Comment on J.D. Vance’s MAGA-Moderate Tightrope

Last Saturday, vice presidential candidate JD Vance appeared at an event in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, hosted by Lance Wallnau, a self-proclaimed “apostle,” which means he’s a leader in a rapidly growing religious movement called the New Apostolic Reformation. NAR is a loose network of evangelical Christians, who believe that they are called to take over all aspects of society, including the government.

Daniel Inouye wanted to serve the United States from a young age. Growing up in Hawaii, he was rattled by the attack on Pearl Harbor; in 1944, at the age of 19, Inouye deployed to Italy, then France, to fight the Nazis. War changes most soldiers’ lives, but Inouye, fighting in an all–Japanese American combat unit, also had to get his right arm amputated: A Nazi soldier struck him with a grenade launcher, partly destroying the arm and forcing him to pry the undetonated grenade out with his left hand.

All the same, Vance managed to wrest control of many of these dull-witted questions by bringing up topics that matter to voters.

Watching candidates get asked stupid questions so that they can give canned statements for two minutes and then bicker for a few seconds with each other is a waste of time.

Tampon Tim kept looking down, feverishly writing notes like a demonic Dem, only to occasionally look up with cartoonish expressions.

Vance was in full control, and Walz came off as weak.