The VP Debate...Eh...?

JD Vance and Tim Walz at the Vice Presidential Debate in New York City, New York. Courtesy Mike Segar/Reuters

Nothing will change based on the last debate of the 2024 election.

If you’re a Trump fan, you’re probably upset that JD Vance didn’t do enough to defend him. You’re probably also impressed by Vance’s ability to lie through his teeth so easily, freely, and repeatedly.

You’re still voting for Donald Trump.

If you’re supporting Vice President Harris, you wish that Tim Walz was better in the debate format.

You’re still voting for Kamala Harris.

As I said in my conversation with journalist Abigail Tracy on the latest episode of the Home Front podcast, Tim Walz would generally tell the truth and attempt to be accurate. He accomplished those goals, if unevenly.

I also said that Vance would lie, deceive, and deflect for 90 minutes. He did all of that and more. Despite demonstrating his role as MAGA’s chief ideologue, Vance pretended he cared about ‘bipartisan’ solutions, and said nice things to his opponent.

He was calm, and seemed all too normal.

Vance as chameleon won’t last past his visit to the spin room. Tomorrow, he’ll be on the trail calling for mass deportation of the brown people and sending women back to the kitchen.

Vance flat-out lied on:

• All of Trump’s record

• Gun violence

• The economy

• The environment

• Healthcare

• Abortion

• Childcare

• National Security

• Manufacturing

His biggest whopper of the night, and what for me is the most notable moment of the evening was JD Vance’s unwillingness to agree, live on television, that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election.

We saw doe-eyed fear in Vance as he felt Mike Pence run down his spine.

Style and Substance

JD Vance is so slick he might’ve done debate prep at P. Diddy’s house. He carved figure eights in the ice as he skated through a debate that felt downright old-fashioned.

Per Joy Reid on MSNBC: “A smooth lie is still a lie.”

He talked over the moderators (VanSplaining) as they pressed him on his lies around Haitian immigrants, flashing to a confusing answer on an app no voter has heard of (or used.)

Claiming Trump ‘saved’ the Affordable Care Act was absurd but delivered smoothly.

Vance casually remarked that he’d build additional housing maybe on federal land or national parks. Delivered smoothly, yes, but weird. Really weird. Welcome to Yellowstone Estates, please mind the wildlife!

He almost got away with it! But…he face-planted in the 89th minute. “Donald Trump handed over power peacefully on January 20th.”

Governor Tim Walz is not a skilled debater. I don’t think he would have claimed the talent earlier today or after the event this evening.

He was wobbly on a question that no one (me included) would have thought up when discussing the idea of ‘qualified’ to be Vice President.

But like a good second-half team, Walz recovered and plowed ahead, three yards and a cloud of dust. He politely called Vance on his bullshit and brought substance and experience to his areas.

He forced Vance into acknowledging that Amber Thurman’s death after being unable to receive appropriate medical care in her home state of Georgia was a tragedy

It wasn’t slick, it wasn’t even that pretty, but Walz’s job to defend Kamala Harris and make the case for her presidency. He cleared the bar and will be back on the stump tomorrow, doing what he’s best at: Firing up the troops.

The Moderators

I thought CBS’s decision not to fact check the candidates was chickenshit. It was a cop-out after Trump’s goons worked the refs for two weeks. Vance was clearly full of shit on almost every question, yet they didn’t challenge him, even in the form of follow-up questions.

For example, the idea of using the ‘democracy’ question as a First Amendment argument, given JD Vance is Peter Thiel’s butler and sits at the right-hand of Elon Musk required a follow up.

The questions seemed oblique, as if they didn’t want to ask about hard issues directly. Given these men are vying for the second highest office in the land, sacrificing a little decorum for clarity would have made sense.

Vance, Part II

It’s important to recognize what JD Vance was doing tonight. Authoritarians, though they often tell you exactly what they want to do, are not at all afraid of using tactical retreats when it serves their purposes.

Vance’s performance was an object lesson in understanding that the plan you’re pitching to the American people is a loser. He drove Donald Trump and MAGA through the car wash tonight, hoping voters won’t notice he’s still driving a kubelwagen.

Knowing that he’s less likable than most social diseases, JD Vance only highlighted his creepiness by staring in the camera and discussing his kids and family. It came off as contrived, because it probably is.

I didn’t like JD Vance before this debate. I find him more loathsome and dangerous now than I did two hours ago. Five weeks from now, I hope he loses. Even if he does, it’s clear that JD Vance has all the ability to be MAGA’s next tribune.