J.D. Vance debated Gov. Tim Walz last night. Although he performed better than Donald during his debate against Vice President Kamala Harris, he deflected and threw out non-answers to specific questions. Walz asked Vance who won the 2020 election, and Vance danced around with his answer. Laughably, Vance claimed that Trump handed Joe Biden a peaceful transition of power. That’s not what happened, though.
“First of all, it’s really rich for Democratic leaders to say that Donald Trump is a unique threat to democracy when he peacefully gave over power on January the 20th as we have done for 250 years in this country,” Vance insisted.
“We are going to shake hands after this debate and after this election, and of course, I hope that we win, and I think we’re going to win, but if Tim Walz is the next Vice President, he’ll have my prayers, he’ll have my best wishes, and he’ll have my help whenever he wants it,” he continued. “But we have to remember that for years in this country, Democrats protested the results of elections.”
“Hillary Clinton, in 2016, said that Donald Trump had the election stolen by Vladimir Putin because the Russians bought like $500,000 worth of Facebook ads,” he said. “This has been going on for a long time, and if we want to say that we need to respect the results of the election, I’m on board.”
“But if we want to say, as Tim Walz is saying, that this is just a problem that Republicans have had, I don’t buy that,” Vance added.
Walz held his feet to the fire.
“January 6th was not Facebook ads, and I think a revisionist history on this,” Walz said. “Look, I don’t understand how we got to this point, but the issue was that it happened. Donald Trump can do it, and all of us say there’s no place for this. It has massive repercussions.”
“This idea that there’s censorship to stop people from doing, threatening to kill someone, threatening to do something, that’s not censorship,” Walz continued. Censorship is book banning. We’ve seen that. We’ve seen that brought up.”
“I think this is the conversation they want to hear, and I think there’s a lot of agreement. This is one that we are miles apart on,” he said. This was a threat to our democracy in a way that we had not seen, and it manifested itself because of Donald Trump’s inability to say he is still saying he didn’t lose the election. I would add to that, did he lose the 2020 election?”
Vance dodged the question.
“Tim, I’m focused on the future,” Vance said. “Did Kamala Harris censor Americans from speaking their mind in the wake of the 2020 COVID situation?”
“That is a damning non-answer,” Walz said.
“It’s a damning non-answer for you to not talk about censorship,” Vance shot back. “Obviously, Donald Trump and I think that there were problems in 2020. We’ve talked about it. I’m happy to talk about it further, but you guys attack us for not believing in democracy.
The most sacred right under the United States democracy is the First Amendment. You yourself have said there’s no First Amendment right to misinformation.”
“Kamala Harris wants to use the power of government and big tech to silence people from speaking their minds,” he said. “That is a threat to democracy that will long outlive this present political moment. I would like Democrats and Republicans to both reject censorship. Let’s persuade one another. Let’s argue about ideas, and then let’s come together afterward.”
“You can’t yell fire in a crowded theater,” Walz said. That’s the test. That’s the Supreme Court test.”
“You guys wanted to kick people off of Facebook for saying that toddlers shouldn’t wear a mask,” Vance interrupted. “That’s not fire in a crowded theater. That is criticizing the policies of the government, which is the right of every American.”
“Well, I don’t run Facebook,” Walz told Vance. “What I do know is I see a candidate out there who refused, and now again, and I’m pretty shocked by this, he lost the election. This is not a debate. It’s not anything anywhere other than in Donald Trump’s world because 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?” Walz asked. “Where is the firewall if he knows he could do anything, including taking an election, and his vice president’s not going to stand to it? That’s what we’re asking you, America. Will you stand up? Will you keep your oath of office even if the president doesn’t? And I think Kamala Harris would agree. She wouldn’t have picked me if she didn’t think I would do that because, of course, that’s what we would do.”
“So America, I think you’ve got a really clear choice in this election: who’s going to honor that democracy and who’s going to honor Donald Trump,” Walz said.
Walz said, “A president’s words matter,” and four years later, we’re in the same boat.
Watch:
January 6th should have been disqualifying for Trump, and Vance’s refusal to outright say who won the 2020 election should be, too. An attempted coup in the United States is a big deal. Vance would back Trump if the former President claimed the 2024 election was “rigged.” Trump has already suggested that.
