Vance vs. Walz – Israel, Abortion, and Immigration

NEW YORK: Vice presidential nominees James David Vance and Tim Walz faced off on Wednesday in what was and will be the only debate between the two.

Other than a moment in which moderators cut off the two candidates mics when an argument erupted following a discussion on Haitians in Springfield Ohio, the debate was mostly cordial.

This comes as a surprise for people as they have become accustomed to the shrill and uncouth antics employed by Donald Trump – not to forget the ludicrous claims made in September’s debate.

This time, the debate primarily revolved around ‘Israel’, ‘Abortion’, and ‘Immigration’.

Both candidates came to the debate with a clear strategy – one that’s become a hallmark of political discourse in America and beyond – undermine the opponent at all costs. Walz targeted Trump, while Vance set his sights on Kamala Harris.

What happened afterwards is as follows:

ISRAEL

Moderators asked whether the candidates would support a pre-emptive strike on Iran by Israel – a question that saw the two candidates in harmony for a brief period.

“It’s up to Israel, what they think they need to do to keep their country safe,” said Vance, adding that “we should support our allies wherever they are when they’re fighting the bad guys.

Walz began by praising the Biden administration for stopping Iran’s largest attack on Israel thanks to joint US and Israeli action, before discussing the fundamental requirement needed for Israel to defend itself.

“Steady leadership is absolutely fundamental,” said Walz, launching the very same attack on Trump and Vance that the Democratic party had to endure during the first presidential debate in June.

“A nearly 80-year-old Donald Trump talking about crowd sizes is not what we need in this moment,” said Walz. Following Biden’s departure from the presidential race due to worries about his mental fitness, it seems the tables have turned on Trump.

Walz continued his assault, reminding viewers of comments that those closest to the former president had made. Trumps Chief of Staff John Kelly had expressed that he was the most flawed human being he had ever met, and that both secretaries of defence and his national security advisors said he should be nowhere near the Whitehouse.

Even Vance himself had previously said that Trump was unfit for office, a comment that Walz happily reminded America of.

While the democratic nominee mentioned ending the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the sentiment was largely worthless in a sea of comments about Israeli expansion, and the US ally’s ability to defend itself.

Since the war in Gaza began over 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in the genocide Israel is carrying out.

IMMIGRATION

Trump and Vance’s proposed mass deportation plan, which will be the largest in American history and will be enforced by the US military, was another topic of discussion.

“Stop the bleeding,” said Vance, stating that Harris had decriminalized illegal aliens and massively increased the asylum fraud that exists in the US, through executive orders suspending deportation.

Vance accused Harris of “opening the floodgates,” claiming copious amounts of fentanyl had come into the country, before reminiscing about his mother who struggled with opioid addiction, alluding back to earlier in the debate when Vance enlightened the American public about his difficult childhood.

He claimed that 20-25 million illegal aliens were in the US. The republican nominees plan is to start with the criminal migrants, stating that about a million of illegal aliens had committed some form of crime in addition to crossing the border illegally.

Vance also said the plan would make it harder for illegal aliens to undercut the wages of American workers.

The claims were found to be false. During the Biden administration, immigration officials state that they encountered immigrants illegally crossing the border around 10 million times. The number is already lower that what Vance claimed, but it is also important to remember that encounters don’t mean admissions, meaning the figure is likely much lower. The department of homeland security estimates that about 3.9 million people were released into the US to await immigration court hearings.

Walz countered Vance by once again targeting Trump. He stated that Trump failed to deliver on his promise of building a wall that Mexico would pay for, claiming that less than 2 per cent of the wall had been built and that Mexico hadn’t paid a dime.

ABORTION

Walz criticizes Vance and Trump for their proposal of creating a registry of pregnancies, saying that “it is going to make it more difficult, if not impossible to get contraception and limit access, if not eliminate access to infertility treatments.”

However Vance deflected, leaving the question of abortion to the voters as he said that “individual states make their abortion policies” and that is “what makes the most sense in a very messy and divided country.”

PREVIOUS CLAIMS

Both Vance and Walz were questioned on previous statements they had made.

Vance was asked whether he would dispute the election were he and Trump to lose. The vice presidential nominee had previously stated that he would not have certified the last presidential election and would have asked the states to submit alternative electors, which moderators stated was unconstitutional and illegal.

The Republican nominee stated that he was looking toward the future, but did partially address the topic by stating he and his running mate have only ever wanted to debate the legitimacy of the election peacefully in the public square.

On January 6, Former President Trump gave a speech in which he encouraged supporters to march on the US Capitol, with the attack being carried out moments later that ended with five people being killed.

Vance attacked Harris, claiming that she was the real threat to democracy due to her proposed censorship of people who engage in misinformation. Such a proposal is truly terrifying for both Trump and Vance, who have repeatedly told false stories, with one of the highlights being that Haitians in Springfield Ohio eat their pets.

Walz was asked about his claim of being in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square massacre, to which he responded by going on long-winded deflection which saw him express his commitment to his community, before finally saying “I’m a knucklehead at times.”