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: 

• 57 days to the election 
• 1 day to the debate set for Sept. 10
• Decision Desk HQ average: Kamala Harris +3.3, as of around 12 p.m. ET today. Click here to see the latest numbers.
  • PredictIt betting odds: 52 to 51 in favor of Harris

Nothing Kills a Bad Product Faster Than Good Advertising

50 days into Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, a New York Times poll gives her a troubling reality check: The idea of Kamala Harris is better than the real Kamala Harris.

The idea: 

• She’s not Trump or Biden
  • Someone younger 
  • With a more hopeful and optimistic message
  • Someone people can discuss as a “first” 
  • A candidate the media can support 
  • Someone with a non-angry, non-rambling stump speech

The reality: Nothing kills a bad product faster than good advertising — no politician in history has received more free advertising than Harris. 

The more people get to know Harris, the less they like and the more skeptical they are. 

• Democrats’ DNC talking points that she is a second coming of Obama now seem laughable
• She’s going into the debate complaining about the rules
• Her website policy proposals reads like a progressive wish list without the specifics
  • Bernie Sanders called her tack to the middle “pragmatic” to win while assuring the faithful she is still one of them…believe them.
  • Her campaign’s pre-debate ad focuses on ex-Trump loyalists (like former Vice President Mike Pence and former Ambassador John Bolton) trashing Trump
• Thought bubble: What happened to happy joyful warroring?

Our buddy Chris Cillizza dives into the New York Times polling better than I ever could. 

Politico calls the polls “sobering.” 

Nate Cohn writes in the New York Times, “Almost 30 percent of voters said they needed to learn more about her.”

• Thought bubble: The more you dig past the “idea” of Harris, the less she delivers on all the positive idea attributes.

Watch tonight: With Bill O’Reilly, we’ll discuss why Trump is utterly incapable of capitalizing on the opportunity. This election might be “his to lose,” but he’s doing a very, very good job losing it. 

• Axios goes through Trump’s personal grievances and threats to imprison people over baseless election fraud allegations.
  • Swing voters don’t tell us journalists (or pollsters) when we interview them about their election fraud concerns. Instead, they are concerned about the economy, the border, crime, abortion. Three out of four of those issues help Trump — but he doesn’t talk about them. 
• Forget for a minute the hair-on-fire response about him being a dictator. 
• Trump’s undisciplined campaign should really upset his followers because it doesn’t help him. 

Mental image: Manny Munoz of WIOD Radio in Miami and I chatted on air this morning. He compared Trump’s message discipline to that of a hangry two-year-old….

• Nobody wants to elect their hangry two-year-old as president. 

Dick Cheney, Hero of the Left

Yes, the same Dick Cheney put to pasture (or his ranch in Wyoming) by Republicans and reviled by Democrats is no longer the butt of late night jokes for once shooting his hunting partner…

• Now as an endorser of Harris, he is a brave fighter for democracy — cue the Superman meme. 

From Politico: “Sen. Bernie Sanders said Sunday he disagrees with former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Rep. Liz Cheney on many topics, but not on their belief that Donald Trump should never become president again. Speaking on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press,’ the Vermont senator said, ‘What I think Dick and Liz Cheney are saying is that in this existential moment in American history, it’s not just issues. Cheney and I agree on nothing — no issues. But what we do believe in is that the United States should retain its democratic foundations.’”

• Hottest take from Glenn Greenwald: “If literal Adolf Hitler were found alive and said bad things about Trump, he’d have a popular afternoon MSNBC show within weeks and a regular stint on Morning Joe. It was extremely common among liberals to accuse Cheney of being everything now said about Trump.”

The prism of Trump: For America’s elite (not just Democrats, but elites in general) your standing depends on your view of Trump…

• From Variety: “Several years after Donald Trump called Kim Jong Un ‘Little Rocket Man,’ Elton John has weighed in on his hit song being the inspiration for the North Korean dictator’s nickname.‘I laughed, I thought that was brilliant,’ John told Variety‘s Ramin Setoodeh in an interview at Toronto Film Festival. ‘I just thought, ‘Good on you, Donald.’ … Donald’s always been a fan of mine, and he’s been to my concerts many, many times. So, I mean, I’ve always been friendly toward him, and I thank him for his support. When he did that, I just thought it was hilarious. It made me laugh.’”
• Just wait for Elton John to get canceled for not hating Trump. 

Handcuffed and Biased!

For two people who want to be leaders of the free world, Trump and Harris have an impressive list of grievances about a 90-minute debate. 

• Democrats complain Harris is “handcuffed” by the debate rules Team Biden (now Team Harris) agreed to. 
• Trump is on his usual grievance fest complaining about the moderators
  • Look back: He used the same playbook for the last debate and by all accounts CNN treated him “fairly” 

Watch tonight: Chris Stirewalt and Bill Sammon ran debates for Fox News and will join us with how much the expectations matter, what questions to expect and more importantly, what questions won’t be asked. 

Afghanistan and Gaza

Senator Bill Cassidy, R-La., joins us tonight on a devastating Republican report detailing the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal.

• Be fair: It’s a Republican report about a Democrat
  • Be more fair: Good luck finding a Democrat to defend the administration’s withdrawal. 

How is it going? Since Afghanistan, America’s standing in the world has continued to decline.

• Today, the Washington Post reported that President Biden’s long-desired cease-fire in Gaza is now more unlikely than ever. 

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.