It wasn't Trump vs. Harris, but this debate still produced plenty of viral moments. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re breaking down the only U.S. vice presidential debate held in 2024.
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00:00Tim, first of all, I didn't know that your 17-year-old witness is shooting, and I'm sorry
00:03about that.
00:04I appreciate you saying so.
00:05Christ have mercy.
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're breaking down the only U.S. vice presidential debate
00:10held in 2024.
00:13The debate featured Democratic and Republican candidates Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota
00:17and Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio, respectively.
00:20I don't talk about my faith a lot, but Matthew 2540 talks about, to the least amongst us
00:26you do unto me.
00:27And I think that's true of most Americans.
00:31Number 10.
00:32Stories of women.
00:33Senator, do you want to respond to the governor's claim?
00:35Will you create a federal pregnancy monitoring agency?
00:38The Tuesday, October 1st, 2024 vice presidential debate rather predictably didn't generate
00:43as many fiery viral moments as its presidential predecessor, or really any viral moments at
00:49all.
00:50Instead, the two vice presidential candidates, Governor Walz and Senator Vance, civilly discussed
00:55the hot button issues affecting the United States.
00:58My party, we've got to do so much better of a job at earning the American people's trust
01:04back on this issue where they frankly just don't trust us.
01:08One notable exception to the mostly polite vibe of the evening, the topic of abortion,
01:13perhaps the most hot button of them all.
01:16Both Vance and Walz took interesting paths in explaining their positions, both invoking
01:20the lived experiences of real women.
01:23Whereas Vance shared a personal story to illustrate his pro-family values.
01:27One of them is actually very dear to me, and I know she's watching tonight, and I love
01:31you.
01:32Walz shared instances in which women, whom he named, struggled with receiving procedures
01:37that they needed.
01:38How can we as a nation say that your life and your rights, as basic as the right to
01:45control your own body, is determined on geography?
01:49There's a very real chance.
01:51If that Amber Thurman lived in Minnesota, she would be alive today.
01:55Number nine, Senator J.D. Vance introduces himself to the nation.
01:59So, Morgan, I want to answer the question.
02:01First of all, thanks, Governor.
02:02Thanks to CBS for hosting the debate.
02:04For political pundits and people who just can't unglue themselves from the news, it
02:08might have seemed like the vice presidential debate was all anyone was talking about.
02:13However, zoom out and you'll see why Senator Vance felt the need to present his entire
02:18life story, his hillbilly elegy, if you will, to the American public.
02:23In a few short minutes, Vance managed to articulately distill his most important talking points into
02:28a succinct summary, supporting the unflappable persona he's sometimes associated with.
02:33I went to college on the GI Bill after I enlisted in the Marine Corps and served in Iraq.
02:38And so I stand here asking to be your vice president with extraordinary gratitude for
02:42this country.
02:43We wonder if there's a reason he didn't bring up Elegy's Netflix film adaptation,
02:48directed by Ron Howard and starring Oscar nominees Glenn Close and Amy Adams,
02:52which sits at a whopping 25 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
02:56Number eight, more concepts of a plan.
02:59Former President Trump was asked about replacing the Affordable Care Act.
03:03In response, he said, I have concepts of a plan.
03:07Don't worry, it's coming.
03:09We'll get to Trump's more infamous quote of the second 2024 presidential debate.
03:13For now, though, anyone watching the vice presidential debate and who had access to
03:18the Internet would surely have been amused by Norah O'Donnell's reference to a much
03:21memed Trump quote.
03:23For the uninitiated, former President Trump, when asked in the second debate how he planned
03:27to replace and improve upon the Affordable Care Act, responded that he had, quote,
03:32concepts of a plan.
03:33So just a yes or no, you still do not have a plan.
03:35I have concepts of a plan.
03:38I'm not president right now.
03:40An instantly memorable phrase.
03:42J.D. Vance did his very best to sell Trump's vague concepts.
03:45You're not going to propose a 900 page bill standing on a debate stage.
03:49It would bore everybody to tears.
03:51And it wouldn't actually mean anything because part of this is the give and take
03:54of bipartisan negotiation.
03:56To which an incredulous Walls responded that, quote,
03:59it cracked me up as a fourth grade teacher because my kids would have never given me that.
04:03Number seven, Vance backtracks on his actual claim that Trump could be America's Hitler.
04:08We knew it was only a matter of time until this came up.
04:11Before Trump had ever selected Vance as his running mate, before Vance was even a sitting
04:16U.S. senator, the Republican vice presidential candidate was a staunch never-Trumper.
04:20In 2016, you called your running mate Donald Trump unfit for the nation's highest office,
04:27and you said he could be America's Hitler.
04:29I know you've said, you've been asked many times,
04:31and you've said you regret those comments.
