J.D. Vance’s Most Horrific Debate Answer Was What He Didn’t Say

The Trump-Vance ticket hasn’t ruled out bringing back one of the Trump administration’s most insidious policies.

During CBS’s vice presidential debate Tuesday night, J.D. Vance skirted and deflected a direct line of questioning about a highly controversial immigrant processing program that separated children from their families.

“Senator Vance, your campaign is pledging to carry out the largest mass deportation plan in American history and to use the U.S. military to do so,” started CBS’s Margaret Brennan. “Could you be more specific about exactly how this will work, for example, would you deport parents who have entered the U.S. illegally and separate them from any of their children who were born on U.S. soil?”

But the Republican number two pick wouldn’t answer the question outright. Instead, Vance went on a conspiratorial tangent about the influx of fentanyl (the vast majority of which is actually trafficked in by U.S. citizens), crime, and minimum wage before finally touching on the policy’s victims.

“We have 320,000 children that the Department of Homeland Security has effectively lost,” Vance said. “Some of them have been sex trafficked. Some of them hopefully are at home with their families. Some of them have been used as drug trafficking mules.”

Vance didn’t cast judgment on the Trump-era program, though. Instead, he opted to deflect the blame of the program onto someone who had absolutely no involvement in its proliferation: Vice President Kamala Harris.

“The real family separation policy in this country is unfortunately Kamala Harris’s wide open southern border, and I’d ask my Americans to remember when she came into office, she said she was going to do this,” the vice presidential pick said. “Real leadership would be saying, ‘You know what, I screwed up. We’re going to go back to Donald Trump’s border policies.’ I wish that she would do that. It would be good for all of us.”

Trump, meanwhile, has made his stance on the cruel policy perfectly clear. In an interview with Univision in 2023, the former president appeared open to resurrecting the violent blueprint, arguing that his administration’s family separation policy was not only an effective deterrent but actually decreased the number of undocumented immigrants entering the country.

“When you hear that you’re going to be separated from your family, you don’t come,” Trump said at the time. “When you think you’re going to come into the United States with your family, you come. And we did for a period of time family separation, and others have, too, by the way.”

J.D. Vance flew off the handle during the vice presidential debate Tuesday night after one of the moderators tried to fact-check him about his favorite topic, the Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio. 

While responding to Vance’s justification of mass deportations, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz highlighted Vance’s role in spreading lies about Haitian immigrants in Springfield. Walz said that Vance’s rhetoric had “vilified a large number of people who were here legally in the community of Springfield.” 

“When it becomes a talking point like this, we dehumanize and villainize other human beings,” Walz said. 

CBS moderator Margaret Brennan interjected, saying, “Just to clarify for our viewers, Springfield, Ohio, does have a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status. Temporary protected status.”

Vance immediately started blubbering, as moderator Norah O’Donnell attempted to pivot to the next question.

“I think it’s important because, the debate—Margaret. Th-the rules were that you guys weren’t going to fact-check me, and since you’re fact-checking me, I think it’s important to say what’s actually going on,” Vance said. 

He then launched into an explanation of the CBP One app, which serves as a portal for immigrants to access U.S. Customs and Border Patrol services. Donald Trump has previously claimed that Kamala Harris had implemented an app that allows a “virtually unlimited” number of migrants to enter the U.S. 

Vance claimed that undocumented immigrants could be granted asylum “at the wave of a Kamala-Harris-open-border wand.”

“Thank you, Senator, for describing the legal process, but we have so much to get to, Senator,” O’Donnell said.

“Those laws have been on the books since 1990,” Walz said, referring to the laws that grant immigrants temporary protected status.  

“The CBP One app has not been on the books—” Vance said, before his mic was cut off.

Tim Walz may not have been telling the truth about when he traveled to China.

CNN reported Tuesday that the Minnesota governor’s previous claims that he was in Hong Kong in May 1989, during the Tiananmen Square protests, was contradicted by a newspaper report from that month featuring a photo of Walz touring a Nebraska National Guard storeroom. Another newspaper article from April 1989 mentioned Walz as planning on going to China in August that year.

These accounts contradict what Walz has said about his time in Hong Kong and China. During a congressional hearing in 2014, when Walz was still in Congress, he claimed he was in Hong Kong during the pro-democracy protests.

“As a young man, I was just going to teach high school in Foshan in Guangdong, and was in Hong Kong in May of ’89,” he said. “And as the events were unfolding, several of us went in. And I still remember the train station in Hong Kong.”

