Leland Vittert’s War Notes: Civil Wars

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.  

There are two civil wars ongoing in America’s political parties — the obvious one of whether Joe Biden will stay or go and the not-so-obvious one over Donald Trump’s pick for vice president.

• We’ll start with the palace intrigue at Mar-a-Lago.

Burgum or Bust 

For as disciplined and silent as Republicans and Trump have been over the past two weeks (thus keeping the spotlight on Biden), that all changes Monday when the Republican National Convention starts and Trump likely announces his running mate. 

• Money talks: The broadcast and cable nets each spend millions on their skyboxes and building sets at the convention. They will be covering the Republicans even if Biden is the more interesting story. 
• While the Democrats’ fight over Biden’s future gets all the attention, the Republican civil war over Trump’s VP pick is ignored:
  • The New York Post, The Wall Street Journal and Karl Rove: The Rupert Murdoch brain trust is lining up behind North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum’s mild-mannered executive pitch of a man that will get things done. To be fair, he has gotten a lot done in North Dakota
    • Click here to watch Burgum’s nearly 13-minute “Fox and Friends” interview. 
  • Meanwhile, Team Burn the House Down (Charlie Kirk, Donald Trump Jr. and others) wants J.D. Vance, the senator who will say whatever he thinks will get him clicks in the moment … only to walk his statements back when they become inconvenient.
    • For example:
      • Comparing Trump to Hitler
      • Calling pregnancies from rape or incest “inconvenient”
      • Siding with Trump’s sexual assault accuser

Warning: Conservative radio’s most influential voice, host Hugh Hewitt, issued a stark warning to Trump yesterday on X: “If @realDonaldTrump selects a good old fashioned conservative Republican who is eloquent and smart, he is going back to the Oval. But if he goes for a startling, unnerving surprise pick or a Veep who turns out to have flaws, he will take a formidable lead and squander it.”

• Fact check: J.D. Vance is a lot of things, but “a good old fashioned conservative Republican who is eloquent and smart” is not one of them. 
• To be fair: Vance is exceptionally smart. 

Long shot: We haven’t heard much about Rubio — not sure who is pulling for him right now. 

Analysis: It’s difficult to see what voters J.D. Vance brings to the table that Trump wouldn’t have already gotten. Conversely, Burgum brings a lot of Trump-skeptical voters who will be looking for “good old fashioned conservative Republican” to balance Trump out. 

Rolling into the Weekend Wounded

Every day Joe Biden stays in the race is a good day for Donald Trump. Biden’s press conference did not prove disqualifying nor did it do anything to end or slow the mutiny. Let’s roll into the weekend. 

Quick recap of the presser: 

• Biden referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump” and then gave a nonsensical answer to a question about the gaffe, but that wasn’t the most interesting part. 
• Biden’s long-winded foreign policy answers sounded interesting but said very little and often contradicted themselves, like in this clip.
  • On an Israel question, he left out the hostages (including Americans) 
• He opened the door to dropping out by saying he would reconsider if the data and polls say “there’s no way you can win.”
  • Fact check: They already say that.
• He avoided any of the major “Dear God, what’s happening” moments of the debate
• But the press conference showed Biden’s gaffes going forward will be scrutinized to a level he is not ready for
  • And it didn’t stop the defections as more members of Congress, including the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said it’s time to go 

The best sum-up is from Politico’s Playbook newsletter:

• “Biden vaulted over the lower-than-the-Earth’s-core expectations. Now the Democratic Party’s path forward is even more uncertain than it was before Biden took the stage.”
  • Reality check: When expectations for the leader of the free world are “lower than the earth’s core,” perhaps there is a bigger problem. 

Unprepared 

Mandatory reading: Click here for my friend Mike Allen’s “Behind the Curtain: The Committee to Unelect the President.”

• The past two weeks of Allen’s reporting shows why he is the best in the business. 

The past two weeks exposed the Biden White House, campaign and Democrats as totally unprepared for the combat arms of defensive politics. 

• Be fair: Thanks to the Trump-hating media, and Trump himself, Democrats spent the last nine years on offense
  • Now reporters follow Democrats through the halls of Congress badgering them over their support or lack thereof of their president.
  • The White House press corps went back to their Trump-era posture.
  • Last night, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow fact-checked Biden — WOW!
    • Maddow is worried that Biden “is being given information about his political standing that may not be based in reality.”
• Democratic leadership isn’t used to providing leadership in a crisis, hence Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries all appear lost, giving vague answers to buy time.
  • As the military adage goes: When you are in command — command. 

Look back: We saw this play in 2022 with Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman’s disastrous debate and then he went on to beat the Trump-endorsed candidate, Dr. Oz. 

• Perspective: A verbally-impaired senator is a lot different than a commander in chief who confuses world leaders. 

It’s a small example, but Biden’s campaign feels entitled enough to provide scripted questions in exchange for interviews and demanded a local radio station edit their candidate’s answers, like Biden’s comments: “I have more Blacks in my administration than any other president, all other presidents combined, and in major positions, cabinet positions.”

The same campaign (and candidate) that pulls those stunts is nowhere near equipped to deal with a mutiny in their own party and the insatiable media appetite for blood in the water — that is crushing Biden.  

Hail Mary: Pro-Biden Democrats plan to focus on Republicans next week and hope a decent Lester Holt interview will reset the narrative, but hope is not a strategy. 

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.