If we learned nothing else from Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate, we learned that being in government doesn’t mean you know how government works.
Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) and Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz participate in vice presidential debate hosted by CBS News Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
By Denise Clay-Murray
Right now, the man of the hour on social media is Marcus Johnson, and it’s because of Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate.
Johnson, a political science student at Oakland University, was part of an MSNBC focus group watching the debate in Rochester, Michigan. Throughout the debate, there were things that he kept hearing from Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, the Republican candidate for vice president, that kind of made him think that Vance might not know how the job works.
For example, when the subject of the economy and Harris’s plans to help the middle class came up. The attack line Vance threw at Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’s running mate, made Johnson more than a little agitated.
“If Kamala Harris has such great plans for how to address middle-class problems, then she ought to do them now, not when asking for a promotion, but in the job the American people gave her three-and-a-half years ago, and the fact that she isn’t, tells you a lot about how much you can trust her actual plans,” Vance said.
While that may have worked as an attack line, it showed that someone may not have paid attention in their high school civics class because…
“…If anybody took a high school civics class, they’d know what the vice president can do, and what the vice president can’t do,” Johnson said.
“Neither candidate on that stage talked about what executive action they’re going to take on day one to do what they want. Nor were they asked because they know that they can’t. That’s not how the vice presidency works. You don’t get to do what you want. You do what the president delegates you to do.”
That a Gen Zer who paid attention in civics class became an internet star thanks to Tuesday night’s debate should tell you all you need to know about the event, which was broadcast on CBS News and moderated by Norah O’Donnell, anchor of the CBS Evening News and Margaret Brennan, host of CBS’s Sunday morning news show, Face The Nation.
For a debate that talked about everything but poverty, education, and criminal justice reform, it was okay. If you were looking for fisticuffs, this debate wasn’t for you. Unlike the matchup between Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Harris, there was nothing you could immediately turn into a meme for its outrageousness.
But there were a few times when things got a little heated. Despite it being announced that CBS News wouldn’t be performing live fact-checking, Brennan, who I guess just couldn’t help herself, corrected Vance when he asserted that all of the Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio were a part of the illegal immigration problem. She pointed out that most were there under temporary protected status.
That made Vance mad.
“The rules were that you guys weren’t going to fact-check, and since you’re fact-checking me, I think it’s important to say what’s actually going on,” he said.
I’m sure he said more, but by then CBS had hit the mute button on his mic.
The last section of the debate focused on democracy itself. The reason why Vance is Trump’s running mate is because his previous running mate, former Vice President Mike Pence, was among those targeted by participants in the Jan. 6 riots.
Four years later, it’s still tough to get a straight answer out of Trump when it comes to his acceptance of the election results, mostly because he’s still encouraging claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
The violence that manifested on Jan. 6, 2021 was something America can’t witness again, Walz said. Democracy is bigger than those contesting an election and seeing the peaceful transition of power under threat four years ago was something no one should be used to, he said.
Unfortunately, the rhetoric is such that we’re back in the same place, which worried Walz.
“And here we are four years later in the same boat,” he said. “I will tell you this, when this is over, we need to shake hands and the winner needs to be the winner. This has got to stop. It’s tearing our country apart.”
“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,” Walz continued before asking his opponent, “Did he lose the 2020 election?”
“Tim, I’m focused on the future,” Vance replied.
“That is a damning non-answer,” Walz responded.
Like I said, it was a relatively sedate affair. For those still angry at Harris for not picking Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as her vice-presidential candidate, the fact that Walz wasn’t perfect and didn’t beat up on Vance enough may have made them feel justified.
But considering that Walz left the debate with the highest likability polling numbers of anyone in the race, it appears he’ll be okay.
Election Day is November 5.
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