Leland Vittert’s War Notes: Time for Regime Change

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 9 pm ET show. Subscribe to War Notes here.  

A decade later: Ten years ago today, Donald Trump came down the golden escalator at Trump Tower to announce his run for president.

• Click here to watch the best takes on cable news 10 years later.
  • Fun fact: Most of those folks still don’t understand Trump’s supporters, MAGA or even Trump himself. 
• Watch tonight: How Donald Trump has changed in the past 10 years.

Let’s Bomb Iran

Israel lacks the heavy bombers to take out Iran’s once-secret Fordow uranium enrichment site – and destroying Fordow would end Iran’s hopes and dreams for obtaining a nuclear weapon once and for all. 

• Conversely, leaving Fordow intact leaves Iran’s road to a nuke wide open. 
• Israel would have to send in commando teams on the ground – it’s possible but very risky.
  • Watch The Free Press’ discussion for a primer on Fordow.
    • The Iranians buried their enrichment facility under 300 feet of concrete and hid it in the mountains.
      • Question: Why would a country that claims not to want a nuke pour 300 feet of concrete and hide their totally peaceful facility in the mountains? 
      • Answer: Well, watch this clip from the movie “The Dictator” for the Iranian response. 

Pressure: Hence the lobbying campaign publicly and privately for an American strike using B-2 bombers and 30,000-pound bunker busters on Fordow 

• Watch: Check out what a B-2 strike would look like – most importantly, how long the bomb penetrates before exploding.
  • Options: The U.S. Air Force flew over 25 of its refueling tankers to Europe and possibly to the Middle East. 

Regime change: The Israelis need to end Iran’s nuclear program, but they really want to end the fanatical Muslim theocracy that chants “death to Israel” and “death to America.”

• Why shouldn’t Israel go all the way?
  • Without a nuclear program, the Iranian regime will have a difficult time holding onto power because they have nothing to negotiate with. 
  • Wounded: The regime reportedly sent word that it wanted to talk – even sue for peace.
    • “A Battered Iran Signals It Wants to De-Escalate Hostilities With Israel and Negotiate,” The Wall Street Journal headlines. 
  • Great response: They should have made a deal before President Trump said today, “I’d say Iran is not winning this war, and they should talk, and they should talk immediately before it’s too late.”
    • Best take:Watch Amit Segal, one of Israel’s best journalists and analysts, on how Trump is using Iran’s playbook:
      • “I find the President Trump response fabulous. When President Trump, when he says, ‘We have nothing to do with this operation,’ (to) the Iranians, ‘and now, we offer you to come back to the negotiation table,’ he uses the Iranian method, the proxy method.”

Let’s end this thing: No one – most of all, the Iranian people – are well served with the ayatollah still in control.

• Well, that’s not entirely true – Russia’s Putin and China’s Xi really love the Iranian regime.
  • All those Ukraine-loving Democrats should be pushing hard for the U.S. to bomb Fordow and/or give the Israelis covert support to finish off the Iranian regime.  
• The worst thing that could happen is if Trump makes a “deal” with Iran that allows the ayatollah to stay in power.
  • Why, Just Why: The Associated Press reports, “Trump vetoed Israeli plan to kill Iran’s supreme leader, US official tells AP.”
  • Is the world really a better, safer and more just place with the ayatollah alive?
    • Axios’ Barak Ravid reports, “U.S. tells allies it won’t join war unless Iran targets Americans.”

Watch tonight: Bill O’Reilly might actually agree with me – he joins to discuss his latest column, “The Last Days of Tehran.” 

Our Nannies, Gardeners, Meat Packers, Waiters and Strawberry Pickers 

Let’s quickly review the week’s news on President Trump’s immigration policy:

• Trump ordered ICE to target sanctuary cities – most big cities, especially those in blue states, are sanctuary.
  • “Chicago is next, if they go too far,” a senior Trump administration official told Rolling Stone. 
• Trump quietly ordered ICE to avoid raids at meat plants, farms, hotels and restaurants.
  • And not to arrest illegal immigrants without a criminal history – so-called collateral arrests.
  • That’s interesting, but he didn’t protect a whole bunch of other folks. 

MAGA Land: Parts of MAGA explain liberals’ love of illegal immigration with the creation of cheap labor for their lifestyle while driving down the wages of American workers. 

• Thus, they are gleefully sharing this clip of a white woman claiming to be from Los Angeles who is upset about nannies and gardeners not showing up for work. 

Bigger problem: Deporting illegal immigrants who commit crimes is an 80/20 issue, with the overwhelming majority of Americans in support. 

• Massively changing America’s economy by deporting millions of hard-working illegal immigrants is a very different story.
  • And will become even more fraught politically when the effects set in. 

Watch tonight: Batya Ungar-Sargon makes the case of why President Trump’s supporters will stick by him regardless of the pain of deportation. 

Democrats

In the 10 years since Trump came down the escalator – see above – Democrats have largely dealt with him the same way. 

• Marches: In 2017, it was pink hats; This weekend, it was “No Kings” signs. 
• Warnings: In 2017, it was “Putin controls Trump;” this weekend, the warnings were about the parade.

Zoom out: There were a few impeachments and indictments along the way – but largely, it’s not working. 
Watch tonight: Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., joins us.

Tune into “On Balance with Leland Vittert” weeknights at 9/8 CT on NewsNation. Find your channel here. 

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily of NewsNation.