ABC
Considering it could be the final debate of the 2024 presidential election cycle, there are a lot of expectations ahead of Tuesday’s match-up of Donald Trump‘s running mate JD Vance and Kamala Harris‘ running mate Tim Walz. On Monday’s (September 30) edition of The View, the cohosts spelled out their expectations — and offered a few words of advice to their candidate of choice — for the event.
Alyssa Farah Griffin noted that Vance is the one with “a lot to gain” thanks to his historic unpopularity, but she expects Walz to come in with “a lot more experience” thanks to his time in Congress and as the governor of Minnesota. However, she cautioned that his on-the-campaign-trail journeyman persona might not meet the moment in a debate setting, saying, “What Tim Walz thrives at is being kind of the dad who’s changing the oil and seeming like an everyman, he also needs to show up and make a statement. People look to VP debates to say, ‘Could you be president, god forbid, tomorrow if something happened? So he needs to lean more into Governor Tim Walz.”
Sunny Hostin completely disagreed, saying, “I want to see Coach Tim Walz. I want to see Coach Tim Walz ask JD Vance, ‘Are Haitian people really eating pets? Do you really believe that?’ I want him to question him about Project 2025. I want him to hold his feet to the fire.” Hostin went on to suggest that Walz should “challenge” Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy legacy, saying, “He went to Silicon Valley and made money with billionaires … I want him to challenge him on his sort of ‘I’m a hillbilly’ [claims]. We all know that’s not true.”
Sara Haines predicted that it’s Vance who has more to gain or lose from the debate with Walz, saying, “Contrast doesn’t serve the Trump-Vance ticket well… Normally when you’re consuming what they say it’s among rallies, it’s a silo of people that agree with you. When you put them next to someone who’s going to contrast the craziness that’s brought to the microphone — because he has to… echo what Donald Trump does and says and defend it at a microphone. By contrast, Tim Walz just has to be himself.”
Ana Navarro, per usual, piped in with some fire to add to the conversation, and said, “I think JD Vance is just so damn dislikable. And I think he’s been a mistake … The pick was a mistake. That’s what happens when you take Donald Trump Jr.’s recommendation for whom to pick.” Navarro went on to add, “What I think Tim Walz needs to do is reveal [Vance] for who he is: a coward, duplicitous, hypocritical, opportunist who remains silent while Trump attacks Kamala Harris for being biracial, even though his children are biracial. Who attacks Kamala Harris for being … South Asian even though he’s married to an Indian woman… and I hope he reminds him of what he called Donald Trump: ‘America’s Hitler.’”
Whoopi Goldberg had a more stoic, but still pretty stinging suggestion for the debate, saying, “I would just like them to give me the facts. Give me the facts. If they’re not going to fact-check. You know what he’s going to come after you on, have the fact-check him: ‘I’ve checked this before. This is what it is. You’re a moron.’ ‘I’ve checked this before. This is what it is. You remain a moron.’”
We’ll have to wait and see how it all pans out when the vice presidential debate airs Tuesday, October 1 at 9/8c on CBS.
