Tipsheet

JD Vance Put the Smackdown on Tim Walz in VP Debate Showdown

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  October 02, 2024 6:50 AM

Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) and Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz faced off in CBS News’ vice presidential debate Tuesday night. It wasn’t a particularly nasty debate, as the two men took an ‘agree to disagree’ attitude toward one another. But we know the truth: the two men have made their mutual dislike for one another well-known.

It was a good night for Republicans, which was evident regarding the liberal media reaction which we’ll get to later today. They had a total meltdown on the usual networks. With all due respect to former President Donald Trump, Vance is probably the best debater in this cycle. While he said he was nervous in the spin room with Sean Hannity, Vance didn’t exhibit any sign of being uncomfortable. He was in command of the facts, knew how to pivot on the question aimed to trip him up, and engaged Mr. Walz on his record well. 

Walz was all over the place. He had moments of clarity and precision regarding delivering his lines, but he was bug-eyed, rattled, and wholly unprepared for some discrepancies in his record. He claimed he was in China during the Tiananmen Square Massacre, which is a lie. Even more damning is that there is no pivot; he’s on record in a 2019 radio interview regarding this tall tale. It was a mess of an answer. 

Vance did well to tie the 2024 Democratic ticket to Joe Biden and his failed policies, ripping away the window dressing that anything the Harris-Walz ticket promotes is anything new—it’s all Biden initiatives. Vance delivered a master class in pivoting on a loaded question about climate change in the wake of the Hurricane Helene disaster. 

Without being too aggressive, Vance was able to run Walz into a ditch on a host of issues, like Minnesota’s insane abortion law and immigration. Concerning the Second Amendment and gun control, Walz did have a cringeworthy moment where he misspoke, saying he was a friend of school shooters. One of the high points of the debate was when Vance caught Walz flat-footed on trade, the economy, and how to make things better for America’s working class. Even CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell was forced to bring up voters’ preference for Donald Trump when handling the economy. 

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It wasn't a Joe Biden-like trainwreck, but Walz was the inferior opponent. Will it matter? Who knows, but we understand why this man isn’t allowed to do interviews alone.