Walzing all over Vance
As expected, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, the Democratic vice-president contender, took his GOP opponent Ohio Sen. JD Vance to task for his repeated claims that Haitian immigrants were consuming their neighbors’ pets. That was about as close as the candidates came to including people of color in their first and only debate on Tuesday evening. Vance’s lies and denials were the key takeaways from the debate, if there was a highlight.
On more than one question from the CBS moderators, Vance either dodged or hedged in response, most notably when he was asked during an exchange with Walz if Trump lost the 2020 election. “Tim, I’m focused on the future,” Vance said. “Did Kamala Harris censor Americans from speaking their minds in the wake of the 2020 Covid situation?” Walz’s response was “That is a damning non-answer.”
That might have been the most egregious sidestep, but there were several others in which Vance continued to stand behind Trump, careful not to say anything that might damage his candidacy or Trump’s. Rather than respond to questions about the past, Vance repeated that he was more concerned about the future. He refused to say if he would certify a defeat by Trump in the coming election.
Immigrants have been repeatedly targeted by Trump as villains, and it was a gambit in Vance’s move against Walz to bring them up. “Look, in Springfield, Ohio, and in communities all across this country, you’ve got schools that are overwhelmed, you’ve got hospitals that are overwhelmed, you have got housing that is totally unaffordable because we brought in millions of illegal immigrants to compete with Americans for scarce homes,” Vance said. “The people that I’m most worried about in Springfield, Ohio, are the American citizens who have had their lives destroyed by Kamala Harris’s open border. It is a disgrace, Tim. And I actually think I agree with you. I think you want to solve this problem, but I don’t think that Kamala Harris does.”
Without referring directly to Vance’s allegation, Walz placed the matter in a broader context, stating that “…We can’t blame immigrants…that’s not the case that’s happening in many cities. The fact of the matter is, we don’t have enough naturally affordable housing, but we can make sure that the government’s there to help kickstart it, create that, create that base.”
On foreign policy, Walz drubbed Vance, particularly on the conflict in the Middle East. “October 7th, Hamas terrorists massacred over 1,400 Israelis and took prisoners,” Walz said. “…Israel’s ability to be able to defend itself is absolutely fundamental; getting its hostages back, fundamental; and ending the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. But the expansion of Israel and its proxies is an absolute, fundamental necessity for the United States to have steady leadership there. You saw it experienced today, where, along with our Israeli partners and our coalition, we were able to stop the incoming attack. But what’s fundamental here is that steady leadership is going to matter. It’s clear. And the world saw it on that debate stage a few weeks ago. A nearly 80-year-old Donald Trump talking about crowd sizes is not what we need at this moment.”
Unlike Walz, who cited Israel several times, Vance only mentioned the nation once, noting, “Look, it is up to Israel what they think they need to do to keep their country safe. And we should support our allies wherever they are when they’re fighting the bad guys. I think that’s the right approach to take with the Israel question.”
In his closing remarks—the most extensive of the night, Vance never mentioned Trump, which was another indication of his keeping his distance from his own running mate. Walz stressed the importance of Harris’s plan, quoting Maya Angelou and FDR: “Kamala Harris is bringing us a new way forward. She’s bringing us a politics of joy. She’s bringing real solutions for the middle class. And she’s centering you at the heart of that, all the while asking everyone, ‘Join this movement. Make your voices heard. Let’s look for a new day where everybody gets that opportunity and everybody gets a chance to thrive.’”
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