Vance had better buckle up: His debate might go as badly as Trump's [View all]

JD Vance has had the most disastrous vice-presidential run in memory, gaining the distinction of having the worst net approval rating of the four candidates on the two major party tickets. And it could get worse: The Ohio senator’s debate against Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is set for Oct. 1, with two capable female moderators — Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan of CBS News.

Like his boss, Vance does poorly with strong women interrogators. His recent appearance with CNN’s Dana Bash, which focused on his spreading of false rumors that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating residents’ pets, was a train wreck:

Losing his cool, Vance went so far as to tell Bash to “shut up.” (“Doesn’t that mean you should shut up about the residents of Springfield?”) When he accused her of showing favoritism toward the Democratic candidates, she replied tersely: “I think that if Kamala Harris and Tim Walz were making unsubstantiated claims that had racist undertones about people eating dogs and cats, I would — and they didn’t answer the questions about that, then I would have similar interactions with them.” His interview triggered another round of rotten headlines for him and the campaign.

Vance’s role in fanning what amounts to a racist blood libel, followed by his confession that he feels compelled to “create stories” to score points with voters, will not be his only vulnerability. Whether backtracking on assurances that former president Donald Trump would refuse to sign an abortion ban, or staking out a position that rape and incest shouldn’t be exceptions to abortion bans, or suggesting that people should stay in “violent marriages” (an interpretation he denies), or insisting that childless people do not have a stake in the future of the United States, or saying he “doesn’t care” what happens in Ukraine, Vance’s record is littered with gaffes, extreme statements and offensive slurs. (Recall his statement about getting grandparents to solve our child-care problem). He certainly will need to explain why he went from calling Trump “America’s Hitler” to praise so obsequious that it would make former vice president Mike Pence blush.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/09/17/jd-vance-debate-walz-trainwreck/