One Crucial Thing to Watch for in the VP Debate that the Pundits Will Ignore

Walz and Vance are Polar Opposites

During Tuesday’s night’s Vice Presidential debate, commentators will likely be zeroing in on gaffes or zingers, the kind of things that make good clips or better yet memes. More important issues will likely be under covered or neglected altogether.

We have already learned that the CBS News moderators will not be fact-checking the participants. CBS News, once considered the pinnacle of network television journalism, is apparently out of that business. They were apparently intimidating by Trump and MAGA Republicans who complained that fact-checking is unfair. Never mind that it is only unfair to liars or that helping their audience understand the difference between truth and fiction is their primary job, the decision gives a decided edge during the debate to any liars who take the stage tomorrow night.

Which is to say, it gives an advantage to Ohio Senator J.D. Vance who is, after all, the man behind some of the real signature lies of this campaign cycle and the running mate of Washington’s all-time lying record holder, a man who lied more than thirty thousand times as president and who only stops lying when he is asleep. As far as we know. He could lie in his sleep, misreading the meaning of the old admonition “you’ve made your bed, now lie in it.”

But I would suggest that if you watch the debate—and you should—that you listen to something else other than sports report that will be offered up by most of the political big brains who comment on it. (Who won? Who lost? Who fumbled? Who hit a home run? Count the sports metaphors you hear, they reveal the way we tend to report on politics these days.)

Ask yourself, which of these people really understands the job they are auditioning for. I’m not just speaking of the Vice Presidency. I’m speaking of the job of governing and the job of being next in line for the presidency. It matters in particular because Donald Trump is old and in bad shape and addled and very well may not make it through a full-term as president. Which means that you have to look at Vance in particular from the perspective of would he be the kind of person you would like to have as America’s chief executive.

Now, I know you think you already know that answer. He is, after all, a liar. He is a hypocrite who was against Trump before he was for him. He is a tool of his billionaire benefactors. He is an advocate for the Project 2025 policies that would strip away our freedoms and undermine our democracy. He is a misogynist. He is a racist. He is…well, weird.

There’s no way this guy should be the dog catcher in Springfield, Ohio much less Vice President or President of the United States. Although, I’ll admit it, if he ended up being dog catcher in Springfield, Ohio, that would tie a bow on things in a tidy and satisfying way.

But, set that aside for a moment. Try to listen to the debate as if you knew none of that. And look for just one thing, the minimum entry requirement for any government job, do the candidates understand the concept of public service?

The contrast will be, I am certain, stark. That is because we already know these men to some degree. We know their records. We have heard them speak.

And candidly, there are few public officials I have ever seen or heard in my life who better understand and embody what public service is all about that Governor Tim Walz. He has for literally every minute of his adult life devoting himself to helping his neighbors, the communities in which he lived.

Not only has he served for almost two and a half decades in the national guard, but throughout that time, he was a teacher. There is no higher form of public service than teaching, none more essential. Further, there are few more under-rewarded in our society. There are first responders and medical professionals and others who also fall into a similar category. But without teachers, without people like Tim Walz and his wife, we would be nowhere.

Not only was Walz reportedly a great teacher but he also worked in that role to help students in trouble, those facing challenges from society, and he did not do it for money or fame. He did it because he felt it needed to be done.

When you hear him talk about what he has done in his career—from helping to ensure students have enough to eat to making Minnesota a great environment for business and in which to live—he talks about the job in terms of doing the right thing, of helping people, of trying to ensure people have better lives. When he describes his stand on issues like abortion or the environment, it is always in human terms, in terms of how to make a better society.

He is not just offering up a line, some words thought up by a political consultant. For most of his life he was doing these things far from the public eye, without any hope of reward. And when he was in Congress and serving as a governor, he often tackled issues that were not the glamorous ones but were instead the ones that needed tackling.

Vance does not understand such ideas. He has hardly done any public service at all. He has less experience coming into the job he wants than virtually anyone in history…except of course Trump, who was the first candidate in history to have zero public service experience. Vance, like Trump, has devoted his career to self-enrichment. Vance, like Trump, has sought the spotlight. Vance, like Trump, has repeatedly revealed that he does not have a principle or value that he would not happily sell to the highest bidder.

Walz is a model of a public servant. He is closer to Jefferson Smith, the Jimmy Stewart character in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, than almost any politician you’ll ever meet. He exudes goodness and regular guyness.

Vance is, face it, a sleaze. He is out for himself and a few benefactors. Hell, he made his name exploiting ordinary Americans and then proceeded to spend the ensuing years cashing in on that fame while simultaneously demonstrating that he actually felt nothing for those people or how the world treated them.

In the end, feel free to vote for Harris and Walz and against Trump and Vance for all the reasons you had prior to tomorrow’s debate. But for a couple hours on Tuesday night, focus on this critical contrast. It is far more important than most pundits will suggest.

And, for the record, it is every bit as stark a difference for the woman who should be our next president, Kamala Harris, and the felon who must never hold public office again, a man whose career has embodied the opposite of public service (self-service at the public’s expense), Donald Trump.