The night started out with an important topic that many voters are passionate about: the United States involvement in the Middle East mainly Israel. Many undecided voters’ main reason that they are not voting for the Democratic party is because of President Joe Biden sending aid to Israel; many of these voters want to see funding stopped.
Walz’s position was a repeat of what Vice President Kamala Harris has been saying, here the US will support Israel in defending itself; “And on this solemn day, I will restate my pledge to always ensure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself, and that I will always work to ensure the safety and security of the Jewish people here and around the world.” said Harris.
However, there was no mention of a halt of funding to the country.
On this same topic, Vance brought up how former president Donald Trump would bring peace and tranquility to the Middle East, and he would support Israel in any way that they needed help.
Walz discussed the fact that Trump pulled out of a coalition of nations that would have prevented Iran from building nuclear weapons.
Vance, not having a response for this, changed the topic to Harris and why he believes she hasn’t done anything during her Vice Presidency. Considering Harris is Vice President and not the president at the time, her power that she currently holds is much smaller compared to Biden.
Next question that came up was about climate change and the current hurricane; Hurricane Hellene; that is hitting the U.S. Vance started the question saying he supports clean energy however denies the fact that carbon emissions are the main reason for climate change. “We want the environment to be cleaner and safer, but one of the things that I’ve noticed some of our democratic friends talking a lot about is a concern about carbon emissions. This idea that carbon emissions drives all the climate change. Well, let’s just say that’s true, just for the sake of argument, so we’re not arguing about weird science.”
Which is false, according to the United Nations website. “…over 75 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 90 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions.”
Walz came in defending that climate change is happening and that Trump sees climate change as a hoax. He even mentions how the Biden-Harris campaign was able to create 200,000 jobs across the country while creating more clean energy for the future of the United States.
When it came to immigration it was surprising to see both sides want similar things. Vance believes that Harris, whom he called the “border czar,” allowed for an influx of illegal aliens due to the opening of the border, as well as gathering and deporting over 13 million people from the US back to their original countries.
Walz argued that both Democrats and Republicans had agreed on a nonpartisan bill being tough on immigration, but Trump shot it down so he could have a talking point for the current election. Walz also believes the Trump-Vance campaign is demonizing immigrants in general despite being legal which has led to bomb threats in some cities such as Springfield, Ohio.
Vance even showed his hand about the Springfield topic. “Margaret, the rules were that you were not going to fact check and since you’re fact-checking me, I think it’s important to say what’s actually going on,” Vance said to moderator Margaret Brennan.
This heated conversation ended with both vice president hopefuls’ mics being muted.
Once they moved onto abortion, Walz was able to come out swinging, giving multiple examples of women who needed healthcare with the repeal of Roe v. Wade.
Vance on the other hand had to back pedal his and Trump’s views and try to get the American people who want to give women back their healthcare in all states onto their side.
Winding down the night, healthcare, a topic that many voters care about was brought up. Walz had a good showing telling the people that Harris is going to continue the program that Biden has started in lowering the costs of prescription drugs. Going from the 10 prices they have chosen to be lowered, and looking to change that for many more prescriptions.
Vance argued that drug prices were being raised during the Biden-Harris campaign and that Trump was able to save “Obamacare” for Americans. This is not true considering that former senator from Arizona John McCain was against the vote to get rid of the Affordable Care Act.
The last question of the night had to do with the 2020 election. The main point of contention was if the results would be accepted no matter the outcome. Trump challenged the 2020 election results multiple times in court and made numerous claims that the election was rigged that led to the insurrection of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
When asked if Trump would accept the election if they lost, Vance did his best to dance around the subject and was unable to give a conclusive yes or no. As Walz properly called out, “That is a damning nonanswer.”
To end the night, they both recapped their goals for the campaign. Walz reminded the American people that both he and Harris are wanting to move the party forward after the past three elections all involving Trump.
Vance denounced the Harris campaign and spoke a little about what the Trump-Vance campaign would do on the energy crisis in America.
Both candidates gave civil debates compared to the presidential debate, however Walz was not as aggressive against Vance as many would like to see. Vance, an experienced debater, played better to the cameras, however had no sustenance behind his arguments.
Looking to the future of this debate on the candidacy, there has been no large movement on either side of the polls. This election is still going to be one of the most important in history.
