned themed nights don’t matter anymore, and that might be a good thing — Trump’s star power and base excitement over JD Vance now overshadow the themes of Make America (Wealthy, Safe, Strong, Great) Again. 

• Trump’s arrival in the arena last night proved one of the most electric moments in political convention history – rivaled only by Obama with his Greek columns in 2008. For all the Trump talk saying this is a policy election, the convention and campaign is all about Trump. 

Coming soon: After the convention, watch Republicans go scorched earth on the Secret Service and their director, who they say is more concerned with diversity and happiness than the job of protecting America’s leaders. 

Here are some quick thoughts about the Secret Service. You can see them above flanking Vance. 

• In Milwaukee, you end up interacting with hundreds of Secret Service agents day in and day out. 
• They are away from their families for months, working 12-hour shifts in 95-degree heat wearing suits, stretched thin as the campaign temperature increases.
• There is understandably a newfound edginess after Saturday. 
• But they are there standing a post or walking with their protectees putting their life on the line. 
• For all the warranted criticism of the organization and the laughable explanations for Saturday’s misses by the director, you have to separate criticisms of the organization and its leadership from the agents themselves.

Watch tonight: Rep. Nancy Mace will join tonight about the briefing lawmakers just received from the Secret Service director and more importantly whether it’s time for the director to go. 

What you don’t see:

• The broadcast networks take one hour a night of the convention, thus why Trump showed up at exactly 10 p.m. ET last night. 
• The cable nets take speeches through the night.
• Much of the convention is actually a convention, like the national association of widget manufacturers
  • Donor lunches and dinners
  • Political consultant briefings 
  • The business of politics is a BIG business. 

The Billionaire Cabal

The Tech Bro crew led by Elon Musk (at 45 million a month to the Trump super PAC) just created their own billionaire donor class to support Trump — that certainly has nothing to do with the expiration of Trump tax cuts next year. 

• But wait, I thought Republicans were populists? Yes, but they’re populists who like tax cuts for billionaires — go figure. 
• Biden, too, sounds oddly populist despite his billionaire donors.
• Ground truth: The cultural divide in America is far deeper than the political divide. 

The Mooch warns! And it’s worth reading this. 

Stay TUNED:

• The Biden story isn’t over 
• His Lester Holt interview didn’t help
• Now, Adam Schiff warns of a “wipeout” for Democrats if he stays on the ballot

Wipeout:

• Alex Thompson of Axios reports congressional Democrats are trying to stop Biden’s early “virtual” nomination. 

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.