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: 

• 92 days to the election 
• 14 days to the DNC
• 36 days to the debate Sept. 10
• 15 days since Vice President Kamala Harris accepted the candidacy, and she still hasn’t had a meaningful interaction with the press 
• Decision Desk HQ average: Donald Trump +0.6 (and dropping). Click here to see the numbers 

Events today and tomorrow: 

• Vice President Harris: Tomorrow, Harris will rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with her running mate, who will be announced either today or tomorrow before the rally.
• President Biden: This morning, Biden spoke with the king of Jordan while in Delaware. This afternoon, Biden heads back to the White House from Wilmington, Delaware, in case Iran attacks Israel. 
• Trump: Nothing today
• JD Vance: Tomorrow, he will speak to the press in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Three wipeouts today:

• Donald Trump’s lead
• Your 401(k) 
• America’s influence in the world 

By every measurable reason — the economy (stocks tanking today), foreign policy (a coming war in the Middle East), domestic feelings of unease (tourists were just pushed onto New York City subway tracks) — former President Donald Trump should be up on the incumbent candidate by at least high single if not double digits…

But he’s not. In two weeks, Democrats went from a candidate who was unable to even campaign to having an enthusiastic base, newfound interest from independents and incredible fundraising:

• The New York Times shows Harris tied with Trump in Wisconsin and Michigan
• Tipp Insights, YouGov and American Pulse Research have her +1
• Harris is up two points in the CBS poll that had Biden down five when he dropped out

Vice President Kamala Harris has turned the entire race around by the 2020 standards of staying in her basement for the past 14 days. 

Who knows what Harris actually stands for because it doesn’t matter, and the media can’t or won’t discuss it. She’s switched her positions on major issues from:

• Being a “law and order” prosecutor and attorney general …
  • to being ultra-progressive (and being called the most liberal senator in 2019) 
  • to supporting intersectional identity politics above all else 
  • to a filibuster-ending Green New Deal champion 
  • to an abortion rights crusader 
  • to a quasi-moderate
• A quick check of her website shows not a single policy proposal

Through a primary season and then general election, such empty candidacies aren’t possible.

It’s Day 15 since Biden stepped aside, and Harris has not had a single meaningful interaction with the press … the one time she spoke off-script at Joint Base Andrews Thursday night, she reverted to a word salad, saying: 

• “This is just an extraordinary testament to the importance of having a president who understands the power of diplomacy and understands the strength that rests in understanding the significance of diplomacy.” 
• Fair?: We’ve heard far more about Donald Trump not wanting to go on ABC for a debate than the vice president and the Democratic candidate for president being afraid to even interact with the media. 

Harris doesn’t need to stand for anything. She doesn’t need to do interviews. Trump is doing it for her — in the past two weeks:

• He’s attacking the popular Republican governor of Georgia.
• He’s questioning Harris’ racial identity.
• He’s making himself look weak by backing out of the ABC debate and demanding to debate Harris on Fox. 

Read more: Erick Erickson writes about Trump snatching defeat from the jaws of victory 

• Look back: It wouldn’t be the first time 

Democrats are betting the election on Trump playing to his worst instincts — history tells us that’s a safe bet.

Israel on My Mind

Harris’ pick for vice president will tell us the direction of her and her party…

• She can double down on the progressive by picking Minnesota Governor Tim Walz
• She can pick Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and show real leadership

Moderate Democrats spent the weekend calling out the pro-Hamas wing of their party over attacks on Shapiro. Watch this particularly poignant exchange with Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-Mass.

Apologizing for the truth:

• Shapiro’s take isn’t exactly a profile of courage as he appeared to walk back his pro-Israel stance in college:

• “‘(Palestinians) are too battle-minded to be able to establish a peaceful homeland of their own,’ he wrote in the essay, published in the Sept. 23, 1993, edition of The Campus Times, the student newspaper. ‘They will grow tired of fighting amongst themselves and will turn outside against Israel.’”
• He spoke the truth — he should own it. Everything the Palestinians have done since 1993 proves him right. 
• Thought bubble: Not only is he willing to sell out Israel, he is so desperate to become the vice presidential nominee that he will sell his soul. 

Political pickle: By considering Shapiro, Harris opens herself up to attacks whether she picks him or not. 

• Woah, Nellie: Imagine Harris not picking Shapiro on the day or day after Israel gets attacked (again) by Iran under her watch. 

Political reality: Shapiro’s numbers, as our buddy Chris Cillizza points out, are sizzling in Pennsylvania, a must-win state for Team Harris.  

• Meet Shapiro
  • “A politician designed in a lab to help Democrats win pivotal Rust Belt swing states would probably look a lot like Josh Shapiro,” writes Yair Rosenberg in The Atlantic. Is that a compliment?

Chicago on deck: Picking Shapiro means he and Harris will have to work overtime at placating the far Left of the party to head off mass protests in Chicago. 

Don’t believe me?

• The New York Times profiles the primary tomorrow between Squad member and Hamas enthusiast Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., who refused to call Hamas a terrorist organization.
  • “‘We were called terrorists during Ferguson,’ (Bush) said of herself and other Black activists who took to the streets after the killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed Black teenager, by a white police officer. ‘Have they hurt people? Absolutely. Has the Israeli military hurt people? Absolutely.’”
  • Annie Karni also writes in the New York Times article, “Ms. Bush said that she was reluctant to classify Hamas as a terrorist group given how little she knows about it.”
    • To be fair: As a member of Congress, Bush speaks about a lot of things she knows nothing about.
    • Click here to watch my interview from her 2018 primary where she appeared unclear how the U.S. tax code works. 

Tune into “On Balance with Leland Vittert” weeknights at 7/6C on NewsNation. ind your channel here. 

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