04:33The former author and venture capitalist had, from 2015 onwards,
04:37been vocal in his criticism and even outright disdain for the former president.
04:42During the Tuesday evening debate, Vance was forced to face his past statements
04:46and wisely made the call to reject them outright.
04:49Donald Trump delivered for the American people.
04:52Rising wages, rising take-home pay, an economy that worked for normal Americans,
04:57a secure southern border, a lot of things, frankly,
04:59that I didn't think he'd be able to deliver on.
05:01Admittedly, given the severity of Vance's past insults,
05:05it's more than a little bizarre to watch the Ohio senator emphatically sing Trump's praises.
05:10Number six, a flash of vulnerability.
05:13And we can make a difference. We have to.
05:15If you're listening tonight, this breaks your heart.
05:17This isn't the last time we'll return to the sparring politicians back and forth
05:21on what to do about gun control.
05:23Contemplating the complex, uniquely modern issue,
05:26Governor Walz made the heart-rending revelation that his 17-year-old son
05:29had been witness to a shooting at a local community center.
05:32Those things don't leave you. As a member of Congress,
05:35I sat in my office, surrounded by dozens of the Sandy Hook parents,
05:40and they were looking at my seven-year-old picture on the wall.
05:43Their seven-year-old were dead.
05:44In a sincerely touching moment,
05:46Senator Vance offered a momentary olive branch to his Democratic rival.
05:50Tim, first of all, I didn't know that your 17-year-old witness a shooting,
05:53and I'm sorry about that.
05:54I appreciate what you're saying.
05:55Christ have mercy.
05:56Not only did Vance offer kind words,
05:59he followed up on Walz's point with a thoughtful,
06:01measured, alternative perspective that suggested an open channel of communication.
06:06We unfortunately have a mental health crisis in this country
06:09that I really do think that we need to get to the root causes of,
06:12because I don't think it's the whole reason
06:13why we have such a bad gun violence problem,
06:15but I do think it's a big piece of it.
06:17Wait, these things can be constructive?
06:19Number five, Where's Walz?
06:22You said you were in Hong Kong during the deadly Tiananmen Square protests
06:25in the spring of 1989.
06:28But Minnesota public radio and other media outlets
06:30are reporting that you actually didn't travel to Asia until August of that year.
06:36As you'll see later on,
06:38the October 1st, 2024 vice presidential debate
06:41was refreshing in more ways than one.
06:43Although it took more than a little coaxing,
06:45viewers were treated to a vanishingly rare sight,
06:48a politician admitting that he had messed up and apologizing for it.
06:52Earlier in the week,
06:54Minnesota public radio had investigated Tim Walz's claims
06:57that he had been in Hong Kong
06:58during the headline-making 1989 Tiananmen Square protest.
07:02What did it find?
07:03That Walz couldn't possibly have been there at that time.
07:06My community knows who I am.
07:08They saw where I was at.
07:09They, look, I will be the first to tell you,
07:12I have poured my heart into my community.
07:14I've tried to do the best I can,
07:16but I've not been perfect.
07:17And I'm a knucklehead at times.
07:19After a lengthy explanation as to what he was doing in China,
07:22Margaret Brennan politely asked
07:24that the governor properly respond to the question.
07:26He promptly fessed up.
07:28All I said on this was,
07:29is I got there that summer and misspoke on this.
07:32So I will just, that's what I've said.
07:35Number four, Project 2025 rears its head.
07:38Their Project 2025 is going to have a registry of pregnancies.
07:43It's going to make it more difficult,
07:44if not impossible, to get contraception
07:47and limit access, if not eliminate access
07:50to infertility treatments.
07:52During the presidential debate
07:53between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump,
07:55Vice President Harris cited Project 2025
07:58as an indication of what a second Trump term
08:00might usher in.
08:01A sort of political manifesto published
08:03by conservative think tank, the Heritage Foundation,
08:06Trump vehemently denied having anything
08:08to do with the initiative,
08:09despite maintaining a known relationship
08:11with its founder, Kevin Roberts.
08:13This was a group of people
08:14that got together.
08:14They came up with some ideas,
08:16I guess, some good, some bad.
08:18Governor Walz, addressing Project 2025's
08:20very real potential for significant harm,
08:23made the frightening proclamation
08:24that it, quote, is going to have
08:26a registry of pregnancies.
08:28That said, CNN's Daniel Dale and Katie LoBosco
08:31noted that, quote, Walz's claim is false.
08:34And there is no indication
08:35that a Trump-Vance administration
08:37is trying to create a new government entity
08:39to monitor pregnancies.
08:41Women having miscarriages,
08:42women not getting the care,
08:44physicians feeling like they may be prosecuted
08:47for providing that care.
08:49Number three, the issue of January 6th.
