Jd Vance and Tim Walz Gave Us a Debate for Adults

Is it too late for a switcheroo?

Ohio Republican Senator JD Vance and Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz.

The third debate of the presidential election season — and the only vice-presidential debate — offered us something that was sorely missing in the first two: substance and decorum.

Ohio Republican Senator JD Vance and Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz should be applauded for offering voters policy details, coherent political philosophies, and few personal attacks.

If anyone underperformed in the debate, it was the moderators — who at one point cut the candidates’ mics when they started arguing over the legitimacy of President Joe Biden offering protective status to Haitian immigrants. (Why not let Americans hear a good faith debate about the topic?)

It brought up a question I’ve been sitting with for a long time: is it possible that the vice-presidential candidates here are the more qualified ones in the race?

Let’s be honest, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump haven’t shown that they’re able to explain public policy at this level without a teleprompter or army of aides.

Neither of them have spoken at length about what they would do to end the wars in Ukraine or the Middle East beyond simplistic slogans. And there’s a reason Kamala Harris does very few interviews — you can’t read off a prepared statement if you’re asked to answer improvised questions about foreign policy for an hour.

This can’t be chalked up to Trump or Harris being poor speakers, either.

Trump is probably the funniest person who has ever held the presidency. He is, at times, an absolutely amazing speaker.

But he doesn’t seem to have very much interest in policy or governance. When asked about health care at the last presidential debate, he had next to nothing to say because it’s obvious he just doesn’t put that much thought into it.

Harris, on the other hand, is very likable and charismatic when she talks about her family or friends. But why has Harris speaking about her middle-class upbringing become a meme? Because it’s an easy thing for her to say when she doesn’t know a lot about economic policy.

Unfortunately, there is no precedent for a political party swapping the order of a presidential ticket because the vice-presidential candidate is clearly more qualified to be president.

But watching tonight’s debate, you almost wish there was.