October 6, 2025 • 8 mins
NewsNation Chief Washington Anchor Leland Vittert joins us to discuss his new book Born Lucky, share insights on the ongoing government shutdown, and weigh in on the chances of a new peace deal in the Middle East.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Ryan Gorman with Dana mckayon. Right Now, let's go
to the hotline and bring in News Nation Chief Washington
anchor and host of On Balance with Leland Viddert, which
you can watch weeknights at.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Nine on NewsNation. Leland Viddert is back with us.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
You could also check out his free war Notes newsletter
at warnotes dot com and right now you can buy
his new book, Born Lucky, which is out and Leland,
let's start there. It sounds like it has been an
extremely successful rollout for your book, and I believe we
are personally responsible this show for selling about two and
(00:34):
a half copies of it.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
So congratulations, well Ryan, thank you, I would say more
than that, and looking forward to being with you in Tampa.
Ypule of weeks. Born Lucky is the story of my
father choosing to try and adapt me to the world
rather than the world to me, after I was diagnosed
with what we now know to the autism when I
(00:56):
was about five years old, and you're right that it
is had an incredible reception. We've gone through three printings
now there's another three five thousand copies on the way
later this week. And this is a message for every
parent of a kid who is having a hard time,
doesn't matter if it's ADHD, anxiety, bullying, at school, autism.
(01:20):
I had one mother come up to me who had
read the book and.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
Talk about how it spoke to her because her son.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Had a nut allergy that she had helped him overcome
rather than just try and pull every peanut out of
an elementary school. It speaks across the board, and I
think that's why it's resonating. I am a vision anchor,
which is inherently narcissistic profession, but I do not believe
that whatever success Born Lucky is having right now is
(01:45):
about me. It's about families giving hope and parents realizing
that they have real agency and real power that nobody,
especially the experts, don't talk about.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
Well.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
I think the cover helps. It's a cute cover, the
picture of you that it really is. Have you seen it, Dana, Oh, yeah,
I've seen it. I've seen it. Yeah, of course I have.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Leland, what was what happened with AI generated copies of
your book or something when it's sold out on Amazon?
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Well, evidently there are people who or computers that check
and see what books are trending on Amazon and We
went from you know nothing to number two or three
in new releases.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
Overnight thanks to your listeners.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
You know, you and I we all talked on Monday
morning one. Yeah, and you know we did Barry Weiss's
podcast making Kelly Show on and on and.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
On and a little significant Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Ryan, it's all about you.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
We know, Dana, I feel your pain.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Okay, there's no idea.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Yeah, but no, the AI bots generated all all of
these fake books, and I was getting emails from people like,
I read your book and it's absolutely trash. How can
you try to charge people the people who had bought
the fake books?
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Crazy?
Speaker 2 (03:12):
God, I didn't even know that.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
They take like the publicity pictures and they kind of
modify them a little bit, and then they take they
have to, like chet GPT, write fifty pages.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
About Leland Dinterden, because.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
There's enough material out there that can kind of generate
fifty pages. And there you go. So when you go
on Amazon, look for Born Lucky, or you can go
to born luckybook dot com for only the genuine thing.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Yeah, not Lauren Bucky, the knop Off version of.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
The book, or not the new Leland memoir.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Right exactly.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
We're joining my News Nation Chief Washington anchor Leland Viddert,
So no shortage of news to start the week. You
have the government shutdown continuing, You've got the push for
Middle East peace continuing, and this battle over immig ration
enforcement continues. You know, what is it that you're really
honed in on here on this Monday morning ahead of
(04:09):
tonight's show.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
A couple of things what you just talked about.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
I think the.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Immigration fight is really a sad and fascinating one because
I think we can all agree that federal law enforcement
should be at least able to protect themselves, and that
the idea of pulling local police protection from them to
(04:34):
try and make political points is really a not good thing.
I mean, we're sort of cascating to if we're going
to allow large.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
Groups to surround federal law enforcement and the local cops
won't do.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Their job because the governor of that state doesn't like
the president or once to try to run for president himself,
which I'm talking obviously about Illinois and J. B. Pritsko.
