So since there is so little info about what to expect at the debate tonight I thought I’d write something. Just kidding. There are reams of paper being sacrificed and gallons of ink being spilled in the name of journalism but they all seem to focus on this being a test between these two men. I think the real test is this. Can enough of the American public discern reality and recognize a bullshit artist when they see one? That’s the test.
J.D. Vance will try to prove that you can indeed fool enough of the people some of the time and Tim Walz has to prove that reality can win out in public opinion. That’s what tonight is all about, and honestly, Tim Walz has the harder position.
First, a little back story on the VP picks.
J.D. Vance grew up poor and joined the military where he spent four years working as a writer, with six months of that being in the green zone in Iraq. In his book, he was grateful that he never had to see combat, which I think is a reasonable thing to say actually. He used the G.I. Bill to go to Ohio State and then on to Yale where he got a law degree. He made a bunch of money in Silicon Valley with start-ups you’ve never heard of that all went bankrupt. And then he published a book about his upbringing that was a NYT bestseller that the liberal media fawned over as a way to understand Trump supporters. However, many critics viewed it as a memoir filled with stale stereotypes and dogwhistles about class, race and gender. That seems to have become an ongoing theme in Vance’s public life.
However, Vance’s view of Trump himself has changed over time. He called himself a “Never Trumper”, called Trump “America’s Hitler” and referred to Trump as “Cultural Heroin”, which given that he wrote a book about addiction is pretty telling. But as far as we can tell his views on women have stayed about the same and are well known. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that someone who has said the very well-documented things that he has said can possibly have any respect for women.
But J.D. Vance is smart, he’s slippery, he has a knack for saying incredibly untrue things with great sincerity and he will defend his right to do so eloquently. He’s proven to be valueless and shifty and self-serving. He thinks he can say anything and get away with it and he’s often right, or right enough with enough people anyway. In interview after interview, he has surprised me with his ability to take racist, bigoted dog-whistling to the next level. He’s sort of like Trump but intelligent and self-aware but still narcissistically indifferent. In a word, Vance is dangerous and he’s backed up by tech bros, Theo bros, bro bros, all the bros. We’ve been laughing at him but if he can win over enough people tonight he’s more than a threat to equal rights than I think most people are aware of.
Whew, it’s gross just talking about that guy and the people he represents.
Ok, Tim Walz. Walz grew up in a small town. Served 24 years in the National Guard. Was a teacher and a coach before becoming a U.S. Congressman and then the Governor of Minnesota. He has openly discussed the infertility issues that he and his wife experienced. He has been a longtime proponent of queer rights, dating back to chairing an organization at the high school he taught at. As Governor he’s passed legislation that is considered progressive on women’s rights, labor rights, the environment, Native American rights, poverty initiatives, education, health care costs, cannabis legalization and much more. Under Walz, Minnesota was also ranked the 6th best state for businesses in a CNBC report.
Walz has been reliantly consistent in his views and his legislation and advocacy have largely aligned with his expressed values. He also never claimed that immigrants eat cats, that people who don’t have children shouldn’t have the same right to vote as people with children, or any other wildly outrageous bullshit as J.D. Vance has. In general, every fact-check comparison between the two reads like the writer is just reaching for some way to show that what Walz says is even in the same dimension, no matter universe, as the kind of stuff Vance routinely spews out of that fuzzy little face of his.
So, speaking of fact-checking. The debate will be on CBS which has decided to not fact-check the candidates on air but instead, in the words of Claudia Milne, senior vice president for standards and practices, “The idea is to give people the second-screen experience.” That’s right, instead of correcting the candidates live they’re going to have a QR code displayed that will take you to their website where a 20-person team will post real-time fact-checking that I’m sure about 15 people will look at. That’s a 2:1.5 ratio of fact-checkers to fact checkees. Talk about a dereliction of duty and a demonstration of cowardice.
So basically we’re on our own America. Tonight you will be confronted by an expert con man, filled with backward ideas but possessing an eloquence that is formidable going against basically an honest and decent dude. And enough of us will have to decide what’s real.
I just hope we’re capable of that because if enough people can’t see Vance for what he is then we are in for a lot of trouble. The general take-away of who wins the debate tonight will tell us how rooted in reality America is and just how much bullshit we’re willing to put up with.
*Please note, I’ve been using the word “Bullshit” a lot when describing Vance and Trump. If anyone has a better more succinct word for it please let me know. In general, I try to keep it clean, but I also like to err on the side of clarity.