A Court to Be Proud Of 👏
Editor’s note✏️: This is the last official War Notes between now and July 6th — we hope you enjoy Freedom Week remembering what makes America GREAT.
📜I re-read the Declaration on July 4th — the first and last time anybody bothered to write down that our rights come from God and the government derives its power from the governed.
Credit to Aaron Sorkin for the “first” reference; what shocks me is it is also the last — in 250 years, nobody has created anything close to America
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And “Things I Tell My Friends” this weekend
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🎆See you July 4th starting at 8 p.m. ET for NewsNation’s four-hour special celebrating America’s 250th birthday.
A Court to Be Proud Of 👏
‼️The birthright citizenship decision tells us a few things
👍The Supreme Court works — both sides continuing to attack it hurts America but shows us something bigger.
When both sides wake up every day and have to decide if they like SCOTUS based on today’s decision, that is a good thing
🗣️We should stop calling this the “Trump court” — it’s a cheap talking point again to discredit it
😡Trump must be furious at the justices he appointed, cc: Leonard Leo
Our buddy Chris Cilliza points out Trump lost the two cases he cared about the most — tariffs and birthright citizenship
👀Our guest tonight, Tom Dupree, predicted both the decision and the reaction — the same people trashing the court last week are now demanding everyone respect it today
Duh🤦: Generally speaking, the court has ruled how most people read the law and common sense
Birthright citizenship — it’s pretty plainly in the Constitution
States able to ban boys in girls sports — makes sense
Look forward⏩: As Congress continues to do nothing and the president (regardless of who it is) continues to exercise more power, the court will only become more important.
🤔I predict the midterms will be decided by the courts.
More pressure‼️: Today, NPR uploaded a “prewrite” of a story about Justice Samuel Alito retiring — turns out he’s not retiring
News organizations have “prewrites” for lots of things — including obituaries of presidents.
The point is the amount of pressure now on Thomas and Alito to retire
Watch tonight📺: Mick Mulvaney on Trump’s reaction and the retirement campaign.
Plus, Tom Dupree on what today’s ruling tells us about the court going forward.
And Isabel Brown on Republicans who criticize the court that will likely save them.
Erick Erickson defends Justice Amy Coney Barrett
Read: “Name That Justice”
Putin on the Ropes
📰Here is a headline I never thought I would read: Russians are fighting at gas stations
⛽Over gas — in a country rich in oil energy, Ukraine has hit Putin where it hurts – literally
Why it matters‼️: Trump’s strategy to force Putin into bankruptcy is working, and Putin is mad — he’s cornered
He’s been living in bunkers for months; he’s pissed and on the ropes because the money he needs to keep himself in power is running out
🤔Russian military doctrine says “escalate to deescalate” — Putin is legendary at that … what surprises might he have in store for us?
What I am thinking💭: For everybody who kept saying that Trump was going to throw Putin a bone and let Ukraine get taken over — well, that certainly has not happened.
The Ukrainians are proving every day that their strategy is working — they’re bringing the war home to Russia in a way that could force Putin’s hand
Proof☑️: Last night, Ukrainian drones hit a satellite communications center in Moscow
Plus➕: Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian energy facilities are worsening the fuel shortage across Russia
Good read 📰: “Ukraine’s Plan to Unnerve Putin,” headlines The Atlantic
Tonight📺: Former Secretary of Defense under President Obama Leon Panetta on what a cornered Putin will do now
2 Americas‼️
🚨Juneteenth weekend, eight were killed and 39 were injured in shootings across Chicago — the Black mayor in a Black-run city blamed racism.
The city’s homicide rate continues to explode — the mayor created a gun violence reduction taskforce(?)
🏙️The city I met my wife in and love is the same city but hollowed out — most of the people who can leave have left or want to.
Zoom out➗: We are increasingly becoming two Americas
Progressive and socialist big cities in blue states — Chicago, Denver, NYC, LA, D.C.
Traditional value American red states — Florida, Texas, Tennessee, etc.
Each will become a distilled version of themselves as the parties consolidate power and appeal to their most rabid supporters
We lose🗳️: Elections will soon be about choosing between visions, with very little interest in taking the best of both.
Tonight📺: Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich on what’s happened to his former state.
Champagne Socialists🍾
‼️They used to be called limousine liberals, but the current crew of champagne socialists brings a new level of scorn for the people they purport to save.
👀Look at Maine, where white educated women support a man with a Nazi tattoo accused of beating his girlfriend.
🗳️Tonight, the Democratic socialists roll through Colorado, likely taking the 1st Congressional District with a woman fired for spreading hate about Israel.
Explained🖊️: NewsNation’s Batya Ungar-Sargon explains this as an extension of the credentialed vs. working-class divide of 2024
Self interest👀: Limousine liberals could afford to have such views — champagne socialists aren’t the ones affected by their toxic policies
Defund the police hurts poor and minority communities the most, and the same with rent freezes
Lax immigration policies take jobs from America’s poorest legal workers
Canceling student debt transfers money from working-class Americans to the credentialed class
Tonight📺: The 2Way trio Mark Halperin, Kevin Walling and Larry O’Connor.
The court did well today. Common sense might still save us.
Love when you have The 2 Way Trio on your show, Leland ! Looking forward to the show as I always do. Great War Notes, as usual ♥️