The first and only vice-presidential debate between Ohio Sen. JD Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz took Tuesday night in New York City began with a question to both candidates about the Iranian attack on Israel a few hours earlier. I took the liberty of cutting out all the campaign drivel from both candidates’ responses because life is short and it’s Erev Rosh Hashanah.
CBS News’ moderator Margaret Brennan asked: Earlier today, Iran launched its largest attack yet on Israel. But that attack failed thanks to joint U.S. and Israeli defensive action. President Biden has deployed more than 40,000 U.S. military personnel and assets to that region over the past year to try to prevent a regional war. Iran is weakened, but the U.S. still considers it the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world, and it has drastically reduced the time it would take to develop a nuclear weapon. It is down now to one-or-two weeks-time. Governor Walz, if you are the final voice in the situation room, would you support or oppose a preemptive strike by Israel on Iran? You have two minutes.
Walz: Let’s keep in mind where this started. October 7th, Hamas terrorists massacred over 1400 Israelis and took prisoners. Iran, or, Israel’s ability to be able to defend itself is absolutely fundamental, getting its hostages back, fundamental, and ending the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. But the expansion of Israel and its proxies is an absolute, fundamental necessity for the United States to have the steady leadership there.
Clearly, as he had said about himself, Tim Walz is not a good debater. Do you know what he meant to convey with the above opener? I’m not sure. Even if we replace “Israel and its proxies” for “Iran and its proxies.”
Walz: You saw it experienced today, where, along with our Israeli partners and our coalition, able to stop the incoming attack. But what’s fundamental here is that steady leadership is going to matter. It’s clear. And the world saw it on that debate stage a few weeks ago. A nearly 80-year-old Donald Trump talking about crowd sizes is not what we need in this moment.
At which point Walz went into a prefab tirade against Donald Trump, citing all the people in his administration who hate him, coupled with a nasty comment from Vance. When he was done, he only had a few seconds left to blurt:
Walz: When our allies see Donald Trump turn towards Vladimir Putin, turn towards North Korea, when we start to see that type of fickleness around holding the coalitions together, we will stay committed. And as the Vice President said today, is we will protect our forces and our allied forces, and there will be consequences.
Did those 24 jocks in his high school football team ever get him, one wonders.
IT’S THE $100 BILION, STUPID
Brennan: Senator Vance, the same question, would you support or oppose a preemptive strike by Israel on Iran? You have two minutes.
Vance: We have to remember that as much as Governor Walz just accused Donald Trump of being an agent of chaos, Donald Trump actually delivered stability in the world, and he did it by establishing effective deterrence. People were afraid of stepping out of line.
Nonsense. Five years ago, on September 17, 2019, Iran attacked and destroyed half of Saudi Arabia’s oil fields. Trump’s response was: “I’m somebody that would like not to have war.” Trump also curbed his responses to direct attacks on American bases in the region, limiting them to a few symbolic volleys of Tomahawk rockets. He certainly did not establish “effective deterrence.”
Vance: Iran, which launched this attack, has received over $100 billion in unfrozen assets thanks to the Kamala Harris administration. What do they use that money for? They use it to buy weapons that they’re now launching against our allies and, God forbid, potentially launching against the United States as well. Donald Trump recognized that for people to fear the United States, you needed peace through strength. They needed to recognize that if they got out of line, the United States’ global leadership would put stability and peace back in the world.
In his eagerness to portray Trump as a tough guy who would scare away the Iranians and their underlings, Vance forgot about the real change Trump brought to the Middle East, the Abrahamic Accords between Israel and the Gulf states and later, Morocco, which Trump engineered with his negotiator’s skills. Indeed, when Wolz mentioned Trump’s friendship with Putin, I expected Vance to jump in and say Trump could use this friendship to end the war in Ukraine on January 21. But Vance may have been afraid to go off the tough guy message.