That feels to me is really dangerous for lack of
a better term.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
That's number one.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
Number two the thing I'm watching that I think is really.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Studying and underreported is the gain explosion of violence against
Jews and marches against Jews around the world, and I
think it's only a matter of time before it comes
to the United States. There was the killing in London
of two Jews on the Octuport, followed by marches of
(05:29):
tens of thousands of people not demanding a free Palestine,
but chanting about killing Jews. And that is happening not
only in the UK, but in Amsterdam and other major
European cities Spain, for example. And you combine that with
for example, Mam Damie in New York, it doesn't take
(05:50):
a big leap to think that this is coming to
the United States.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Yeah, and this is all happening as we're getting ready
for another anniverse of the horrific October seventh attacks tomorrow
and the President working hard on a Middle East peace steal,
which look, it's the Middle East.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
This could all fall apart within the next ten minutes.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
But it definitely feels like we're at as far along
a point in this peace process as we've been in
quite some time. And it seems like the Arab countries
in the region, the pressure that Trumps put on them
to put on Hamas to get a deal done. That
might be the difference this time.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Well, that's going to be the only chance right is
Im into the Arab country. Look, I lived in the
Middle East for four years. There's a couple of chapters
in Born Lucky, one of which really shows and illustrates
where my moral clarity comes on the Israel Palestine or
Palestadian debate. Clearly, Brian, you and I talked about this
(06:57):
a lot after October seven. I think that the idea
that Hamas is going to effectively give up, and that
Hamas fighters in the Hamas military leadership is going to
effectively give up and not die on the battlefield, but
by die in some you know, cafe and Lillah hammer
(07:17):
after they go into exile and the Israelis then hunt
them all down didn't make a lot of sense to me,
because it is impossible to have any type forget peace
but just stability in Gaza until Hamas is gone. Yep,
you can't do that, and therefore it's going to require
(07:38):
those guys leaving, which means the Israelis are going to
hunt them down and kill them somewhere else in the world,
or it means you kill them on the battlefield. And
I knowing a lot of these terrorists, they much prefer
to die on the battlefield, So I don't really see
them giving up.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
But you don't know, I don't.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
It doesn't.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
It feels to me like, you know, when we all
fought on Friday night, Oh my god, there's a deal.
They're going to release the hostages. It's a lot more complicated.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Than that one hundred percent all right, News Nation.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
We certainly hope it, guys, but absolutely more complicated than that.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
News Nation Chief Washington anchor and host of On Balance
with Leland Vittert, which you can watch weeknights at nine
on News Nation.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Leland Vitert with Us. You could also check out his.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Free Warnes newsletter at warnotes dot com and get his
book Born Lucky on Amazon today.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Leland, great to talk to you. Thanks so much always,
Ryan
It's Ryan Gorman with Dana mckayon. Right Now, let's go
to the hotline and bring in News Nation Chief Washington
anchor and host of On Balance with Leland Viddert, which
you can watch weeknights at.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Nine on NewsNation. Leland Viddert is back with us.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
You could also check out his free war Notes newsletter
at warnotes dot com and right now you can buy
his new book, Born Lucky, which is out and Leland,
let's start there. It sounds like it has been an
extremely successful rollout for your book, and I believe we
are personally responsible this show for selling about two and
(00:34):
a half copies of it.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
So congratulations, well Ryan, thank you, I would say more
than that, and looking forward to being with you in Tampa.
Ypule of weeks. Born Lucky is the story of my
father choosing to try and adapt me to the world
rather than the world to me, after I was diagnosed
with what we now know to the autism when I
(00:56):
was about five years old, and you're right that it
is had an incredible reception. We've gone through three printings
now there's another three five thousand copies on the way
later this week. And this is a message for every
parent of a kid who is having a hard time,
doesn't matter if it's ADHD, anxiety, bullying, at school, autism.
(01:20):
I had one mother come up to me who had
read the book and.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
Talk about how it spoke to her because her son.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Had a nut allergy that she had helped him overcome
rather than just try and pull every peanut out of
an elementary school. It speaks across the board, and I
think that's why it's resonating. I am a vision anchor,
which is inherently narcissistic profession, but I do not believe
that whatever success Born Lucky is having right now is
(01:45):
about me. It's about families giving hope and parents realizing
that they have real agency and real power that nobody,
especially the experts, don't talk about.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
Well.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
I think the cover helps. It's a cute cover, the
picture of you that it really is. Have you seen it, Dana, Oh, yeah,
I've seen it. I've seen it. Yeah, of course I have.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Leland, what was what happened with AI generated copies of
your book or something when it's sold out on Amazon?
