Why This Red State Democrat Couldn't Watch the Vice Presidential Debate

The lying liars of the Republican Party

Last week, before the vice presidential debate, I was asked by a number of friends whether I would be tuning in. The answer was an emphatic no.

It wasn’t because I thought Tim Walz would do a bad job. It wasn’t because I had a sense of foreboding after Biden’s campaign-ending debate.

It’s because as a Red State Democrat who has been forced to witness the behavior of Red State Republicans for longer than I care to admit, I knew exactly what JD Vance would do. I simply wasn’t willing to subject myself to the aggravation of watching it in real time.

A caveat that I am not a psychologist or psychiatrist, nor do I have any exceptional understanding of the human psychology. I don’t know Tim Walz or JD Vance personally.

But I am a human being. And, as such, I have experience with other human beings. And my nearly five decades of experience with other human beings – including my experience as a Democratic woman living in a Red State – tells me that I know exactly who JD Vance is.

Even if he doesn’t know who he is himself.

As I said to a friend in defense for why I was not going to watch the debate, Vance appears to have no moral compass, no grounding, no north star.

Debating him would be like debating a shape-shifter. It’s like pinning down smoke or boxing an apparition. It’s impossible to do, and you’ll hurt yourself in the effort.

He will say whatever he needs to in the moment to please the person in front of him at the time. It’s the reason he continues to be haunted by things he said in past appearances and interviews. He morphs and adapts to his environment, filling the gaps in himself. Pleasing his immediate audience is the goal – truth is immaterial.

With a childhood full of trauma, I’m sure he comes at this behavior honestly enough.

I would feel bad for him, if he weren’t so dangerous.

In contrast, there’s Tim Walz – a person who is about as solid as they come.

Tim is the prototypical aw-shucks 11th grade social studies teacher. Kind. Thoughtful. Honest. A good friend. He’s the guy that you want as your next-door neighbor – not least because if you’d ever have need for some obscure tool, you know he’d not only have it in his toolbox, but he’d happily loan it to you.

Heck, he’d probably fix whatever’s broken to begin with.

Because he’s a fixer. An earnest helper. And he’s someone who is emotionally stable enough to be capable of admitting errors and being “a knucklehead.”

It’s not surprising that a guy like Tim would get flustered by a guy like J.D. – a person who can lie so smoothly and effortlessly. Imagine how destabilizing it would be to hear a firehose of lies from your debate opponent?

Honestly, how would you respond?

A smug JD Vance and an exasperated Tim Walz

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And as I expected, JD Vance made his running mate proud by lying – brazenly – throughout the debate. He claimed that Trump saved the Affordable Care Act, that Vance has never said he supported a national abortion ban, and that Trump “peacefully gave over power on January 20” (which I suppose is technically true, but only because his violent coup was thwarted).

Again, none of that is surprising because being an effective liar was a prerequisite for being on the Republican ticket. After all, Trump got into office based on lies – and then upon taking office immediately demanded allegiance to lies about his inaugural crowd size. (Do you remember how aghast we were?). Over the course of his four-year term, he told 30,573 lies.

Then when he left office, he told the Biggest Lie. We’re still feeling the reverberations.

But there’s a bigger, broader problem. Because something happens to a political party when the figurehead is a liar who has cultivated a “post-truth” culture. With the guardrails of reality broken, lying becomes not just normal, and not just expected, but part of how you prove that you’re part of the team.

Just this past week, Republican Florida Senator Marco Rubio tweeted that the recent exceptional (non-partisan) jobs report was “fake news.” House Republican Elise Stefanik (R-NY) lied on Facebook, saying that Democrats “drained FEMA to give handouts to illegal immigrants including dangerous criminals.” Over the weekend both House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark) lied by omission – refusing to say that Biden won the 2020 election.

That’s just a smidgen of the lying happening on the federal stage. Here in Missouri, Republicans are trying to thwart the reproductive rights ballot initiative not by trying to persuade people of the righteousness of their position – but by spreading complete lies about what the initiative will (and won’t) achieve. They’ve now enlisted churches in their effort. It’s egregious.

What’s sad is that I wasn’t surprised by any of it.

There are plenty more examples, but you’ve seen what I’m talking about with your own eyes. And if you live in a Red State like mine, you’re used to local Republicans who both lie with impunity and fly under the radar, such that they’re unlikely to be fact-checked by media (or anyone but their opponent).

