Analysis torches JD Vance’s 'bad excuses' for dodging VP debate

08 August 2024

When 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris presented her new running mate, Tim Walz, at a huge campaign rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday, August 6, the Minnesota governor slammed and mocked Donald Trump's running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio — and declared, "I can't wait to debate the guy."

But The New Republic's Edith Olmsted, in a biting article published on August 7, argues that so far, Vance is offering "bad excuses" to avoid debating Walz.

"Just as Vance can't seem to come to terms with the fact that he's not debating Harris anymore," Olmsted observes, "Trump can't seem to cope without (President Joe) Biden. On Tuesday night, Trump wrote a surreal post on Truth Social in which he imagined Biden crashing the Democratic National Convention to seize the nomination back from Harris. Fanfiction aside, Trump and Vance just can't seem to face the reality that this is a fundamentally different race from the one they signed on for."

Before Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris, the vice president agreed to debate Vance on CBS News on Tuesday, August 13. Now, Vance is saying that he still wants to debate Harris that day but won't commit to debating Walz.

Vance, at a campaign event in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, said, "We'll see if the Democrats pull a bait and switch on Tim Walz, or on Kamala Harris, just like they did with Joe Biden."

But such rhetoric, Olmsted stresses, only shows that Vance is hoping to avoid debating Walz — while the Minnesota governor is anxious to debate Vance.

Olmsted argues, "Their slate of bad excuses for not debating Harris and Walz respectively has betrayed the depths of their obstinate, delusional approach to campaigning, as well as something much more troubling: that the two are plainly incapable of adapting to their new opponents."

Read The New Republic's full article at this link.

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