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Well, evidently there are people who or computers that check
and see what books are trending on Amazon and We
went from you know nothing to number two or three
in new releases.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
Overnight thanks to your listeners.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
You know, you and I we all talked on Monday
morning one. Yeah, and you know we did Barry Weiss's
podcast making Kelly Show on and on and.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
On and a little significant Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Ryan, it's all about you.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
We know, Dana, I feel your pain.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Okay, there's no idea.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Yeah, but no, the AI bots generated all all of
these fake books, and I was getting emails from people like,
I read your book and it's absolutely trash. How can
you try to charge people the people who had bought
the fake books?
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Crazy?
Speaker 2 (03:12):
God, I didn't even know that.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
They take like the publicity pictures and they kind of
modify them a little bit, and then they take they
have to, like chet GPT, write fifty pages.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
About Leland Dinterden, because.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
There's enough material out there that can kind of generate
fifty pages. And there you go. So when you go
on Amazon, look for Born Lucky, or you can go
to born luckybook dot com for only the genuine thing.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Yeah, not Lauren Bucky, the knop Off version of.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
The book, or not the new Leland memoir.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Right exactly.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
We're joining my News Nation Chief Washington anchor Leland Viddert,
So no shortage of news to start the week. You
have the government shutdown continuing, You've got the push for
Middle East peace continuing, and this battle over immig ration
enforcement continues. You know, what is it that you're really
honed in on here on this Monday morning ahead of
(04:09):
tonight's show.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
A couple of things what you just talked about.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
I think the.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Immigration fight is really a sad and fascinating one because
I think we can all agree that federal law enforcement
should be at least able to protect themselves, and that
the idea of pulling local police protection from them to
(04:34):
try and make political points is really a not good thing.
I mean, we're sort of cascating to if we're going
to allow large.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
Groups to surround federal law enforcement and the local cops
won't do.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Their job because the governor of that state doesn't like
the president or once to try to run for president himself,
which I'm talking obviously about Illinois and J. B. Pritsko.
That feels to me is really dangerous for lack of
a better term.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
That's number one.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
Number two the thing I'm watching that I think is really.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Studying and underreported is the gain explosion of violence against
Jews and marches against Jews around the world, and I
think it's only a matter of time before it comes
to the United States. There was the killing in London
of two Jews on the Octuport, followed by marches of
(05:29):
tens of thousands of people not demanding a free Palestine,
but chanting about killing Jews. And that is happening not
only in the UK, but in Amsterdam and other major
European cities Spain, for example. And you combine that with
for example, Mam Damie in New York, it doesn't take
(05:50):
a big leap to think that this is coming to
the United States.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Yeah, and this is all happening as we're getting ready
for another anniverse of the horrific October seventh attacks tomorrow
and the President working hard on a Middle East peace steal,
which look, it's the Middle East.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
This could all fall apart within the next ten minutes.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
But it definitely feels like we're at as far along
a point in this peace process as we've been in
quite some time. And it seems like the Arab countries
in the region, the pressure that Trumps put on them
to put on Hamas to get a deal done. That
might be the difference this time.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Well, that's going to be the only chance right is
Im into the Arab country. Look, I lived in the
Middle East for four years. There's a couple of chapters
in Born Lucky, one of which really shows and illustrates
where my moral clarity comes on the Israel Palestine or
Palestadian debate. Clearly, Brian, you and I talked about this
(06:57):
a lot after October seven. I think that the idea
that Hamas is going to effectively give up, and that
Hamas fighters in the Hamas military leadership is going to
effectively give up and not die on the battlefield, but
by die in some you know, cafe and Lillah hammer
(07:17):
after they go into exile and the Israelis then hunt
them all down didn't make a lot of sense to me,
because it is impossible to have any type forget peace
but just stability in Gaza until Hamas is gone. Yep,
you can't do that, and therefore it's going to require
(07:38):
those guys leaving, which means the Israelis are going to
hunt them down and kill them somewhere else in the world,
or it means you kill them on the battlefield. And
I knowing a lot of these terrorists, they much prefer
to die on the battlefield, So I don't really see
them giving up.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
But you don't know, I don't.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
It doesn't.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
It feels to me like, you know, when we all
fought on Friday night, Oh my god, there's a deal.
They're going to release the hostages. It's a lot more complicated.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Than that one hundred percent all right, News Nation.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
We certainly hope it, guys, but absolutely more complicated than that.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
News Nation Chief Washington anchor and host of On Balance
with Leland Vittert, which you can watch weeknights at nine
on News Nation.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Leland Vitert with Us. You could also check out his.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Free Warnes newsletter at warnotes dot com and get his
book Born Lucky on Amazon today.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Leland, great to talk to you. Thanks so much always,
Ryan
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