But it brings up a question that has been asked over and again by Democrats in Red States: How do you compete when you’re the only one who follows the rules?

How do you debate policy … when you can’t even agree on reality?

I wish I knew the answer to that question.

This post-truth Republican culture is dangerous. It’s not a problem that Democrats should be responsible for, because we didn’t create it. But because we’re responsible people, we’re learning to address it as best we can. FEMA now has a section on its website devoted to debunking the disinformation being spread by Republicans. (We should do more of that.)

Harris is directly calling out Trump’s lies. (She should do more of that.) Some Republicans, especially Republican governors who have been impacted by Hurricane Helene, have started doing the same. (They should do more of that.)

But the brightest spot on the horizon may be that the legacy media is finally debunking – in headlines – the most obvious lies that appear on the national stage.

They need to do more of that.

I’m hopeful that the press deeming Republican lies newsworthy is a turning point, and that they’ll help ground us all in shared truth. We could use their help; we’ll be playing Whack-A-Mole with Republican lies, and we need all the help we can get.

Because the idea of shape shifting liars being in the White House again sends chills down my spine.

Yours too? I thought so. November 5 is coming fast, friend.

Let’s get to work.

Actions for the Week of October 8, 2024

Here’s the part where – if you are so inclined – we roll up our sleeves and engage in what I like to call Action Therapy. Each Tuesday I share a few “small things” – usually a Small Thing to Read, a Small Event to Attend, and a Small Call to Make or Action to Take. You can tuck these actions into your week with ease – and know that you’re doing something today to make tomorrow better.

Small Thing(s) to Read

The NYT finally published a piece about Donald Trump’s cognitive decline. It’s a long read, but important. Check it out here: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/06/us/politics/trump-speeches-age-cognitive-decline.html

And Mother Jones published this incredible piece about JD Vance: To Understand JD Vance, You Need to Meet the “TheoBros”: These extremely online young Christian men want to end the 19th Amendment, restore public flogging, and make America white again.

Again, it’s a lengthy one but it’s worth it!

Small Event(s) to Attend:

Women for Harris – Featuring Red State Women!

Women Wednesdays for Harris is a great weekly zoom space – and while I have highlighted it in the past, I wanted to ensure I did so this week because my good friend and fellow Missourian

Jess Piper

is featured in this week’s call!

She’ll be joined by State Rep. Aftyn Behn, Wendy Davis, State Rep. Andrea Hunley, State Rep. Gloria Johnson, Liza Koshy, and Gina Torres. It’s going to be a great conversation and you should tune in if you can. (This isn’t a fundraiser and there is no cost to attend.) Register here: https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/event/657943/

Text Bank for North Carolina!

We’re in the GOTV phase of the election, and we all know that North Carolina is on a knife’s edge. It’s also a state Trump needs to win to have a path to 270 electoral votes. (Harris has multiple paths and doesn’t need NC necessarily – but putting NC into her win column increases the likelihood of her win dramatically.)

There are many ways to help in North Carolina, but one of the simplest is a good old fashioned text bank where you reach out to voters from the comfort of your home. All you'll need is a desktop, tablet or smartphone to text.

Onboarding/training is required (which is good!) and is offered live on Tuesdays and Thursdays, or you can watch the training on demand (you will receive the link when you sign up). Multiple dates and times are offered for this text bank, so check it out and help turn out voters in the Tar Heel state!

Register here: https://www.mobilize.us/mobilize/event/716151/

Small Call to Make or Action to Take

Hat Tip to Jessica Craven of Chop Wood Carry Water for this excellent action. With Hurricane Helene leaving vast devastation, and Hurricane Milton taking aim at Florida right now, it’s the height of irresponsibility for Speaker Johnson not to call the House back for a vote on additional aid funding. So, as Jessica suggests with her excellent script, get out your phone and call your Representative!

Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is _______.

I am really getting frustrated that Speaker Johnson hasn’t brought the House back into session to pass more FEMA funding. Since we know that Milton is going to be a once-in-a-hundred-year disaster, that several states are already reeling from Helene, and that the funding is badly needed, the only conclusion I can draw about Republicans’ refusal to return to DC is that they don’t want to help for political reasons. This is unbelievably selfish and awful. I will make sure everyone knows that when the chips were down the GOP tried to exploit our suffering for political purposes while the Democrats worked in good faith to help us. Thanks.

Thanks for reading, friend – I’m glad to see you here! If you love what I do and you want to support it, consider becoming a paid subscriber. It means a lot!