How did Republican candidate J.D. Vance and Democratic nominee Tim Walz fare in the U.S. vice presidential debate? TaiwanPlus speaks to Jared Mondschein, director of research at the University of Sydney's United States Studies Centre.
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00:00How did both candidates fare in the debate?
00:03J.D. Vance, I think, went out of his way to be a calmer and less combative Republican
00:13debater than Donald Trump has been in the last two debates, particularly the last debate
00:18with Kamala Harris.
00:20So I think both candidates stayed on message.
00:24Both candidates did not veer too far away from what they've said previously.
00:29But on the whole, the fact that J.D. Vance was able to stay disciplined and stay on message
00:35and not get as aggressive as Donald Trump has gotten, perhaps, plays to his favor moving
00:41forward.
00:43This debate seems quite civil in comparison to the Harris-Trump debate.
00:49Is there a chance that this might set a new tone for the election going forward?
00:55I think there have been a number of instances where people have thought that an event or
01:04some sort of incident may cause the campaign to change tone.
01:09We've seen two assassination attempts on Donald Trump, and in a number of instances, including
01:16those assassination attempts, people have asked that very question, whether this will
01:21somehow set a new tone of civility.
01:23I don't think it will.
01:25I think Donald Trump, in many ways, is who he is and has seen no benefit of being more
01:32civil.
01:33In many ways, he views it as sort of diluting his electoral attractiveness to the many people
01:41who voted for him.
01:43Generally speaking, in U.S. elections, vice presidential picks aren't seen as being that
01:48important.
01:49Is it any different this time around?
01:51I think it is different, especially on the Republican ticket.
01:54Let's not forget that if Republican nominee Donald Trump wins, that would be his second
02:01term of office, and he is constitutionally limited from running again.
02:06If Donald Trump does win, then we basically need to see who the Republicans would put
02:13up in 2028.
02:14This could be one of the first and most well-known instances of a leading candidate in 2028 being
02:21J.D. Vance.
02:22I think what I took away from this debate is gaining some insights as to where J.D.
02:27Vance, in particular, is situating himself ahead of the 2028 election.