08:52Would you again seek to challenge
08:53this year's election results
08:55even if every governor certifies the results?
08:59I'll give you two minutes.
09:00The attempted insurrection
09:02of the United States Capitol building
09:03on January 6th, 2021, still looms large
09:07over Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign.
09:09And now, by extension,
09:11J.D. Vance's path to the White House.
09:13Pressed directly on whether or not
09:15he and former President Trump
09:16would accept a loss,
09:18Vance claimed that they were, quote,
09:19focused on the future
09:21and that the transfer of power
09:22had been completed.
09:23There were problems in 2020.
09:25And my own belief
09:26is that we should fight about those issues,
09:28debate those issues peacefully
09:31in the public square.
09:32And that's all I've said.
09:33And that's all that Donald Trump has said.
09:35While that was technically true,
09:37the New York Times' Linda Q
09:39pointed out that, quote,
09:40While Mr. Trump did indeed leave office
09:42on January 20th, 2021,
09:44without any violence,
09:45that, of course, followed Mr. Trump's supporters
09:48storming the Capitol on January 6th.
09:50Did he lose the 2020 election?
09:52Tim, I'm focused on the future.
09:54Walz ultimately accused Vance
09:56of giving a, quote,
09:57damning non-answer.
09:59And a president's words matter.
10:01A president's words matter.
10:03People hear that.
10:04Number two.
10:05Against all odds,
10:06Governor Walz and Senator Vance
10:08find common ground.
10:10Now, Tim just mentioned a bunch of ideas.
10:12Now, some of those ideas
10:13I actually think are halfway decent,
10:14and some of them I disagree with.
10:16The 2024 vice presidential debate,
10:18regardless of the election's outcome,
10:20reminded viewers of one thing,
10:22that these debates are never even a fraction
10:25as entertaining
10:25as their presidential counterparts.
10:27Having said that, though,
10:28it seems fair to say
10:29that it was refreshing to watch a debate
10:31that didn't deteriorate
10:32into an all-out mudslinging match,
10:34as voters and global spectators
10:36have seen in recent years.
10:37I don't think Senator Vance
10:39and I are that far apart.
10:40I'm not opposed
10:40to what he's talking about on options.
10:42We've done scholarship types of things.
10:44I think we need to be open
10:45to making the case.
10:46In this vein,
10:47shortly after Vance's well-wishes
10:49to Walz's son,
10:50Walz did the seemingly impossible,
10:52sincerely concurred
10:53with his Republican rival.
10:55When the senator proposed
10:56increased security in schools
10:58as a short-term measure,
10:59Walz reaffirmed his interest
11:01in protecting schoolchildren
11:02and encouraged further healthy debate.
11:05And I think this is a healthy conversation.
11:07I think there's a capacity
11:08to find solutions on this that work,
11:11protect Second Amendment,
11:12protect our children.
11:13That's our priority.
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11:30Number one,
11:31they're not eating the cats and dogs.
11:33In Springfield,
11:35they're eating the dogs,
11:37the people that came in,
11:38they're eating the cats.
11:40Look, we probably don't have to say this,
11:41but let's just be clear.
11:43Donald Trump's baseless claim
11:44that domestic pets in Springfield, Ohio
11:46were being eaten by Haitian migrants
11:48was just that, a baseless claim.
11:51It's worth noting then
11:52that Trump's highly memed declaration
11:54originated with a post on X by J.D. Vance.
11:57Just to clarify for our viewers,
11:59Springfield, Ohio,
12:00does have a large number
12:02of Haitian migrants
12:03who have legal status,
12:05temporary protected.
12:07Senator, we have so much to get to.
12:10Calling back to this,
12:12Walls accused his opponent
12:13of refusing to cooperate with Democrats
12:15on the issues of immigration
12:17and border control.
12:18The Minnesota governor also spoke
12:19to some of the consequences
12:20of Trump's memorable quote.
12:22And the consequences in Springfield
12:24were the governor had to send
12:26state law enforcement
12:27to escort kindergartners to school.
12:30In response,
12:31Vance butted in to protest
12:32the supposed, quote,
12:33fact-checking he was being subjected to.
12:36And both candidates had their mics muted
12:38in what was surely
12:39the debate's most awkward moment.
12:41Gentlemen, the audience can't hear you
12:43because your mics are cut.
12:45We have so much we want to get to.
12:47Thank you for explaining the legal process.
12:49Which moment shocked you the most?
12:51Let us know in the comments below.
12:52Well, I've enjoyed tonight's debate.
12:54And I think there was a lot
12:54of commonality here.
12:55And I'm sympathetic
12:56to misspeaking on things.
12:58And I think I might have
12:59with the senator.
13:00Me too, man.
13:00There's one.
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