Before Tuesday night's debate, the Trump campaign briefed reporters on Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance's plans for the night. It was to attack Waltz, attack Waltz's record, and then attack Waltz again just in case. It just didn't happen.
“Twists aside, each person is working toward the same goal,” says Politico playbook
I wrote Tuesday Morning: “Paint the other man as extreme and out of step with the American people.”
The night was a victory for Vance in public, but behind the scenes it was a more personal victory for House Republican Tom Emmer.
According to a spokesperson, Mr. Vance will criticize Mr. Walz “for his far-left agenda, including his dismal record on border security, his softness on crime, and his overall failure as governor of Minnesota.” ”
“Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance's biggest goal in Tuesday's debate with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz may be to paint him as too liberal for most Americans,” Axios paper
reported The senator on Monday accused Walz of wrongdoing, lies about his military rank and service, lies about his family using IVF, and being as extreme as Democrats on abortion and transgender issues. He listed weaknesses that he thought the senator would attack.
Waltz was ready for it. Of course, nothing happened.
Vance wasted no time chasing his opponents or his own record, and was even mild-mannered even when he wasn't attacking his real target, Vice President Kamala Harris. He was so spot-on that he even had some Walz-style sympathy for the governor, who defended Harris and attacked former President Donald Trump's record, worrying about the governor's “tough job here.”
The night was a public victory for Vance, but behind the scenes it was a more personal victory for the House Republican whip, Tom Emmer of Minnesota. Emmer made headlines last month after Trump campaign officials said he was privately discussing Vance as Walz's replacement.
Emmer was a good choice. He has lived in Minnesota since attending law school there in the 1980s. He became a state legislator 20 years ago and was elected to the House of Representatives in 2015. That means he works with Walz, attends local chamber events, and attends the annual Hot Dish Competition in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, where House members and senators compete for the best flavor in a single-dish casserole. It took him four years to compete in the dinner.
Oh, and he has no affection for Waltz. Walz left Washington, D.C., to become governor five years ago, squandering most of the Arctic state's once-large surplus, overseeing an explosion in violent crime, and turning the state into a “nation.” is. The boys' bathrooms were stocked with tampons, and the administration signed a ban on reporting on infants born alive from murderous late-term abortions or left to die.
Let me tell you, these two are not friends. Emmer reportedly believes his former colleague is a camouflage-wearing fraudster. And while Vance may know Pennsylvania voters aren't going to change their votes because Tim Walz let Minneapolis burn for days before responding to the mayor's request for National Guard reinforcements, Emmer I am certainly concerned that he has become an empty shell. They used to be.
It's been four years since I visited to cover the 2020 election, and personally speaking, that fall, the city was deserted at night except for drug addicts and criminals. The bartenders, waiters, hotel staff, and shopkeepers we met were nice people, but they all lived in fear of the next outbreak of political violence. Everyone was shocked and hurt. Everyone was scared.
It wasn't Vance's job to talk about it Tuesday night. But it was Emmer's joy to play an active role in seeing the man who allowed it beaten and humiliated in front of the whole country.
“Mr Emmer's purpose,” he told Blaze News, “was to help JD expose him as a fraud on the national stage. Mission accomplished.”
Federalist:In Minneapolis, anger and fear are holding America's big city back
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