How Vance failed to answer the question that mattered most: analysis

02 October 2024

Compared to the contentious debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump in Philadelphia on September 10, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz maintained a civil, polite tone when they held a vice-presidential debate in New York City on Tuesday night, October 1. Vance and Walz disagreed on a long list of things, but they avoided the type of scathing attacks that characterized the blistering Harris/Trump showdown of September 10.

During an appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" the day after the Vance/Walz debate, both Princeton University professor Eddie Glaude Jr. and Never Trump conservative Charlie Sykes argued that Walz missed an opportunity to show viewers how extreme some of Vance's positions are. Glaude told host Joe Scarborough that Walz allowed Vance to "cosplay" being a conventional conservative politician, and Sykes complained that the debate "had the effect of sanewashing JD Vance."

Sykes, did, however, argue that Walz managed to expose Vance as an election denialist — a point that journalist Will Saletan also makes in an article published by the conservative website The Bulwark on October 2.

"In Tuesday night's vice-presidential debate," Saletan explains, "JD Vance and Tim Walz covered lots of issues: inflation, housing, guns, abortion, immigration, health care, and much more. But there was only one question on which the vice presidency — the job for which these two men are competing — really matters. That question was whether they would certify the results of the next presidential election. And on that subject, Vance gave a non-answer that instantly disqualifies him: He refused to acknowledge that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election."

The GOP vice presidential nominee, Saletan adds, "signaled most clearly that he was willing to push constitutional boundaries to do Trump's bidding."

The journalist notes that during an appearance on ABC News' "This Week" in February, Vance "made it clear that unlike (former Vice President) Mike Pence, he would have collaborated in Trump's scheme to block the certification of electoral votes on January 6, 2021." And the October 1 debate with Walz, according to Saletan, showed that Trump's running mate hasn't backed down from that extreme position.

Walz asked Vance, "Did (Trump) lose the 2020 election?" — and Vance's evasive response was, "I'm focused on the future." Walz told him, "That is a damning non-answer."

Saletan argues, "It certainly is…. That moment tells you the most important thing about Vance: When democracy is in peril, he will bow to Trump, not to the people or the Constitution. He must never be given that chance."

Will Saletan's full article for The Bulwark is available at this link.

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