In VP Debate, JD Vance Downplays Jan. 6 Insurrection & Refuses to Admit Trump Lost 2020 Election

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, “War, Peace and the Presidency.” I’m Amy Goodman.

We continue our look at last night’s vice-presidential debate between Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz and Ohio Republican Senator JD Vance, facing off in New York in their first and only debate ahead of the election. We’ll be spending the rest of the our airing excerpts and getting analysis.

Near the end of the debate, the discussion turned to the January 6th insurrection and Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election. JD Vance was asked if he would challenge this year’s election results even if every governor certifies the results.

SEN. JD VANCE: Look, what President Trump has said is that there were problems in 2020. And my own belief is that we should fight about those issues, debate those issues peacefully in the public square. And that’s all I’ve said, and that’s all that Donald Trump has said. Remember, he said that on January the 6th, the protesters ought to protest peacefully. And on January the 20th, what happened? Joe Biden became the president. Donald Trump left the White House. And now, of course, unfortunately, we have all of the negative policies that have come from the Harris-Biden administration. I believe that we actually do have a threat to democracy in this country, but, unfortunately, it’s not the threat to democracy that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz want to talk about. It is the threat of censorship.

GOV. TIM WALZ: This one is troubling to me. And I say that because I think we need to tell the story. Donald Trump refused to acknowledge this. And the fact is, is that I don’t think we can be the frog in the pot and let the boiling water go up. He was very clear. I mean, he lost this election, and he said he didn’t.

A hundred and forty police officers were beaten at the Capitol that day, some with the American flag. Several later died. And it wasn’t just in there. In Minnesota, a group gathered on the state Capitol grounds in St. Paul and said, “We’re marching to the governor’s residence, and there may be casualties.” The only person there was my son and his dog, who was rushed out crying by state police. That issue — and Mike Pence standing there as they were chanting “Hang Mike Pence,” Mike Pence made the right decision. So, Senator, it was adjudicated over and over and over. …

This is one that we are miles apart on. This was a threat to our democracy in a way that we had not seen, and it manifested itself because of Donald Trump’s inability to say — he is still saying he didn’t lose the election. I would just add to that: Did he lose the 2020 election?

SEN. JD VANCE: Tim, I’m focused on the future. Did Kamala Harris censor Americans from speaking their mind in the wake of the 2020 COVID situation?

GOV. TIM WALZ: That is a damning — 

SEN. JD VANCE: Has she tried to —

GOV. TIM WALZ: That is a damning nonanswer.

AMY GOODMAN: That was Tim Walz and JD Vance, an excerpt of the CBS vice-presidential debate, moderated by Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan. Still with us, Akbar Shahid Ahmed, senior diplomatic correspondent for HuffPost, based in Washington, D.C. Maybe the most dramatic moment of this debate coming right at the end there. Your response, Akbar?

AKBAR SHAHID AHMED: I think this certainly is the moment that the Harris campaign will be hoping becomes the defining moment of the night. They’ve already come out and said that based on their analysis of swing voters, this was the moment that turned people off Senator JD Vance and, by extension, Donald Trump.

I think what’s so interesting about the senator’s answer is that it’s so stripped of context, right? Historically, JD Vance has said, “I would have helped Donald Trump remain in power.” He said, “Had I been Mike Pence in that moment, I would not have certified the election results.”

Additionally, we know that Republicans at a state level across the country, not just Donald Trump, but all the way down through the party, are pushing these kind of “stop the steal” theories, these ideas that noncitizens are voting, these extensive restrictions, strange ways to kind of increase executive power over the process and inject politics into what’s historically been a nonpartisan voting process. So, what we know is that Republicans have laid the groundwork to challenge elections again and again, whether it’s Donald Trump on the ballot or not.

I think this will be the moment that will be referenced repeatedly in the future. JD Vance, having made other points he thinks get through to people better, definitely was — definitely, I’m sure, was grateful that this came at the end, and hopes that maybe people by that point had switched off and turned away.