\n<\/p>\n
The thing about vice-presidential debates is that you typically only remember them when someone really screws up. There was Dan Quayle<\/strong> comparing himself to John F. Kennedy, which set Lloyd Bentsen up for an all-time zinger. More recently, there was Sarah Palin<\/strong> being, well, Sarah Palin. These blunders persist in the political memory because the running mates in question failed at what is usually<\/em> their main requirement in these undercard bouts: to reflect well on the judgment of the nominee.<\/p>\n But, of course, there\u2019s nothing about this race you\u2019d call usual<\/em>. On one side, you have Donald Trump<\/strong>\u2014not just a convicted criminal and aspiring authoritarian who already tried to overthrow democracy but an increasingly-unhinged 78-year-old, whose running mate stands to inherit his movement, at least in theory. On the other side is Vice President Kamala Harris<\/strong>, who ascended to the top of the ticket only two and a half months ago, and is now trying to preserve the Democratic enthusiasm that had waned under Joe Biden<\/strong> while convincing the handful of swing voters who will decide the election that her campaign is about more than good vibes.<\/p>\n Will JD Vance<\/strong> and Tim Walz<\/strong>\u2019s Tuesday night\u2019s debate<\/a> performances help their respective candidates\u2019 causes?<\/p>\n Vance was more articulate than his boss\u2014a low bar to clear\u2014and made an effort to sound more like a traditional politician than an alt-right 4chan thread. He toned down the outrageous rhetoric, disguised the most unpalatable and destructive MAGA policies in several layers of euphemism, and seemed comfortable on stage. He articulated Trump\u2019s case with the skill\u2014and passion\u2014of a debate club kid who was eager for the limelight. Walz, by contrast, appeared nervous and uncomfortable in the debate format, and struggled at times, even though he had the stronger argument on a range of issues\u2014particularly on the \u201cfickle leadership\u201d of Trump, as he put it in the first question of the night, about the escalating hostilities in the Middle East. But neither candidate likely did much to change the dynamic of this race.<\/p>\n It should\u2019ve. Vance was a more agile debater than Walz, but his performance was fundamentally dishonest: He misled viewers about his own record, he completely lied about Trump\u2019s, and tried to soften the sharp edges of the MAGA agenda. \u201cI was wrong about Donald Trump,\u201d he said at one point, explaining how he went from describing the former president<\/a> as \u201cAmerica\u2019s Hitler\u201d to working for the guy. (At one point, he even claimed Trump \u201csalvaged\u201d Obamacare\u2014the health care plan Trump explicitly sought to destroy<\/a>.) Walz had his own stumbles; his explanation as to why he said he was in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square protests when he apparently was not<\/a>, for instance, was maddeningly wanting. \u201cI\u2019m a knucklehead at times,\u201d the Minnesota governor said. But the facts, as it pertained to policy, tended to be on Walz\u2019s side\u2014which is perhaps why Vance, in a rare moment of visible frustration in Tuesday\u2019s debate, pushed back on moderators Norah O\u2019Donnell<\/strong> and Margaret Brennan<\/strong> when confronted with the reality that most of the Haitians in Springfield, Ohio he demonized are in the country legally.<\/p>\n \u201cThe rules were you weren\u2019t going to fact-check,\u201d Vance objected.<\/p>\n Obfuscations aside, the ugliness of Vance\u2019s politics showed through, particularly on immigration\u2014where he may not have encouraged memes about Haitian migrants eating cats, as he does when he\u2019s not on primetime television<\/a>, but nevertheless cast incoming Americans as an existential threat to those already here: \u201cThe people that I\u2019m most worried about in Springfield,\u201d Vance said, \u201care the American citizens who have had their lives destroyed by Kamala Harris\u2019s open border.\u201d<\/p>\n