Former President Trump said Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz “embarrassed himself” during Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate, while Sen. JD Vance’s steady presentation “reconfirmed” his choice to make the senator from Ohio his running mate.
Trump spoke exclusively with Fox News Digital on Wednesday morning, hours after Vance, R-Ohio, and Walz faced off in the CBS News Vice Presidential Debate in New York City. The two sparred on issues like foreign policy, border security, abortion and climate change, while introducing themselves and their records to the American people.
“JD was fantastic last night — it just reconfirmed my choice,” Trump told Fox News Digital. “There was a brilliance to what he did.”
“On the other hand, Tim Walz proved to be a man that doesn’t have it in any way, shape or form for the office that he is seeking, though I would put him a large number of steps above Kamala [Harris],” Trump said.
The former president and Republican presidential nominee said Walz “embarrassed himself and the Democrat Party last night, but was made to look even worse by JD’s brilliant performance.”
“This is what the country needs; smart people, not people that can’t put two sentences together,” Trump said. “We have to take our country back.”
Vice presidential debates are traditionally seen as second-tier, but with Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris unlikely to debate again before voters cast their ballots on Nov. 5, the stakes were raised for their running mates as they attempted to tackle the most important issues facing the nation.
CBS News anchors Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan moderated the debate in New York City on Tuesday night, which was filled with more substantive policy discussion than personal jabs. Tuesday began with nearly 50,000 unionized dockworkers going on strike from Maine to Texas and ended with Iran launching its largest attack on Israel in history, firing nearly 250 ballistic missiles at the Jewish state.
The first question for Walz and Vance was whether they would support a preemptive strike by Israel on Iran.
A visibly shaky Walz had a rough start to the debate, pausing and stumbling over his words as he spoke about the need for “steady leadership” from the White House. Instead of answering the question, Walz took a shot at Trump.
“What’s fundamental here is that steady leadership is going to matter,” Walz said, pointing to Trump’s debate performance against Harris last month. “It’s clear, and the world saw it on that debate stage a few weeks ago. A nearly 80-year-old Donald Trump talking about crowd sizes is not what we need in this moment.”