Some may have found the vice presidential debate between Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) and Ohio Sen. JD Vance to be a bit of a snooze Tuesday night — but tweets about it on X were eye-opening jolts of hilarity.
In case you got bored and tapped out of the debate early — or Vance gave you too much of those I-need-to-hold-my-hand-over-my-glass-while-talking-to-this-guy-in-a-bar vibes and you had to switch channels — allow us to fill you in on the highlights.
Although both candidates tended to dodge direct questions, Vance initially came off like a pretty smooth used car salesman while Walz channeled the energy of a frazzled high school teacher trying to verbally reason with two teenage boys fully engaged in a fist fight in the school hallway.
Things began to take a turn when Vance was answering a question about immigration when he brought up Springfield, Ohio, saying “he’s concerned about Americans there” who “have had their lives destroyed by Kamala Harris’ open border.”
“In Springfield, Ohio, and in communities all across this country, you’ve got schools that are overwhelmed, you’ve got hospitals that are overwhelmed,” Vance said. “You’ve got housing that is totally unaffordable because we brought in millions of illegal immigrants to compete with Americans for scarce homes. The people that I’m most worried about in Springfield, Ohio, are the American citizens who have had their lives destroyed by Kamala Harris’ open border.”
Eventually moderator Margaret Brennan felt it was necessary to hit Vance with a fact check — although CBS had initially said there would be no fact-checking during this debate.
“And just to clarify for our viewers, Springfield, Ohio, does have a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status, temporary protected status,” Brennan said. And Vance protested with this gem: “Margaret, the rules were that you guys were not going to fact check,” he said.
If that wasn’t enough to raise an eyebrow, Vance went on to explain the legal process of how immigrants can apply for temporary protected status with Walz interjecting.
But Brennan wasn’t having it.
“Thank you senator for describing the legal process,” she said. “But we have so much to get to.”
But Vance kept going until Brennan had to explain to him and Walz that “the audience can’t hear you because your mics are cut.”
Another pivotal moment came toward the end of the debate, in which Walz pressed Vance about Jan. 6 and former President Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss — a defeat that Trump still publicly denies. At one point, Walz faced Vance and asked him directly:
“Did [Trump] lose the 2020 election?”
“Tim, I’m focused on the future,” Vance responded.
“That’s a damning non-answer,” Walz said.
There were a few more highlights, which you can read about here, but those are the moments most people latched on to on X (aside from Vance appearing to be wearing a lot of eyeliner).
To see all the funny things X users had to say, just scroll down!
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