Latest from JD Vance Vs. Tim Walz’s showdown

UPDATE, writing: Overall, Tuesday’s lone debate for the 2024 vice presidency was a polite affair, as both candidates suggested there was common ground.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Democratic candidate Kamala Harris’ running mate, underscored the civility of the debate when, as the event drew to a close, he admitted, “I enjoyed the debate tonight, and there was a lot of commonality here, and I’m sensitive to the idea of ​​speaking badly about certain things, and I think I could do that with the senator.

“Me too, man,” said Ohio Sen. JD Vance, Donald Trump’s running mate. intervened.

It’s hard to imagine such a moment in last month’s Harris-Trump debate, and that may be due to Walz and Vance’s backgrounds in the Midwest.

Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan did what good moderators do: they kept things moving and asked specific, pointed questions.

Two major gaffes will likely be remembered: Walz’s admission that he “misspoke” about his presence in China during the Tiananmen Square protests, and Vance’s refusal to say Trump lost the election of 2020. (Trump spent the debate tweeting and, at one point, posted about an entirely different topic: the death of Pete Rose. Perhaps he was distracted, bored, or both.)

Earlier in the debate, Walz pressed Vance on a question related to Trump’s continued claims that the 2020 election was rigged.

“Did he lose the 2020 election? » asked Walz.

Vance did not respond and instead said he was “focused on the future” and attempted to attack the Biden administration and tech platforms for alleged “censorship.”

“It’s a damning non-answer,” Walz said.

“It’s a damning false response to not talk about censorship,” Vance said. “Obviously, Donald Trump and I think there were problems in 2020. We talked about it.”

Vance attempted to whitewash the events of January 6, claiming that the fact that Joe Biden was sworn in was proof that there had been a “peaceful transfer of power.” In fact, 140 police officers were assaulted at the Capitol, and Trump waited until late in the afternoon to tell his supporters to go home. As rioters threatened Mike Pence, Trump tweeted: “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done. » Walz called Vance’s characterization of January 6 revisionism.

Earlier, Vance had blamed immigrants for increasing the cost of housing, saying “massive increases in housing prices have occurred alongside a massive increase in the illegal alien population.”

But Walz said the problem is that “a lot of people view housing as another commodity. We can move it, we can move it. It’s not the people who live in these houses.

He highlighted Minnesota’s investments in housing, including down payment assistance.

“We can’t blame immigrants for that alone. That’s not the case in many cities,” Walz said.

***

Part of the vice-presidential debate was devoted to each candidate’s gaffes.

Walz asked about his claim that he was in Hong Kong when the unrest and massacre in Tiananmen Square took place in 1989. In fact, Walz was not there during the protests, which culminated in the repression by Beijing in June of the same year.

Walz gave a lengthy response and said he had been an “idiot” at times.

“I came in that summer and I misspoke about it, so I’m just going to, that’s what I said,” Walz said. “So I was in Hong Kong and China during the democracy protest, and I went there and I learned a lot about what should be in terms of governance.”

Vance was asked about his past comments disparaging Trump, once comparing him to Hitler, as well as Trump’s tenure as president. As he has before, Vance criticized the media for believing their coverage of Trump.

“I was wrong about Donald Trump,” he said, while implicitly attacking Walz for not granting more press interviews.

On the subject of abortion, Vance, emphasizing his past support for a national ban on abortion after 15 weeks, said he had never supported one.

“I talked… when I was running for Senate in 2022, about establishing a minimum national standard,” he said.

According to CNN, on a podcast in 2022, Vance said he “certainly would like to see abortion be illegal nationwide” and that he was “sympathetic” to the idea that a ban was necessary to prevent women from crossing state lines to obtain the procedure. .

The debate moderators were fact-checking, which led to a tense moment with Vance.

At one point, co-moderator Brennan noted that a large number of Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, had legal status. Vance said illegal immigration has devastated this community.

Vance interjected, “The rules said you weren’t going to fact-check me, and since you’re fact-checking me, I think it’s important to say what’s going on,” suggesting that it’s relatively easy to get legal authorization. Status.

Brennan then said, “Thank you, Senator, for describing the legal process. We have so much to bring to the senator.

“It’s been planned since 1990,” Walz interjected.

The two candidates continued to train, but their microphones were then cut off. “The audience can’t hear you because your mics are muted,” Brennan said, as she moved on to another topic.

CBS News said before the debate that while candidates would not be vetted as they would be on Sunday broadcasts, it would still be up to moderators to decide when to intervene. The channel also said it reserves the right to mute the sound. microphones.

Earlier, during a discussion on climate, co-moderator O’Donnell also noted: “The overwhelming consensus among scientists is that Earth’s climate is warming at an unprecedented rate. »

Vance, the Ohio senator, and Walz, the Minnesota governor, opened the debate by clashing over who is responsible for the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.

After Iranian missiles rained on Israel, Brennan asked the candidates whether they would support or oppose Israel launching a preemptive strike on Tehran’s nuclear capabilities.

Walz did not answer the question directly, but took the opportunity to attack Trump’s fitness for office, saying: “an almost 80-year-old Donald Trump talking about crowd sizes n That’s not what we need right now. »

“It is those who were closest to Donald Trump who understand how dangerous he is when the world is so dangerous,” Walz said, referring to those who served in his administration who warned against him , as well as Vance himself.

He criticized Trump for withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal.

“Iran is closer to nuclear weapons than before because of Donald Trump’s inconsistent leadership,” Walz said.

Vance, meanwhile, said Trump ushered in an era of stability, saying he “recognized that for people to fear the United States requires peace through strength.”

“They had to recognize that if they stepped out of line, U.S. global leadership would restore stability and peace to the world,” he said.

Vance blamed Harris for being part of an administration at a time when Iran was accelerating its nuclear program.

“You blame Donald Trump. Who has been vice president in the last three and a half years? » said Vance.

This will likely be the only debate between Vance and Walz – and perhaps the last election showdown this cycle. Trump has so far refused a new confrontation with Harris, who had agreed to CNN’s plans for an October 22 presidential debate. Trump and Harris only held one debate, an ABC News-sponsored event on September 10.

The candidates appeared in a network studio without an audience, while the political press watched on monitors in another part of the CBS Broadcast Center complex.

Typically, vice presidential debates have little impact on a presidential race. One of the most memorable moments occurred in 1988, when Democrat Lloyd Bentsen, Michael Dukakis’ running mate, disguised Dan Quayle, the Republican Party nominee alongside George HW Bush. “Senator, you are not Jack Kennedy,” Bentsen told him. The Republican ticket won the general election, although that moment has always been linked to Quayle’s career.

This cycle, with polls showing the race in a deadlock, the debate could very well matter. Neither Walz nor Vance had much of a national profile before each being chosen as his running mate, and pundits largely had to guess how each would perform during the evening.