I think JD Vance won the vice-presidential debate convincingly. It may not matter. It is not that vice-presidential debates aren’t important. It’s that the media can shape reality, and what was said and done matters less than what is said about it afterward.
David Axelrod:
Here’s the thing:
VPs don’t make policy. Presidents do.
Who talks about the Pence years?!?— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) October 2, 2024
Yet Kamala Harris is more than vice president. There have been two recent attempts on Donald Trump’s life and Joe Biden is ailing. The vice presidency may have never been more important. Mr. Axelrod’s comment was obviously an attempt to distract from a Democrat defeat.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz was nervous at the beginning of the debate. In contrast, JD Vance was confident, well-spoken, and clear. Online, many Trump supporters believe he won overwhelmingly.
But debates aren’t settled by substance. During the Kennedy-Nixon debate, those listening on radio thought Richard Nixon won, but those watching on television backed the photogenic Kennedy. JD Vance won the optics battle for those watching, but Walz may win the interpretation battle settled by journalists.
Senator Vance’s real opponent was not Tim Walz, whose appeal is that of the nonthreatening Stupid White Guy from Commercials. Mr. Vance’s real opponents are the media, including moderators Noah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan. Early in the debate, they tried to “fact check” JD Vance on immigration.
“Fact checks” during a debate are something new. However, since 2016, some journalists seem to have decided they were not biased enough in their coverage, and that is why Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton. Mocking even the pretense of hearing “both sides” was pioneered by Jon Stewart’s Daily Show, and some journalists have an obvious bias when they correct politicians’ mistakes. They also seem to believe no one has the right to correct them.
When the moderators interrupted Mr. Vance to “fact check” him on Haitian immigrants, Mr. Vance tried to explain. This led to two problems. First, he interrupted women. While there is a fantasy that women can be as tough and strong as men, there is also an unwritten rule that they should be treated with the delicacy due a Victorian lady. For example, during the now forgotten New York Senate race between Republican Congressman Rick Lazio and Hillary Clinton, the former may have lost the campaign when he approached Mrs. Clinton and ask her to sign a piece of paper. Many said this was threatening to the fragile former First Lady.
For JD Vance to contradict women was borderline violence. What he said was irrelevant.
JD Vance talking over the female moderators. We women have all been there. Overtalked by an entitled mansplainer.
— Amy Diehl, Ph.D. (@amydiehl) October 2, 2024
The second problem is that progressives distorted Senator Vance’s objection. He said that the “fact check” was both against the rules agreed upon and inaccurate. Still, the first part turned into a viral meme shared by many progressives and the Kamala Harris campaign itself.
This was the moment that mattered. Trump’s political movement relies on total impunity for liars, and mostly gets it. The lies bind them together, cement their feeling of power. pic.twitter.com/McbdBNwUyq
— Anne Applebaum (@anneapplebaum) October 2, 2024
Still thinking about this pic.twitter.com/ROm0RoNelE
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) October 2, 2024
What the senator said doesn’t matter.
Chris Cuomo: “At one point, Vance wanted to correct something about how Haitians got into this country and he was RIGHT and the moderators wouldn’t let him correct it.” pic.twitter.com/qwg0WDizfX
— Real Mac Report (@RealMacReport) October 2, 2024
Great example of how they meme themselves into beliefs that are completely contrary to reality
Vance literally said the exact opposite – they did the most blatantly dishonest quote trimming – adding the word “not” and made it into a meme
This is a demonstration of a part of the… https://t.co/dIoLFNvmo1 pic.twitter.com/m23quU3T6p
— Covfefe Anon (@CovfefeAnon) October 3, 2024
In fact, when Senator Vance told Margaret Brennan about the thin “legal” process that supposedly entitled Haitians to be in this country, she sarcastically responded, “Thank you, senator, for describing the legal process.” A little later she muted the senator’s microphone for another viral triumph.
how it feels watching two women tell jd vance that they just cut his mic and nobody can hear him pic.twitter.com/ZdFJr1fRQJ
— Dan D (@DanDeBrak) October 2, 2024
JD Vance accused of “mansplaining” during the debate by the MSNBC panel 😂pic.twitter.com/iRz0KDJmGD
— captive dreamer (@captivedreamer7) October 2, 2024
It’s hard to win a debate if you can’t correct distortions by moderators; you look weak if you remain silent or threatening if you speak up. Even Senator Vance’s beard was a threat to women, according to Politico, while Governor Walz’s nervous eyes were merely a symbol of “passion.”
Still, the greatest problem Mr. Vance faced is that many Americans may not believe there should be a distinction between citizens and migrants. Indeed, we may owe a greater duty to the latter because they are foreigners and mostly non-white.
“The people I care most about in Springfield are the American citizens” by far the grossest line of the night so far.
— Tim Miller (@Timodc) October 2, 2024
The “American people” may not exist anymore in the sense of a national community with a shared identity. America is a marketplace filled with competing tribes. Whites alone remain disarmed in this group conflict because we lack collective identity. At best, those like Senator Vance (who is married to a non-white) cling to a civic nationalist ideal that seems to exist mainly among white conservatives.
There are taboos, storylines, and premises that arise from our shared political myths of anti-fascism and anti-racism. By contradicting female journalists, even if he was right, the white male JD Vance set himself up to be called an oppressor. Of course, when he was silenced, it was a heroic display of power by brave reporters. Speaking of the national interest and preferring citizens to non-citizens is also increasingly a form of heresy, because it denies universal egalitarianism.
Mr. Vance did the best he could, but until we can break the taboo on white identity, the Right is always fighting with one hand tied behind its back.
It is a cliché to say this is the most important election ever; partisans always say this. However, this may be the last election that matters nationally, because if demographic change continues, we may never have the votes to reverse mass immigration or anti-white discrimination. If America is to be a majority non-white nation where liberal reporters can dictate truth and Tim Walz gets to ban “hate speech,” it is hard to see what kind of “democratic” victory is possible. JD Vance’s performance and the furious criticism he got show how late the hour is.
