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.  

Watch tonight: Our friend Jillian Michaels just left the White House for a major “MAHA” (Make America Healthy Again) announcement about chronic disease in America’s kids.

• Yes, we keep spending more on health care and getting worse results
• Yes, America’s kids keep getting more unhealthy while taking more medicine. 
• Yes, we have a problem.
  • “We can’t afford not to do something about this,” says MAHA.
  • But we might not be able to afford to do “something.”
    • The economics of taking out ultra-processed foods from America’s diet — especially low-income Americans’ diets — appear not to work. 

Perspective: Much will be said — see below — about the assassination of two Israeli diplomats in D.C. today.

• They are rightfully remembered as a young, idealistic couple representing their country on the eve of their engagement. 
• Too often, though, we focus on the crime and the criminal rather than the victim.
  • That was certainly the case in 1975 when actor Kelsey Grammer’s sister Karen was kidnapped and murdered.
  • Her brother, known as Frasier on TV, just wrote a book remembering his sister and the lessons we can all learn about love and loss. 
  • Order the book here — Grammer joins us tonight. I found it incredibly moving. 

Going bankrupt: Republicans’ “Big Beautiful Bill” ended America’s last best chance to deal with:

• An exploding national debt 
• Out-of-control entitlements
• The world moving away from endless bankrolling of America’s fat and happy spending
  • It’s a shame, really — what a missed opportunity to cement America’s dominance for the next 100 years. 

Ernest Hemingway wrote in “The Sun Also Rises”: 

• “‘How did you go bankrupt?’ ‘Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.’”
• It’s one of George Will’s favorite quotes.
  • He started warning us about this in the 1990s when the debt was one-seventh what it is now.
    • Mr. Will joins us tonight on whether we have reached the “sudden” phase. 

Not Surprised

The murder of two Israeli diplomats by a man who then wrapped himself in a keffiyeh and yelled “Free Palestine” is the single most predicted and predictable thing of 2025. 

• For nearly 18 months, the Left in America justified, coddled and explained away tens of thousands marching demanding the eradication of Israel.
  • Let’s revisit the chants on the streets of major American cities and at college campuses across America:
    • “From the river to the sea” advocates for a Middle East without Israel or Jews
    • “Globalize the intifada” means taking the violent uprising against Israel to Jews around the world 
    • There are more — the Anti-Defamation League has a helpful guide 
• It should be no surprise that someone took all the wannabe radicals up on their offer.
• The Left in America typically accuses the Right of what they themselves are doing.
  • “A threat to democracy.”
    • Well, turns out former President Biden’s wife and closest advisers were running the country while Biden could only work 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
  • “Political violence”
    • Just look at the two assassination attempts against Trump and now this 
  • Antisemitism
    • The BLM movement morphed into the pro-Gaza types on America’s college campuses. 
• Yet, the Left will cry that the Department of Homeland Security threaten to ban Harvard from accepting foreign students because they wouldn’t kick out the terrorist sympathizers. 
• About this time in Trump’s first term, a few dozen neo-Nazis dressed up and carried tiki torches shouting “Jews will not replace us” in Charlottesville, Virginia, and America was rightly outraged.
  • Democrats said we needed a national reckoning on hate — every Republican was forced to answer for Charlottesville. 
  • Yet, for 18 months, we’ve had progressives chanting about killing Jews and nobody cares. Why is that? 
  • Yes, some Palestinians are hurting — but they are hurting because of Iran, Hamas and Turkey — not Israel. 

Personal privilege: The wink and nod from the Democrats to the pro-Hamas types over the past 18 months must stop. 

• It’s pretty simple — as George W. Bush once said, “Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists.”

More to come: Before the killings, The Wall Street Journal published a great op-ed from Jukka Savolainen, “The Alienated ‘Knowledge Class’ Could Turn Violent.”

• Most of the recent international terror list organizations and similar individuals came from leftist ideology:
  • The Red Army Faction
  • Action Directe 
  • The Weather Underground 
  • Red Brigades in Italy 
  • Alleged UnitedHealthcare assassin Luigi Mangione 

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.