U.S. VP Candidates Spar, Politely, in Policy-Heavy Debate

TaiwanPlus News

The U.S. vice presidential candidates, Tim Walz and JD Vance, sparred over the Middle East, gun violence, reproductive rights and the state of U.S. democracy in their televised debate, hosted by CBS News in New York.

Transcript

00:00A cordial start to a high-stakes debate.

00:03The U.S. vice presidential candidates had a policy-heavy exchange as they approached

00:08the final stretch in the tight race for the White House.

00:12The televised debate was hosted by CBS News in New York, a Democratic stronghold and former

00:18home of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

00:22His running mate, Senator J.D. Vance from Ohio, on the left, and on the right, Democratic

00:27vice presidential candidate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

00:31They began by tackling the Middle East, where Israel and Iran have fired missiles in an

00:36escalating crisis.

00:38Walz, saying steady U.S. leadership, as exhibited by his running mate Vice President Kamala

00:43Harris, is what's needed now more than ever, not the volatility of the former president.

00:50It's those that were closest to Donald Trump that understand how dangerous he is when the

00:55world is this dangerous.

00:57When our allies see Donald Trump turn towards Vladimir Putin, turn towards North Korea,

01:05when we start to see that type of fickleness around holding the coalitions together, we

01:09will stay committed.

01:11Vance rebutted by pointing to Trump's, quote, effective deterrence from his time in office,

01:17also stating that a second Trump presidency would support Israel however it decides to

01:22defend itself.

01:24Donald Trump recognized that for people to fear the United States, you needed peace through

01:29strength.

01:30And, look, it is up to Israel what they think they need to do to keep their country safe.

01:34And we should support our allies wherever they are when they're fighting the bad guys.

01:38The candidates this evening appearing more courteous than their running mates at the

01:42jab-heavy presidential debate three weeks ago.

01:46At times, they were even showing sympathy for the other amid debating hot-button issues

01:51like gun violence.

01:52First of all, I didn't know that your 17-year-old witness is shooting.

01:55I'm sorry about that.

01:56I appreciate it.

01:57Christ have mercy.

01:58Despite the decorum, the differences in the candidates' perspectives were evident.

02:03On the economy, Vance blamed economists for weakening American trade against its competitors.

02:09Governor, you say trust the experts, but those same experts for 40 years said that if we

02:14shipped our manufacturing base off to China, we'd get cheaper goods.

02:18They lied about that.

02:19The senator also blaming the high cost of living on President Joe Biden's policies,

02:25which he pointedly called the Harris administration, painting the vice president as the primary

02:30decision-maker.

02:31Meanwhile, his rival Walls, who has spent time in China teaching there in 89 and later

02:37starting a program to bring American students over, said Trump would have benefited from

02:42such a trip.

02:44Being there, the impact it made, the difference it made in my life, I learned a lot about

02:48China.

02:50I would make the case that Donald Trump should have come on one of those trips with us.

02:53I guarantee you he wouldn't be praising Xi Jinping about COVID.

02:58And I guarantee you he wouldn't start a trade war that he ends up losing.

03:02The Minnesota governor, though, who once claimed he'd been to China dozens of times with this

03:07campaign later revising that it was closer to 15, was pressed about competing claims

03:13on whether he was in Hong Kong during the deadly Tiananmen Square uprising in Beijing

03:19in June of 89, Walls saying he misspoke.

03:23Governor, just to follow up on that, the question was, can you explain the discrepancy?

03:29All I said on this was, is I got there that summer and misspoke on this.

03:32So I will just, that's what I've said.

03:36All in all, a quick moving debate on multiple domestic and foreign issues with largely polite

03:42disagreements between the Midwestern candidates.

03:45Though VP debates generally don't make or break the election, in as tight of a race

03:50as this one, the slightest shift in public opinion could be decisive.

03:55James Lin and Joyce Xin for Taiwan Plus.

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