In another radio interview in June 2019, Walz said that he was in Hong Kong on June 4, 1989, the day of the Tiananmen Square massacre. But when CNN reached out to the Harris-Walz presidential campaign to ask if the Minnesota governor was there at the time, the campaign couldn’t provide evidence.

Walz appears to have exaggerated how often he’s been to China as well. He’s said in previous interviews that he’s been to the country “about 30 times” and to Hong Kong “dozens and dozens and dozens of times.” When asked for clarification, the campaign said Walz has visited China “likely closer to 15” times.

These revelations are undoubtedly going to be used as fodder by Republicans, including the Trump campaign. House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer has already launched one politicized investigation into Walz’s connections to China, and Comer has not hesitated to attack the Minnesota governor’s family in the process.

Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance is sure to bring up CNN’s report during the vice presidential debate on Tuesday night, and it remains to be seen what kind of response Walz will have. Vance has struggled to attack his Democratic counterpart, and has a huge polling disadvantage to overcome, and may be on the offensive. Walz will not only have to be able to explain the discrepancy over his time in China but also parry any weird attacks Vance sends his way.

Donald Trump’s latest campaign brag doesn’t seem to make any sense at all.

As the Republican presidential candidate has toured the country, he’s shopped around a recurring line—that he doesn’t need a teleprompter.

“Isn’t it nice to have a guy that doesn’t need teleprompters?” he boasted Tuesday during a campaign stop in Waunakee, Wisconsin.

But the truth of Trump’s podium setup became abundantly apparent as the camera zoomed out, revealing two teleprompters, one on either side of him. This has been the case for multiple events now.

Trump’s long, winding, circular rants don’t appear to be scripted verbatim, though they do hit consistent talking points. But the unplanned and sometimes unsavory details he includes in them have posed problems for his campaign in recent history.

In August, after it became clear to his campaign that his affinity for making childish, ad hominem attacks against Vice President Kamala Harris was actually hurting his poll numbers rather than hers, Trump was relegated to carefully scripted speeches at smaller “messaging events.” But even then, Trump was unable to contain himself, making constant references to unrelated topics that made it difficult to clearly convey his policy stances.

Donald Trump goaded the crowd at a campaign rally Tuesday into booing WNBA star Brittney Griner, who was released from Russian detainment in 2022.

During an event at Dane Manufacturing in Waunakee, Wisconsin, Trump quickly turned away from talking about current events and almost immediately started complaining about a hostage trade that happened nearly two years ago.

President Joe Biden had successfully negotiated Griner’s return in a prisoner swap for former Russian military officer and arms dealer Viktor Bout, who Trump claimed was “the greatest buyer of military equipment, they say, anywhere at any time.”

“They got him back … and we got our basketball player back,” Trump said, pausing as the crowd began to boo. “That was the trade.”

“Well, if it is true, she used to tie her sneakers during the national anthem, right?” Trump said. “And we got her … back, and they got the best, the b—and I’m not saying he’s a nice human being, but he was the number one arms dealer in the world for a long time.”

This isn’t the first time that Trump has made this exact comment. Trump, who has a tendency to repeat his own jokes over and over, complained about Griner during an interview with Logan Paul in June.

He said that a “great arms dealer” had been exchanged for “the basketball player that wouldn’t stand up during the national anthem.” Trump complained the deal that freed Griner after she was imprisoned for 10 months “wasn’t exactly the greatest trade.”

Several other MAGA conservatives, including Trump’s own son, also callously criticized Griner’s release.

But Trump doesn’t seem to be thrilled by the release of any U.S. hostages from Russia. Earlier this year, he heaped criticism on Biden for securing the release of four American citizens, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan. It’s clear the only exchange Trump would approve of is one that he oversees.

Senator Ted Cruz is getting worried in his reelection campaign against Democratic challenger Representative Colin Allred in Texas.

Cruz told Newsmax on Tuesday morning that Chuck Schumer said, “I’m his number one target in the country, and the Democrats are spending over $100 million.”

“Chuck Schumer and George Soros are flooding cash into the state of Texas. There have been multiple polls in the last three weeks that show it as a four-point race, a three-point race, a two-point race, and there have been two polls that show it as a one-point race,” Cruz said.

Cruz warned that Allred was “an extreme left-wing Democrat,” throwing out the usual accusations that the congressman supports open borders, defunding the police, and higher taxes, and that he is targeting Cruz with “relentless attack ads.”

“I want to encourage your viewers this morning: I need your help,” Cruz said, directing people to his campaign website to “contribute, because we are getting swamped by Chuck Schumer and George Soros.”

