Who won? Not the ‘knucklehead’

A visibly nervous Tim Walz came up against a self-assured JD Vance, who proved himself an able salesman for even the most unpalatable aspects of Donald Trump’s agenda to edge the running-mates’ debate.

Despite being vilified by Democrats as a misogynistic opportunist after his comments on “childless cat ladies” running the country, Vance gave a slick performance promoting Trumpism with civility, empathy and focus.

He emphasised how much he loved his wife and children, he talked of his love for a woman he knew who had an abortion, and at times he touched on his faith. It was all part of a careful plan to reboot his image after a bruising few weeks of revelations about past comments.

The 40-year-old senator from Ohio showed that he was on the Republican ticket to make overtures to voters scared by Trump and succeeded in sounding reassuring about much of the former president’s most contentious conduct.

Walz missed early opportunities to capitalise on holes in Vance’s arguments but eventually found his feet to finish strongly — albeit probably long after many viewers had gone to bed.

Chosen by Kamala Harris to improve her appeal to the Midwest, Walz, 60, leaned heavily on experiences from his home state of Minnesota, which ended up sounding parochial rather than presidential.

While passive in the face of many of Vance’s more unfounded claims, Walz had a debate of two halves. Only in the final half hour did he finally find his voice during a round on healthcare, sounding genuinely passionate in defence of the Affordable Care Act, the expansion of government healthcare introduced by President Obama. This seemed to relax Walz and CBS News played a part in handing him a strong finish by choosing the subject of democracy for the final subject round.

This was when Walz showed his superpower of being able to startle viewers by breaking out from his usual neighbourly persona to confront Vance with a sense of urgency about Trump’s attempts to cling onto power. It was also the only time Walz really put Vance on the spot, challenging him to declare that Trump lost in 2020, a question the Republican ducked in a way that made him look shifty and weak for the first time of the night.

Of the six topics raised by the moderators in the first half, Walz was the clear winner only in the final one on reproductive rights — which he ought to have won, given that voters strongly back the Democrats on restoring national access to abortion.

The debate started badly for Walz, who was posed the question of whether the US on his watch would support Israel carrying out a pre-emptive strike on Iran. The Minnesota governor, probably mindful of the large number of potential Democratic voters who are furious at President Biden’s strong support for Israel, did not give a straight answer but tried to use it as an opportunity to attack Trump, saying: “Those that were closest to Donald Trump understand how dangerous he is when the world is this dangerous.”

At one point Walz muddled up Iran and Israel, saying: “But the expansion of Israel and its proxies is an absolute, fundamental necessity for the United States to have the steady leadership there.”

 

 

 

 

This left the field clear for Vance, who used most of his time to introduce himself and his roots but gave a clear answer: “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.”

Vance was able to emphasise the point that Trump “made the world more secure”, which resonates with voters who have seen expensive wars break out in Ukraine and the Middle East on Biden’s watch. He clinched a strong start by saying: “I’m 40 years old. What was the last time that an American president didn’t have a major conflict break out? The only answer is during the four years of Donald Trump as president.”

Walz edged the second topic of climate change, a subject where voters say they have greater trust in the Democrats. Vance made the America First argument for re-shoring manufacturing away from “the dirtiest parts of the world”, while Walz used the topic as a chance to bash Trump on climate change, saying the former president “called it a hoax and then joked that these things would make more beachfront property to be able to invest in”. Walz was also able to talk up extra jobs and energy production under Biden and Harris.

On the third topic of immigration, Vance showed his mettle as a “sane-washer” for the Trump agenda when he sought to take the sting out of plans to round up the millions of people who are in the country illegally. Vance explained that the first to be targeted would be the million or so illegal migrants who have criminal records, according to official figures, and turned the debate onto the shortage of affordable housing for Americans as a result of mass migration.

The most difficult round to navigate for both candidates was on their personal shortcomings — Vance on once comparing Trump to Hitler and Walz on his claim, contradicted by official records, to have been in China during the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

Vance did by far the better job, using his fallback explanation that he once believed too much of the media’s caricature of Trump but knows him better now, while Walz bumbled through a non-answer that involved admitting he was “a knucklehead at times” — a gift to the Republican meme machine.

At the end, Walz was allowed to show he could compete in a debate, turning on Vance for his “damning non-answer” over failing to say if Trump lost the 2020 election. He scored a direct hit by referring to the demise of Mike Pence, Vance’s predecessor, as Trump’s wing-man for having the courage to call him out. “I’m pretty shocked by this,” Walz said about Vance’s refusal to say Trump lost. “He lost the election. This is not a debate.

“Look, when Mike Pence made that decision to certify that election, that’s why Mike Pence isn’t on this stage. What I’m concerned about is where is the firewall with Donald Trump?”

If this had been the first topic of the debate rather than the last, it might have been a different night.