In a recent appearance on Fox News, Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance attempted to attack Democrats but inadvertently suggested he understood what it felt like to “lie about Kamala Harris’ record for the past month.” Speaking while the network was broadcasting from the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Vance claimed that Democrats were not united behind Harris, who is the presumed Democratic nominee.
“Remember a month ago, these are the guys who were telling us, backed up by the media, that Joe Biden, who couldn’t complete a sentence, was Albert Einstein, right?” Vance remarked. “He’s the most brilliant president that we have ever had.”
Vance went on to criticize the Democratic Party’s handling of Biden, implying that they had abandoned him once he was perceived as a liability. “And the minute it became obvious that he was political dead weight, they threw him overboard and they’re not trying to pick up the pieces,” Vance asserted. “I think that we’ve just witnessed in this country a year-long, or sorry, a month-long campaign to completely separate Kamala Harris from the administration where she is the vice president.”
However, Vance’s comments took an unexpected turn when he seemed to empathize with those who might have misrepresented Harris’s record. “It takes a lot of aggressive lying and a lot of shamelessness to pull it off, but you don’t feel good when you look in yourself in the mirror after lying about Kamala Harris’ record for the past month,” he told The New York Times.
Vance’s remarks appeared to blur the lines between criticism of the Democrats and an acknowledgment of the challenges involved in attacking Harris’s record. His comments, particularly the part about lying, may have unintentionally undercut his intended message, leaving viewers with the impression that he recognized the difficulty and discomfort of misrepresenting the vice president’s record.
As the campaign season continues, Vance’s statements may spark further discussion about the strategies used by both parties in framing their opponents, especially as the race intensifies and candidates seek to define their narratives.