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.  

State of play: 

• 53 days to the election 
• Decision Desk HQ average: Kamala Harris +3.4, as of around noon ET today. Click here to see the latest numbers.
  • PredictIt betting odds: 58 to 46 in favor of Harris.

Programming alert: Bill O’Reilly joins us tonight for a preview of Sunday’s special, “Confronting the Presidents: America’s Best and Worst.” 

• We spent a few hours together in a no-holds-barred interview ranking O’Reilly’s five best and worst presidents — there were a few huge surprises.
  • Especially what he says about Obama, Reagan and Kennedy

“Confronting the Presidents” airs Sunday at 9 p.m. ET — go set your DVRs right now. 

• 📖 Order your copy of O’Reilly’s book “Confronting the Presidents” here — it’s great reading by the fireplace this fall. 

Democrats’ Worst Nightmare

With 53 days to the election in 2016, Hillary Clinton led in the RealClearPolitics average by 2.4% — she lost. 

• Our buddy Niall Stanage is out today (and joins us tonight) with a must-read article in The Hill: “Democrats fear Trump will outperform polls again.”

His article highlights the ground truth: Nobody knows what or who will define the election. 

• Axios says the must-watch group is America’s youth, and The Wall Street Journal says it’s seniors — are they both right? Maybe?!

Former President Donald Trump still leads in polling “on the issues.”

Watch tonight: Philippe Reines joins us from the Team Harris perspective — he role-played Trump for Vice President Harris during debate prep. 

What Would Harris Do?!

Kamala the genius, 4D chess-playing woman of foreign relations, writes David Ignatius in The Washington Post — OK, that wasn’t the headline … but it could have been in his piece, which would make North Korean media blush at its sycophancy.  

• As an example of her prowess, Ignatius presents a few of the probing questions Harris asked during briefings about Russia’s coming invasion of Ukraine:
  • “How fast can the Russians move? What kind of units do they have? What are their capabilities?”
  • Is that now the bar for foreign policy genius? 

Somehow, Ignatius’ column whitewashes Harris’ role in the multiple Biden-Harris foreign policy disasters:

• The Afghanistan withdrawal
• War in Ukraine
• Rise of Iran and Oct. 7 attack 

It appears the next James Baker, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Dean Acheson (all rolled into one) won’t be at the White House today for a summit between the U.S. and U.K. 

• That’s too bad, because it sounds like she would be needed in the decision to allow Ukraine’s use of NATO weapons systems to strike deep in Russia.

From Politico: “In a final bid to scare off the West, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Thursday evening he would regard such an agreement as tantamount to NATO directly entering the war. ‘This will mean that NATO countries, the United States, and European countries are fighting Russia,’ he said.”

The New York Times reports Putin just evicted U.K. diplomats from Russia over the deal. 

And Reuters reports Russia is now producing kamikaze drones with Chinese engines. Remember when the U.S. warned China not to help Russia — how is that working? 

Then there is North Korea, which is now so emboldened by its Russia relationship that it is showing off its once-secret nuclear facilities — and asking Russia for help building more nukes as they want to “exponentially” increase production. 

“There is nobody at the wheel,” writes Leighton Woodhouse on America’s foreign policy. He warns the decision to allow strikes in Russia will lead to Russian strikes on European capitals, a terrifying reality should it come true.

• He writes, “On the American side, decisions are being made and events are unfolding based on momentum alone. We’re driving directly into a storm on cruise control with a blindfold on.” 

What would Harris do? 

Trump, the (Very Stable) Genius

No, Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, aren’t “eating the pets” as Trump has now claimed at least twice, but that is besides the point. 

• He has successfully spotlighted immigration and the problems immigrants bring to communities across America:
  • Crime
  • Hospital overcrowding
  • Housing shortages

Call it “stray voltage.”

• John Dickerson writes it up as Obama trolling the GOP. To be fair, Obama is but an amateur at Trump’s ability to change the coverage to what he wants, even at what appears to be a great cost to him. 

Speaking of the debate: For all the talk about what the ABC moderators did to be unfair to Trump, there is little or no talk about what they didn’t do to serve the audience.

Our buddy Steve Krakauer opines in The Hill that the moderators never brought up the Biden-to-Harris switch — without a single vote. 

• He writes, “ABC News avoided the issue entirely because they don’t care — they don’t see it as a problem. When Biden was flailing in early July and looked to be heading for a November loss to Trump, the legacy media suddenly became very curious to uncover the truth. Now that Harris is better positioned, why rock the boat?”

Watch tonight: Krakauer joins us to discuss why that question is so important. 

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.