J.D. Vance dominated the VP debate

To manage expectations in the run-up to last night’s debate, Governor Tim Walz, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, let it be known through anonymous sources that he was nervous. He didn’t want to let Kamala Harris down. 

Well, he was tense and it showed. The first question was, inevitably, about the big story of the moment, the escalating conflict in the Middle East. Walz, speaking first, fumbled. He said ‘Iran’ when he meant ‘Israel’, twice, which hardly suggested a mastery of international affairs. He then rambled through various points about the ‘fickleness’ of Donald Trump in foreign affairs.

Vance, by contrast, sounded authoritative, composed, more professional from the off. He began with a little of his own extraordinary biography then pivoted neatly into saying that Donald Trump will address the concerns of everyday Americans about ‘chaos in the world’ by establishing ‘effective deterrence’.