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.  

Programming alert: Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., joins us tonight on his advice for Trump in the debate, picking a VP and how he should answer the question “Who won the 2020 election?” 

Bonus reading: Picking up on yesterday’s note highlighting the total pass given to Obama or Biden-appointed judges that make decisions the Left doesn’t like (it happens), The Wall Street Journal goes deeper on the unfair discrediting of Judge Aileen Cannon.  

Drug Test

Trump’s media mastery means much of the conversation revolves around his demand for a predebate drug test.

• MSNBC is even mocking it with Mountain Dew jokes. According to Mediaite, host Jonathan Lemire said on “Way Too Early,” “First of all, I’m rethinking this morning beverage choice here. If this was Mountain Dew, think about what I could do.”
• Fact check: A drug test is not going to happen. The idea is laughable on its face. That said, a drug test happening isn’t the point. 

Trump wins because it’s suddenly a conversation. CNN spent time with Speaker Mike Johnson over what drug Biden would take? 

• Mediaite quotes him saying, “No one expects that Joe Biden will be on cocaine.”

Be fair: The Joe Biden we saw give the State of the Union Address with a notably fast, clipped and loud speech pattern differs significantly from the man we see at (rare) press conferences and public interactions. 

• Is that because of some type of medication (Adderall, Provigil or Nuvigil), extra coffee or just days of extended rest? Who knows.
• Fair question: Would it really surprise anyone if the White House doctors gave Biden a little something? Probably not. 
• Perception is reality: The fact that we are all talking about Biden’s possible drug cocktail is a win for Trump — as is the constant discussion about Jake Tapper’s fairness. 

Fallout Looking Forward

Rep. Jamaal Bowman’s unceremonious dumping yesterday laid bare there is a price to be paid for being antisemitic. Pro-Israel groups spent about $20 million trying to kick out the Hamas enthusiast and second-term Democratic congressman in New York.

Go deeper: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., flirts with but doesn’t go quite as far in her anti-Israel stances — she won her race by 14 points. 

Be fair: The establishment did take Bowman out. 

The next fight: The pro-Israel lobby next takes aim at Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo. — a former Black Lives Matter activist from my hometown of St. Louis. Daniel Lippman scoops new polling in Politico that shows she might lose.

• Must watch: I interviewed Rep. Bush once and had to explain that the more income one has, the higher rate one pays in taxes.  

The New York Times headlines, “What Jamaal Bowman’s Loss Means for the Left.”

• Bowman’s win in 2020 seemed to herald an ascendant progressive movement. In 2024, the center is regaining power.

Only thing that matters: What does Biden do with this? 

• White House policy on Israel (and lots of issues) is like a West Virginia coal miner who takes his half of the road out of the middle. To continue the metaphor, that means you crash into both lanes of traffic – the center and progressive Left. 

Opportunity knocking: Is the White House missing the chance to capture and speak to the radical center?

Watch tonight: We’ll ask Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., about Biden’s last chance to return to the centrist worldview he promised four years ago. 

Behind the Curtain

Every debate preview segment you’ve seen comes from the position of the candidates.

• What’s Biden doing? What’s Trump doing? 

Watch tonight: Special guests Chris Stirewalt and Bill Sammon join us to discuss what the CNN moderators and executives are doing. 

• Perspective: Jake Tapper and Dana Bash’s questions, follow-ups or lack thereof might define the debate more than Biden and Trump’s. 
• High stakes: CNN is at a crossroads with crashing viewership — how do they get a win out of tomorrow night? What does that mean for the candidates? 

Joes from Texas

Joe Penland made a fortune in Texas, and now, he’s spending it trying to get Americans to care about the national debt — it’s an uphill battle. 

• The last meaningful national debt question at a debate I can remember was the 1992 George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Ross Perot town hall where a woman asked Bush, the incumbent at the time, about the debt, and he screwed it up.
  • Watch here: Bush actually tried to answer about the debt — Clinton realized it was about the economy.

Watch tonight: Penland joins us to discuss the overlooked fact heading into tomorrow that Trump added far more to the debt than Biden did and how to get Americans to care. 

• It’s worth a click to joefromtexas.com. He’s not running for office but says his contract from the American people can get our leaders to deal with something they haven’t since the 1980s. 
• Plus, Republicans love tax cuts; should they be willing to agree to some tax hikes to balance the budget. Remember the days of surpluses?

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.