Live-Drawing The VP Debate, 2024

Civil on the surface, seething underneath

Both men — JD Vance and Tim Walz — last night on the debate stage were so nice to each other it almost became comical. Both saying things like, “I’m sure my opponent doesn’t want to cause people harm/rob citizens of their money/cause choas and suffering…”. Or, “A lot of what my opponent says make sense, but I have infinitely better ideas that I can explain in a way that might convince you, or confuse you sufficiently…”. Vance was at his most charming, creepy self — the other side of JD Vance being attack dog. Tim Walz was what we are used to seeing, Tim Walz, a nice guy. He did not attack, he was polite.

Two moments stood out to me. Walz bungled his answer as to why he was untruthful about when he was in China (don’t know the details of the story yet) and Vance was — several times when asked — unable to say that Donald Trump lost the election in 2020. He also said there was a “peaceful transfer of power” on January 20th. Right, just a few weeks after a violent mob tried to forcefully steel the ballots and people were killed.