VP debate live updates: Vance thrived on stage while Walz struggled to find his footing

CNN host and legal analyst Van Jones said JD Vance “lied the entire night”.

Jones said Vance repeated falsehoods about American energy production, Trump’s past healthcare policy, the peaceful transfer of power in 2021 and supporting a national abortion ban.

“I think Americans need to be very, very careful this is a very, very deceitful guy,” Jones said on CNN.

Guests were losing interest in the wonky debate by the second half and a fight nearly broke out after one man told another guest that his views were “repulsive” and stormed out threatening to kick his ass.

Donald Trump’s running mate JD Vance has blamed the media for his savage past criticisms of the former president.

Speaking in a televised debate against his Democratic opposite number Tim Walz, the Ohio senator claimed that he was misled by “dishonest fabrications” when he compared Trump to Hitler and said he had “thoroughly failed to deliver his economic populism”.

“I’ve always been extremely open about the fact that I was wrong about Donald Trump,” Vance said on Tuesday night. “I was wrong first of all because I believed some of the media stories that turned out to be dishonest fabrications of his record.

Io Dodds reports:

Despite a civilized and at times even convivial vice presidential debate, Democratic nominee Tim Walz at times appeared nervous and unprepared, while his rival JD Vance worked to downplay his image of an uncompassionate weirdo.

Ultimately, the Ohio Senator’s confidence, command of party lines and smooth delivery made a largely positive impression on Tuesday night, in contrast to that caused by several campaign controversies in recent weeks.

Mike Bedigan reports:

By his own admission, Vance says he likes to talk a lot. When I watched his debate performances from when he ran for Congress and Governor, Walz can rattle off tons of facts.

The downside to that is that sometimes he isn’t quick on his feet. This was how he at times struggled to respond to questions about his response to violent demonstrations after George Floyd’s killing. In the same way, he slipped when he did not directly address the timeline when of when he went to Hong Kong.

It also meant he tried to pack in his rehearsed lines about abortion rather than responding to accusations about Minnesota’s abortion law.

When JD Vance began law school at Yale, the Rust Belt native encountered total culture shock — but also met his wife, the whipsmart daughter of Indian immigrants who helped him navigate the Ivy League, healthy relationships and his run for Vice President alongside Donald Trump. Sheila Flynn chronicles their romance

Vance did what he needed to do.

For the longest time, one of his biggest downsides is that he has come off as too abrasive or mean-spirited. Here, we saw the Vance that made Hillbilly Elegy a bestseller.

He talked about the woman who raised him—his mamaw—and the fact they were Democrats. He mentioned his three children where in the past he has said he told his kid to “shut up” about talking about Pokémon. Vance mostly succeeded when talking about himself. But he fell short when he tried to skate past his previous comments about Springfield, Ohio or when he talked about how he changed his mind.

Toward the end, we started to see the hard right warrior Vance we have seen since he ran for Senate. He talked about big tech censorship and said it was a bigger issue than the 2020 election. That might be enough to hurt him

Both candidates maintained a more even-toned attitude than expected going into the debate, but ultimately Vance seemed more confident in his answers.

At the start of the debate, Walz’s nerves were palpable as he tried to deliver an answer on Israel. His confidence got better throughout the debate and he delivered more punching answers toward the end.

But Vance ultimately seemed more unbothered and well-prepared for the vice presidential debate.