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No one quite knew what to expect at last night’s vice-presidential debate between Ohio Sen. JD Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, but it’s safe to say no one expected a return to normalcy — at least, on its face.
For 90 minutes Vance did his best to stuff the worst of Trumpism’s political extremes into a suit of traditional Republican respectability. That he largely managed to appear normal is one of the most impressive things the Republican hopeful has done in an otherwise unmemorable political career.
In his best moments, Walz proved an eloquent messenger for Democrats’ pro-women message. In all the other moments … eh.
Tuesday’s debate didn’t deliver any of the mega-viral moments either campaign was hoping for, but it did offer a window into what the Trump campaign has learned in its frenzy of pre-debate internal polling. Voters are eager to move past the hyper-polarization that has defined the Trump era — and so, it seemed, was Vance.
The whole evening mimicked the forms of a debate that could have been held in America’s pre-Trump past. The candidates were downright gentlemanly to each other — for the most part, Both Vance and Walz spent the night going out of their way to praise the importance of bipartisanship, civility and respect. Walz made a point of insisting that he and Vance shake hands after the debate. Things briefly felt normal again.
That image of civility was, of course, built on a mountain of recent MAGA revisionist history. Whatever character Vance may play in an effort to moderate his historic unpopularity, Donald Trump is no friend of political pluralism. Not only has he refused to rule out political violence if he loses in November, Trump has also weighed the benefits of imprisoning his political opponents. It will take more than a terse handshake to whitewash a presidential candidate who believes he can terminate the Constitution at will.
In the end, even Vance put his personal loyalty to Trump above the oath he swore to the Constitution. Asked twice by the CBS moderators about whether he would challenge the 2024 election results if approved by state governors, Vance twice refused to answer. After two minutes of ducking and dodging, Vance finally admitted that he and Trump “share many concerns” about the 2020 election results.
That’s hardly a rallying call for functional democracy.
Of course, Vance couldn’t say directly to the American people that he supports overturning lawful election results while he’s leading MAGA’s politically moderate rebranding. But he was perfectly willing to say as much just a few weeks ago, when Vance confirmed on a podcast that he would have obeyed Trump’s illegal suggestion to refuse certification of some states’ 2020 election results.
“I would have asked the states to submit alternative slates of electors and let the country have the debate about what actually matters and what kind of an election that we had,” Vance said. None of that is actually within the vice president’s power, but Vance doesn’t seem too concerned about bending the rules if it means protecting Trump.
Unfortunately, Walz allowed Vance to control the flow of the conversation last night. Vance learned early on that he could easily fluster Walz by peppering him with pointed questions and then demanding Walz answer them. In more cases than not, the governor took the bait and ended up either on the defensive or stuck in a rhetorical cul-de-sac.
Walz clearly expected a different Vance to take the stage on Tuesday, and it isn’t clear that Walz ever reached a comfortable equilibrium. It wasn’t a bad performance by any means, but Walz allowed most of Vance’s MAGA whitewashing to go unchallenged. As a result, Vance has likely strengthened himself among the GOP insiders who considered his nomination an unmitigated disaster.
Vance debuting Trumpism’s costume change into an outwardly less extreme ideology offers us a glimpse of 2028 and 2032, where a modified “mainstream” Trumpism outlives its founder and remains a political force for years to come. It will sound a lot more like Vance than Trump, and it will be better at fooling more of the people more of the time. All the while, the MAGA movement will be bending and breaking the structures that reinforce our democracy.
All this was hardly visible in the friendly handshake Walz and Vance shared at evening’s end. “This debate feels…normal,” posted GOP strategist Mike Madrid. But our country is not normal right now, no matter how many handshakes and back slaps Walz and Vance exchange. Vance’s kinder, gentler MAGA is a reminder that even if Kamala Harris wins this November, Trumpism will remain a force even under new Republican leadership.
For Democrats, the sprint to protect democracy is now a marathon.
Max Burns is a veteran Democratic strategist and founder of Third Degree Strategies.
English (US) ·