Democrat Tim Walz accused his Republican rival JD Vance of “dehumanizing” migrants. Donald Trump’s running mate criticized the Democrats for having “radical” positions on voluntary terminations of pregnancies.
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One of the two men will become vice-president after the US election in November. Democrat Tim Walz and Republican JD Vance, respectively running mates of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, clashed on Tuesday October 1 over their candidate’s flagship proposals during a firm but courteous debate in New York. Abortion, the economy and the crisis in the Middle East dominated a particularly civil confrontation in a campaign so far marked by very violent rhetoric.
One of the tensest sequences of this 90-minute program was devoted to immigration. Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’ right-hand man in the race for the White House, accused his Republican rival of “dehumanize” migrants by relaying the false theory according to which Haitian migrants eat cats and dogs, subsequently taken up by Donald Trump.
The Republican billionaire’s running mate, for his part, criticized the Democrats for having positions “radical” on voluntary terminations of pregnancy, he who is known for having defended a federal ban on abortion. “We are pro-women. We are for the freedom to make your own choices”replied Tim Walz, 60 years old.
The escalation between Israel and Iran also featured in the debate between the two running mates, each defending the leadership style of their candidate at the White House. “A nearly 80-year-old Donald Trump talking about crowd sizes [à ses meetings] is not the person we need right now”scolded Tim Walz, saluting the “solidity” of the profile of the American vice-president. Senator JD Vance, serene throughout the broadcast, on the contrary praised the qualities of the tempestuous septuagenarian, facing whom “people fell into line”.
Faced with two CBS journalists, the two men also debated at length the merits of climate change, after the passage of Hurricane Helene. The Republican forty-year-old, known for his climate-skeptical remarks, denounced the “weird science” motivating some of the Democrats’ positions. He also, once again, refused to acknowledge that Donald Trump had lost the 2020 presidential election. Tim Walz, for his part, admitted to being wrong about the date of one of his trips to Hong Kong in 1989 – the Republicans having accused him of having sought to stage himself during the Tiananmen pro-democracy movement, which was bloodily repressed.
More than that of Kamala Harris, it is the personality and policies of Donald Trump which punctuated the exchanges between the two men. “JD blew it!”commented the main person concerned at the end of the debate, mocking on the contrary the “low IQ” by Tim Walz. The Harris camp also declared victory, welcoming the “passion” of the Democratic running mate. According to a CBS poll carried out during the show, it was the Republican who won very slightly according to American viewers (42% against 41%).