Column: In the VP debate it’s ‘Mad Dad’ Vance vs. ‘Rad Dad’ Walz

Hello, and happy Tuesday. There are 34 days until the election and the vice presidential debate is upon us.

The contenders: JD “Mad Dad” Vance and Tim “Rad Dad” Walz.

The prize: Heavyweight champion of American manhood.

We’ve all seen their shticks by now, but this will be their only mano a mano of the election season — and our first real chance as a nation to see what they can do and who they are. As my colleagues Jim Rainey and Seema Mehta wrote, a full quarter of Americans haven’t heard of either of them. Based on my nonscientific research, the remaining 75% wish they hadn’t heard of at least one of them.

Yes, we know the micro on them — the clips on X of one ranting and one aw-shucks-ing, their endless texts asking us for money. We know them like we know a Seurat pointillism painting from pressing our noses against the dots — which means not much. But now it’s time to pull back and see the big picture.

Don’t tell me you’re not curious. When Donald Trump and Kamala Harris faced off (and by that I mean the time Harris trounced Trump) it was pure stress for all of us.

But Walz/Vance is pure fun. The truth is, a vice presidential debate has rarely swayed the outcome of an election — so the stakes aren’t as high as they were for the main event, even in this close race. But the chance of insane exchanges is off the charts — like “Real Housewives” levels.

Let’s discuss!

JD Vance always reminds one journalist of Anger (the little red guy) from the “Inside Out” movies.

(Disney/Pixar)

Raging Bull-hockey

The biggest challenge for JD Vance is to come across as human next to Walz. The Minnesota governor is all homey charm, polished by years of experience in politics. That authenticity is as well practiced as it is appealing.

Vance, however, always reminds me of Anger from the “Inside Out” movies. Haitians? They make me angry! Women? They make me angry? Donuts? Angry!

The Ohio Republican has honed an image that the MAGA base loves — furious and willing to fight about it. And I’ll say it — openly mean and shockingly racist, without Trump’s mysterious charisma or the chaos that at least makes the hate confusing.

But there won’t be an audience at the debate, friendly or otherwise. Just a big, quiet room that doesn’t shout back in approval when you threaten to deport anyone who is darker than toast.

As much as anything Walz says or moderators ask, this silent chamber of cold neutrality will be Vance’s worst enemy, because it’s hard to sustain rage and vengeance — and make it look good — without a supportive audience. You end up looking like a toddler tantrumming in the grocery store.

Rumor has it Vance likes to debate because he’s a smart guy. But here’s the thing — tonight’s debate isn’t about winning policy points. It’s a pure likability pageant. We want charm. We want zingers. We want a few “Oh, damns!”

And that’s a tough order for Vance.

There are some politicians who know how to work a crowd — they hit their marks and they know exactly what the listeners will feel. Then there are politicians like Vance who need the crowd more than the crowd needs him — its approval and its validation.

Without that, my guess is Vance will struggle to understand how viewers — and their cats — are perceiving him from their living rooms.

Easy Rider

Tim Walz gives off some Jeff Bridges in the Joel and Ethan Coen movie “The Big Lebowski.” But he’ll need to set down the white Russian and get tough in his debate with JD Vance.

(Merrick Morton / Gramercy Pictures)

Walz, for all that bonhomie, has his own struggles coming Tuesday night. Like Vance, he’s not experienced on the national stage. He’ll need to set aside some of his affability to go on the attack — and fend off attacks.

If we’re going to keep up with the movie analogies, Walz strikes me as a little bit like the Dude from “The Big Lebowski” — just having some fun and managing Minnesota. But he wants his rug back, and by that I mean democracy.

Walz is most comfortable in on-the-ground settings where he can shake hands and crack jokes with the people. He’s a teacher and coach at heart, and he’s proved he can give a rousing halftime-and-we’re-down-not-out speech.

Media have been speculating that he’s nervous going into this, and may not be up to handling Vance’s Yale Law debate skills. For my part, I think any guy who has held his own in front of a classroom of teenagers will be just fine. And I think that anyone who can make Vance look awkward, which is a lot of people apparently, will also do just fine.

But winning this will mean landing punches, and taking them. This will be Walz’s chance to show us he’s not just a coach, but also a player.

But what will they talk about?

Likability aside, they do have to fill 90 minutes. In one of the most egregious abdications in recent journalistic history, CBS, which is hosting the debate, has said its moderators will not fact-check either candidate. Seriously, I cannot believe CBS thinks it’s OK to have their journalists just smile and nod while candidates tell lies — but them’s the rules.

Instead, if you are watching on CBS (and only on CBS) a QR Code will pop up every time a candidate lies and you can follow it to fact-checking on the CBS website for a “second screen experience,” the New York Times reports, which is both self-serving and lame.

So expect Vance and Walz (mostly Walz) to spend a lot of time pointing out fabrications, dishonesties, deceits and general flim-flammery.

Other than that, expect:

• Project 2025: Vance will probably deny it has anything to do with Trump or the campaign, despite the fact that he’s linked to its authors six ways to Sunday, as they say.
  
• Military service: Vance served four years in the Marines, with six months of that as a military journalist in Iraq. He will almost certainly slam Walz, who served in the National Guard for 24 years, for retiring before his unit was deployed to Iraq. This may be Vance’s best place to hit Walz personally, and certainly will require a strong response from Walz.
  
• Healthcare: Trumpworld has been claiming Harris and Walz want to end “private health insurance” to which I say, yes, please. But to a lot of folks, this is a dire threat, so expect an expansion of Medicaid or Medicare to be framed as taking away choice.
  
• Inflation: Vance will hit hard on the price of milk and eggs, and this is a place where the audience might relate.
  
• Abortion: Meow.
  
• Immigration/Springfield: At a recent Wisconsin rally, with a backdrop that read “end migrant crime” and “deport illegals now,” Trump claimed that immigrants are “stone cold killers” who will walk into your kitchen and “cut your throat.” Frighteningly, a recent PPRI survey found that about one-third of Americans agree with the statement that immigrants who enter the country illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country” (a Hitler quote Trump has used). That jumps to 67% for Trump-backing Republicans. So expect Vance to go there — it’s not as unpopular as it should be.
  
• Trump/Harris: At the end of the day, Vance and Walz are onstage on behalf of their bosses. So expect attacks on Harris and Trump, and two guys fighting to prove they were the right choice, and the right kind of man for the job.
  

What else you should be reading

The must-read: Ted Cruz rebrands for a tight race in Texas
The are you serious?: Want to Check That Fact? For V.P. Debate Viewers, Just Scan the Code.
The L.A. Times Special: Four takeaways from first debate in 2026 California governor’s race

Stay Golden,
Anita Chabria

P.S: Trump is shilling his crypto again. Honestly, I don’t need to make a joke. It’s its own joke.

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