Coming into the debate against Ohio Sen. JD Vance, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz held a rotten set of cards. Unlike former President Donald Trump, Vance skillfully, calmly, commandingly and with humor and compassion played his hand. He dominated the debate on the issues voters care most about -- the economy, cost of living, gas prices and illegal immigration.
Walz struggled to explain how Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden are not responsible for: hitting a 40-year high in inflation; how Americans now pay 50% more for gas; why a typical family of four now spends $1,200 per month more on goods and services compared to four years ago; how and why Biden-Harris permitted an estimated 12 million illegal aliens, unvetted, to enter the country; and how the world has grown more dangerous under the leadership of Biden-Harris.
About these issues, Harris, Walz, most of the Trump-hating media, much of academia, Hollywood players and Big Tech social media platforms -- apart from the Elon Musk-owned X -- tell Americans, "Do not believe your lying eyes." And if you do believe them, ignore them because "democracy is on the ballot," "reproductive rights (code for abortion) are on the ballot," and Trump is an existential threat to every living creature.
Forget about former Democratic presidential candidate and Secretary of State John Kerry complaining that the First Amendment stands as a "major block" on raising awareness about climate change and stopping "disinformation." Ignore California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who just signed a bill to criminalize political "deepfake" ads, apparently including parody ads, made with artificial intelligence.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wants to make it a crime to disseminate Russian talking points.
"But I also think there are Americans who are engaged in this kind of propaganda, and (we should consider) whether they should be civilly, or even in some cases, criminally charged ..." she said in a recent interview with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow.
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But Trump is a threat to our republic?!
Speaking of Clinton, Vance brought her up during the vice presidential debate on Tuesday when asked, "Trump is still saying he didn't lose the election. Did he lose the 2020 election?"
"Obviously, Donald Trump and I think that there were problems in 2020," Vance said. In what anti-Trumpers hailed as his debate night high-water mark, Walz called this a "damning non-answer." But Vance noted that Clinton still describes her 2016 election defeat as "stolen."
On this issue of denying elections, Vance possessed a lot of unspent ammo. He might have added that Clinton constantly referred to President Trump as "illegitimate." Former President Jimmy Carter in June 2019 publicly attributed Trump's victory to Russia interference. But in an article about its study of the effect of Russian interference in the 2016 election, a study by the New York University Center for Social Media and Politics found that "... despite Russia's influence operations on the platform, there were no measurable changes in attitudes, polarization, or voting behavior among those exposed to this foreign influence campaign." No measurable change in attitude? Yet a 2018 Gallup poll found that 78% of Democrats believe the Russian interference "changed the outcome of the election."
Former President Barack Obama's former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said the Russians, despite their efforts, failed in 2016 to change a single vote tally. Not one. But a 2018 YouGov poll found 66% of Democrats believe "Russia tampered with vote tallies in order to get Donald Trump elected." The same crowd condemning Vance's "damning non-answer" sat silently when Democrats Al Gore, John Kerry, and Hillary Clinton, among others, questioned the legitimacy of their election defeat.
Biden offered up his own damning non-answer when asked if he would accept the outcome of the midterm elections of 2022. At the time, most pundits expected -- and Democrats feared -- a Republican "red wave." Biden gave a Trumpian response: "It easily could be illegitimate. I'm not going to say it's going to be legit. ... The increase of the prospect of it being illegitimate is in direct proportion to us not being able to get these (voting) reforms passed."
Vance effectively argued Trump's case on the economy, cost of living, the borders, foreign policy, the pro-abortion extremism of the Democrats, and election-denying.
Who won the debate? President Trump.
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