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Tuesday’s debate with a flurry of hilarious memes. Meanwhile, Democrats and the liberal media went to work to spin Walz’s pathetic performance, branding his lies over Tiananmen Square as mere matters of misspeaking and recasting the fear seen in his eyes as “passion.”
In addition to their efforts to prop up Walz, the Left also sought to damage Vance’s winning performance — and particularly the positive connection he made with women over the course of the 90-minute debate.
Vance’s calm demeanor, respectful tone, and serious discussion of the bread-and-butter issues that worry all Americans, contrast sharply with the image women had been sold by the leftist press of a knuckle-dragging neanderthal. The Ohio senator lovingly bragging on his wife while discussing challenges she faces in balancing her career as a successful lawyer and mom to their three kids further warmed women to the Republican candidate.
But Democrats and the party’s unofficial press corps couldn’t have that — not with women being one of the only groups where the Harris-Walz ticket still has a net favorable rating. So, the Left quickly invented a narrative to attack Trump’s running mate, with MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace, soon after the debate ended, claiming Vance’s “worst moment” came when “he attempted to ‘mansplain’ over muted mics.”
Wallace claimed that “if you’re a woman, that might be the worst moment JD Vance had, because he was going to mansplain right over that mute button. He was, and again, I don’t pretend to know how everyone will react to this. I think that a lot of women, in positions of authority that should command respect just by virtue of that dynamic, will see themselves and some do, the disrespect of them and talked over.”
In response to a similar framing from a self-proclaimed “gender-bias expert” on X, I want to clarify what these so-called feminists are really saying: they and the female moderators are so weak and incompetent that they can’t handle being challenged and instead complain about “mansplaining.”
Let’s be clear: that’s exactly what J.D. Vance was doing—correcting the moderators after their inappropriate interjection during a discussion about the immigrant crisis in Springfield, Ohio.
After a candidate exchange on the topic, moderator Margaret Brennan interjected, “And just to clarify for our viewers, Springfield, Ohio does have a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status. Temporary protected status.”
Vance attempted to respond, stating, “Well, Margaret, Margaret, I think it’s important,” but he was interrupted by Brennan and her co-moderator, Norah O’Donnell.
The Ohio senator was having none of it and continued: “The rules were that you guys weren’t going to fact check, and since you’re fact checking me, I think it’s important to say what’s actually going on. So there’s an application called the CBP One app where you can go on as an illegal migrant, apply for asylum or apply for parole and be granted legal status at the wave of a Kamala Harris open border wand. That is not a person coming in, applying for a green card and waiting for ten years … That is the facilitation of illegal immigration, Margaret, by our own leadership. And Kamala Harris opened up that pathway.”
The moderators then muted Vance’s microphone as he and Walz continued the debate. Walz claimed, “those laws have been on the books since 1990,” but Vance countered, though muted, “[t]he CBP app has not been on the books since 1990. It’s something that Kamala Harris created.”
That wasn’t mansplaining; it was a vice-presidential candidate addressing the unprofessional behavior of a moderator in a respectful manner. If Margaret Brennan had been Michael Brennan, the same situation would have played out. The only reason to criticize Vance for his response to Ms. Brennan’s breach of debate protocol is a desire to attack the Republican candidate.
Alternatively, it suggests a belief that women can’t handle the demands of moderating high-profile debates. In that case, female moderators need to either toughen up or, if they can’t handle the pressure, step aside.