It’s telling how desperate Cruz is getting if he’s using a TV appearance to plead for campaign contributions in a solid Republican state like Texas. He isn’t exaggerating about the polls, one of which shows Allred behind Cruz by only a single percentage point in a state that hasn’t elected a Democrat to a statewide office in 30 years.

Cruz was struggling to raise money early in the race in April, and at the time, he also invoked Soros in a similar plea for donations on Fox News. But his last entreaty didn’t seem to help him, and his attacks on Allred are falling flat in the face of the congressman’s moderate reputation.

One might think Cruz would try a more moderate approach to combat Allred, but instead, he’s continued to push a right-wing message. He’s helped to spread a debunked racist attack on Haitian immigrants, refuses to say whether he’d accept a Democratic presidential victory in November, and continues to fawn over Donald Trump, who has insulted him numerous times. Is any of that going to help him defeat Allred, or will he have to flee to Cancún?

Suddenly, Donald Trump cares about witness safety and privacy in his court cases, but only when it comes to his January 6 case.

On Tuesday, Trump’s legal team filed a motion demanding Judge Tanya Chutkan redact even more of Jack Smith’s dossier against him in the federal election interference case. As Smith has compiled and submitted new evidence of the former president’s work to overthrow the 2020 election, Trump’s lawyers have asked the special counsel for redactions of “identity-related information” and “sensitive witness statements” before it is released to the public.

In their court filing, Trump’s lawyers accuse Smith’s office of politicizing the trial with disregard to witness safety and anonymity. “The Office believes President Trump’s Constitutional rights to impartial jurors and fair proceedings—to say nothing of witness privacy and even safety—all take a back seat to the Office’s political goals.”

This motion comes after Smith submitted a new, still-sealed brief on Trump’s actions in 2020, following the Supreme Court’s controversial presidential immunity ruling. The brief, with previously unseen evidence, is designed to convince Chutkan, and any higher courts, that the former president should still face justice for attempting to overturn the election.

Smith asked Chutkan to allow the public to see a redacted version of the brief. To be clear, Smith is not asking for the witnesses be named outright but rather is asking that the public be able to see the broad strokes of his brief. As expected, Trump’s team is yelling election interference.

“The Office wants their politically motivated manifesto to be public, contrary to the Justice Manual and longstanding DOJ norms in cases not involving President Trump, in the final weeks of the 2024 Presidential election while early voting has already begun throughout the United States,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in their filing.

Interestingly, Trump didn’t seem to care about safety when he unleashed his followers on witnesses and courtroom staff in his New York fraud case. Earlier this year, he also asked Judge Aileen M. Cannon if he could out some of the witnesses in his classified documents case. The threat of being identified caused one witness to preemptively come forward for their own safety.

It’s fair to say from Trump’s response, his team does not want these statements and evidence to see the light of day.

Iran launched a missile attack on Israel Tuesday, plunging the war-torn region into another layer of conflict. But one American politician was quick to make the violence about himself.

Moments after the strike, Donald Trump took to Truth Social to soak up any social credit available from the Middle Eastern provocation.

“Look at the World today—Look at the missiles flying right now in the Middle East, look at what’s happening with Russia/Ukraine, look at Inflation destroying the World,” Trump wrote in one post. “NONE OF THIS HAPPENED WHILE I WAS PRESIDENT!”

In another post, Trump decried the conflict as “TOTALLY PREVENTABLE.”

“IT SHOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED,” Trump said. “IF I WERE PRESIDENT, IT WOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED!”

While it’s impossible to say exactly how a Trump presidency would have handled the rolling, devastating fallout from the October 7 attack in Israel, Trump has not exactly been on the side of peace. Instead, he has claimed that Israel will face “total annihilation” if he isn’t elected in November, has openly questioned the faith of Jewish Americans if they don’t support him over Vice President Kamala Harris, and has encouraged the Jewish state to “finish what they started.”

Meanwhile, some members of Trump’s inner circle, including his son-in-law Jared Kushner, have been extremely vocal about the multipronged conflict, urging Israel to continue escalating violence against its neighbors.

“Anyone who has been calling for a ceasefire in the north is wrong. There is no going back for Israel. They cannot afford now to not finish the job and completely dismantle the arsenal that has been aimed at them. They will never get another chance,” Kushner posted on X Saturday.

