Vance v. Walz — The Real Debate to Watch
The Vice Presidential Debate will reveal a better look into the future each ticket has to offer
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have, finally, agreed to a debate. With Vice President Harris’ confirmation as the Democratic nominee for President, former President Trump has agreed to the previously scheduled September 10th ABC debate he was meant to do with President Biden, but now with Vice President Harris.
While this debate is extremely important to how our country will decide the election, it is not unpredictable. Since President Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed his VP, the GOP attack on Kamala Harris has not been substantive to say the least. They have almost exclusively attacked her character, her ethnicity, and her so called “communism” to turn voters against her. They have barely made any fronts on a policy or experience initiative towards the VP; the ones they have made are almost entirely spent on her experience with the border and part of her past as a prosecutor in California. While these are very important aspects of the VP’s application to the Presidency, it is clear that the GOP does not have its troops in place to properly attack it. This shows, most of all, in former President Trump.
In every appearance Donald Trump has made since President Biden’s announcement, he has been unable to restrain himself from calling Vice President Harris derogatory names, or attacking her “changing race”. Any policy criticism that he has made, which to say is not much, has yet to be closely followed by “radical left” or “socialist” or “communist”. It is becoming ever so more clear that he may be simply unable to make any substantial critiques of Kamala Harris’ career, and can only do so with hollow name-calling. Moreover, he has struggled to simply communicate his own policies. His recent “intellectual speech” on his economic policies went haywire and showed his lack of control to focus on topic.
It is not hard to predict that the debate will show what the country can already see. A sharp contrast will be seen on the screen between a calm, collected, younger, and precise politician who knows what she is doing versus an older, reactive, egotistical, and nonsensical criminal who is grasping for his last chance of survival. One side will try to make logical sense, coherently explaining policy goals and campaign promises as well as their practical implications. The other, will most likely explode, saying the other side’s policies are “radical” or “worst in history” while claiming that their Presidency along with their “accomplishments” are the “greatest in history.” Along with the bickering and name-calling that I expect from former President Trump, and the Felon v. Prosecutor charade that will happen.
The real debate, will be between both candidates’ picks for VP: J. D. Vance and Tim Walz. While, yes, J. D. Vance has adopted some of Donald Trump’s mannerisms and attitude towards certain topics, it is hard to deny his intellectual ability; he does have a strong articulation of argument and policy. In my eyes, Vance has been the real policy communicator of his ticket, attempting to mix some valid policy goals and initiatives of his party into the MAGA mix.
Tim Walz is also a strong policy communicator. The Vice President’s VP pick is a veteran, both literally and politically. He has an experienced background in passing progressive legislation in Congress and within his own state, and can intelligently justify them. In his introduction to the country, he has effectively explained both his legislative past and his future legislative goals that he and Kamala Harris promise for the country.
The debate between Vance and Walz will, in my eyes, be a stronger representation of the two futures that each ticket offers. In our current political environment, name-calling and hollow insults are inevitable, but I imagine that the VP debate will contain a substantially larger amount of policy-related content rather than what the Presidential debate will most likely be. For the first time in a while, this country will be able to see an intellectual debate between two politicians that have good articulation, and can intelligently argue what their respective side is advocating for.
Vice Presidential debates are not as prestigious and coveted as Presidential debates are, yet I expect the 2024 VP debate to be a stronger look into each campaign and display to the country the real political platform of each side, rather than the theatrics of them.