Vance: Now, you asked about a preemptive strike, Margaret, and I want to answer the question. Look, it is up to Israel what they think they need to do to keep their country safe. And we should support our allies wherever they are when they’re fighting the bad guys. I think that’s the right approach to take with the Israel question.
Brennan: Governor Walz, do you care to respond to any of the allegations?
By allegations she meant Vance’s reference to the $100 billion the Biden administration had gifted Iran.
WOLZ CAN’T DO EVASIVE MANEUVERS
Wolz responded: Well, look, Donald Trump was in office. We’ll sometimes hear a revisionist history, but when Donald Trump was in office, it was Donald Trump who… we had a coalition of nations that had boxed Iran’s nuclear program in in the inability to advance it. Donald Trump pulled that program and put nothing else in its place. So, Iran is closer to a nuclear weapon than they were before because of Donald Trump’s fickle leadership.
What fickle leadership? Trump imposed the toughest sanctions imaginable on Iran, bringing its economy to its knees. What revisionism? Biden gave Iran anew lease on life by releasing their billions, which they used to beef up Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and the Iraqi and Syrian militias.
Wolz: And when Iran shot down an American aircraft in international airspace, Donald Trump tweeted, because that’s the standard diplomacy of Donald Trump. And when Iranian missiles did fall near U.S. troops and they received traumatic brain injuries, Donald Trump wrote it off as headaches. Look, our allies understand that Donald Trump is fickle. He will go to whoever has the most flattery or where it makes sense to him. Steady leadership like you witnessed today, like you witnessed in April. Both Iranian attacks were repelled. Our coalition is strong, and we need the steady leadership that Kamala Harris is providing.
He’s right on Trump’s reluctance to go to war, which I think is not such a bad thing in an American president. He’s right about Trump’s eagerness to be liked. But the “steady leadership Kamals Harris is providing” includes denying Israel the heavy bombs it needs to blow up the Iranian nuclear sites which are dug in deep under thick rocks. The next few days will reveal whether the Biden-Harris White House supports or impedes a proper Israeli response to Iran’s attack Tuesday night.
Brennan: Senator Vance, the U.S. did have a diplomatic deal with Iran to temporarily pause parts of its nuclear program, and President Trump did exit that deal. He recently said, just five days ago, the U.S. must now make a diplomatic deal with Iran because the consequences are impossible. Did he make a mistake? You have 1 minute.
Vance: Well, first of all, Margaret, diplomacy is not a dirty word, but I think that’s something that Governor Walz just said is quite extraordinary. You, yourself, just said Iran is as close to a nuclear weapon today as they have ever been. And, Governor Walz, you blame Donald Trump. Who has been the Vice President for the last three and a half years? And the answer is your running mate, not mine.
Truth be told, despite Biden’s commitment to renewing the dropped nuclear deal with Iran, they couldn’t get it done because Iran is a bad player. The Biden people also insisted on Iran’s curbing its terrorist network and conventional missile program, two items the Obama administration was willing to ignore to get their deal.
Vance: Donald Trump consistently made the world more secure. Now, we talk about the sequence of events that led us to where we are right now, and you can’t ignore October the 7th, which I appreciate Governor Walz bringing up. But when did Iran and Hamas and their proxies attack Israel? It was during the administration of Kamala Harris. So, Governor Walz can criticize Donald Trump’s tweets, but effective, smart diplomacy and peace through strength is how you bring stability back to a very broken world. Donald Trump has already done it once before. Ask yourself at home, when, when was the last time? I’m 40 years old. When was the last time that an American President didn’t have a major conflict, breakout? The only answer is during the four years that Donald Trump was President.
He’s right on Trump’s aversion to war, but his notion on using diplomatic skills to resolve Israel’s problems with Hamas, Hezbollah, and now Iran is silly.
OK, based only on their understanding of the Middle East, I believe Vance won the exchange, hands down. And Wolz was right, he really is a lousy debater.