The Republican presidential nominee also caught flak from some of his supporters last month when he hosted Qatari leaders at his Palm Beach resort, with some potential MAGA voters decrying the Middle Eastern leaders as antisemitic for their country’s role in moderating cease-fire negotiations between Israel and Hamas.

To date, the Health Ministry in Gaza has recorded more than 41,500 deaths from the cataclysmic conflict in which Israel has weaponized mass starvation as well as blocked or destroyed access to critical resources such as water, food, fuel, electricity, and medical aid.

J.D. Vance keeps claiming that he hasn’t done much—if anything—to prepare for Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate. 

During an interview on CNBC Tuesday, Majority Whip Tom Emmer, who has been standing in for Minnesota Governor Tim Walz during Vance’s practice sessions, was asked whether fact-checking Walz was part of Vance’s strategy.

“I think J.D. Vance is going to concentrate on the issues that Americans care about the most,” Emmer replied. 

“Rather than getting into some high school debate, I think he’s going to be talking to the American people about what Donald Trump did in his first term with the economy, and the border, and safety and security around the world, what Harris and Biden have broken in the last four years, and how he and Trump are going to fix it,” Emmer said.

Here, Emmer perfectly demonstrated what is likely to be Vance’s strategy: to completely ignore the questions and instead deliver a dry stump speech. 

Emmer also had trouble responding to questions about Vance polling historically low for a vice presidential candidate.

In what seems like an attempt to appear cool under pressure, the Ohio senator—who breathlessly repeated debunked claims of Haitian immigrants eating their neighbors’ pets—has separately said that his platform is so bulletproof he doesn’t even need to practice arguing it. 

“We have well developed views on public policy so we don’t have to prepare that much,” Vance said during a Teamsters press call Wednesday morning, according to Politico. “We feel a lot more confident, and frankly, you don’t have to prepare if you don’t have to hide what you say.”

During a rally in North Carolina on Monday, Vance said that he was taking a page out of Donald Trump’s playbook by … not really doing anything at all. 

“What me and Donald Trump are going to keep on doing is going everywhere and talking to everybody,” Vance said. “We talk to the hostile media, we talk to the friendly media, we talk to the national media, we talk to the local media, and we do it because we think the American people deserve leaders who try to earn their vote instead of expecting it to be given to them.”

Trump had made a similar comment ahead of his first presidential debate against Joe Biden.  “People say, ‘How are you preparing?’ I’m preparing by taking questions from you and others, if you think about it,” said Trump, while speaking to a conservative radio talk show host so friendly that he changed his profile picture to an image of himself and the former president after they spoke. 

J.D. Vance’s unpopularity has left Republicans scrambling to defend their vice presidential nominee ahead of Tuesday night’s debate with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

Representative Tom Emmer, a Minnesota Republican, has been helping Vance by standing in for Walz during debate preparation. But Emmer had trouble responding to questions on CNBC about Vance polling historically low for a vice presidential candidate.

On Squawk Box Tuesday, Becky Quick mentioned Vance having “some of the worst polling numbers,” and asked Emmer if Vance taking a “prosecutorial” or “lawyerly” approach would help the Ohio senator during the debate.

“I think the polling that you’re talking about is because people have not been introduced to Tim Walz,” Emmer said, before Quick corrected him and noted she was talking about Vance’s numbers.

“But hear me out. Nobody had Tim Walz on their bingo card, and he shows up. All of a sudden, it’s like, ‘Oh look at this guy, he’s got all kinds of energy, whatever.’ Nobody’s talking about issues. Again, as people get to know Tim Walz, they do not like him,” Emmer said, noting that the debate is Vance’s chance to introduce himself to the American people.

It’s pretty clear that Emmer had to deflect the question because he had no good response to why Vance is polling lower than any other vice presidential candidate of the twenty-first century, even lower than Sarah Palin. As of Tuesday afternoon, 40 percent of Americans view Walz favorably compared to 34.8 percent for Vance, according to 538.

Vance has hurt his own standing thanks to his comments about childless adults, and women in particular, saying that they should not hold positions of power and calling leaders of the Democratic Party “childless cat ladies.” He has made disturbing comments disparaging immigrants and egged on a debunked racist conspiracy that Haitian immigrants are capturing and eating pets even after knowing he had no proof.

Meanwhile, Walz has been receiving positive attention even before Kamala Harris chose him as her running mate. His background as a military veteran and high school football coach, as well as his down-to-earth manner, have endeared him to the Democratic base. And unlike Vance, Walz knows how to order donuts like a normal person. At Tuesday night’s debate, Vance will have a tall order to make himself appear more likable and less weird.