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.
The Village Is Winning
Farewell — and good riddance — to the “typical American family,” writes Kelli María Korducki in Business Insider.
- She writes, “In 1970, more than two-thirds of American adults between 25 and 49 lived with a spouse and at least one kid. By 2021, only 37% of adults fit the bill, Pew Research found.”
- Zoom out: It’s just another way to look at the traditional versus elite values divide in America.
- Politics flows downstream from culture, as explained once by Andrew Breitbart. One party embraces the death of the nuclear family, and the other decries it.
- Backlash: Sure, Terry McAuliffe lost the Virginia governor’s race when he said, “I’m not going to let parents come into schools and actually take books out and make their own decisions. … I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”
But nearly 30 years later, the village concept continues to expand. The family is increasingly under threat.
- Long time coming: Conservatives ridiculed Hillary Clinton’s 1996 book “It Takes a Village.”
- Democrats and progressives told the country what they wanted.
- The Democratic Party of progressive and elite values embraces the demise of the traditional family and the increased power of the government.
- Some in the Republican Party still believe all good things flow from the nuclear family.
Research shows one of the single greatest indicators of success or failure for a young person is coming from a stable household with two parents. Certainly, it’s a wildly important factor in determining whether children end up in jail. One study found that in cities where there are higher levels of single-parent households, rates of violence are 115% higher, and rates of homicide 255% higher.
Few things speak to traditional values like celebrating holidays as a family, as so many of us will do for Easter.
- I grew up in a nonreligious house but a very traditional one.
- For many, religion provides the values, moral compass and touchstones.
- For others, like me, my parents worked hard to instill a sense of right and wrong, a moral code separate from religion.
Look back: In the 1980s, Americans largely agreed on right and wrong; even President Joe Biden, then a senator, sponsored the 1994 crime bill.
- In 1995, former President Bill Clinton demanded enforcement of the border to stop “illegal immigration.”
Right and wrong issues weren’t political then, but now, they are.
- Because absolute rights and wrongs require traditional values, often taught in traditional families.
- Progressive values don’t see the world as right and wrong. They use a neo-Marxist lens to define the world as composed of the oppressed and oppressors.
That is the root of the cultural war we are in today.
Watch tonight: Kelli María Korducki joins us to talk about her Business Insider article and her book “Hard to Do: the Surprising Feminist History of Breaking Up,” where she “turns a Marxist lens on the relatively short history of romantic partnership, tracing how the socio-economic dynamics between men and women have transformed the ways women conceive of domestic partnership.”
- Thought bubble: What’s wrong with a nuclear family?
Stoning is Back
If you think our culture wars are bad, try Afghanistan, where the Taliban just brought back stoning for women accused of adultery.
- The New York Post has some of the more illuminating quotes from Taliban leader Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada in a message to Western countries:
- “It did not finish [when you left]. It does not mean we would now just sit and drink tea. We will bring Sharia to this land.”
- “I told the Mujahedin that we tell the Westerners that we fought against you for 20 years and we will fight 20 and even more years against you.”
- He argues the Western world’s idea of women’s rights runs contrary to Shariah law.
Ground truth: It has been less than three years since America’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the country is largely the same as before Sept. 11.
- President Biden’s team will argue that al-Qaida has not formed again, but ISIS-K took its place.
- The world is an inarguably more dangerous place now than it was four years ago.
Watch tonight: Ambassador John Bolton will discuss the downward spiral of American prestige and influence around the world.
Tacking to the Middle
Nikki Haley is the most powerful person in American politics, and Biden wants her voters.
Watch the new ad from the Biden campaign targeting her supporters.
David Drucker (@DavidMDrucker) will be on tonight discussing his recent Dispatch article headlined, “Biden Campaign Begins Focus on ‘Haley Republicans.’” He continues, “Top Biden campaign official engages with anti-Trump GOP groups.”
- Haley’s constituency: She speaks for and to the college-educated swing voters that will decide this election.
Arizona’s Republican primary shows just how much power she has. According to reporting from Jeremy Duda (@jeremyduda) in Axios, she got nearly 20% of the vote, over 100,000 votes, despite having already suspended her campaign.
Biden handcuffed: Pro-Palestine and Pro-Hamas protesters accosting rich DNC donors outside last night’s fundraiser in New York City highlights a clear and present danger for Biden’s campaign.
- Watch the protesters yell, among other things, “Down with the USA.”
- Haley voters, for example, support Israel full-stop. Biden can’t or won’t do that and alienate his base more than he already has.
- If, for example, Biden would move to a position closer to Haley’s on Israel, the DNC in Chicago will make 1968 look tame in comparison.
Trump liberated: Unlike the 2016 election, where traditional and evangelical conservatives were skeptical of Trump, they are now his most fervent supporters, and he can now tack to the middle.
- BUT, will Trump’s ego allow it?
Is the Double Standard for Hip-Hop Over?
Watch tonight: Famed women’s rights attorney Gloria Allred joins us to discuss hip-hop’s reckoning with the very culture it glorifies.
- Jeanette Settembre wraps up the week for Sean “Diddy” Combs that started with a raid on his mansions over sex trafficking allegations with a New York Post article headlined, “Inside Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ circle of sex, drugs & violence.”
- Settembre writes, “Rapper Mark Curry, who was signed to Combs’ Bad Boy Records in the aughts, said of Diddy: ‘He’s surrounded by movers and shakers. When you think of the music industry … a lot of illegal things go on behind closed doors. He took advantage of a lot of people who had dreams.’”
Thought bubble: Beyonce is a genius — she just released her first country album, and it’s GREAT.
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.