Surrogates provide insight into JD Vance's debate strategy

Don't hold your breath expecting JD Vance to repeat the outrageous conspiracy theory that migrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating people's cats and dogs.

Surrogates for the Republican vice presidential nominee gave reporters a glimpse of what to expect from the Ohio senator as he squared off with his Democratic rival, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, in prime time Tuesday night – the final debate before November's presidential election.

Walz, Minnesota's governor and 12-year veteran of the House of Representatives in the state's first rural district, has largely embraced his Midwestern identity and his “nice Minnesota” persona. Some of his allies, including Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, worried it could be a liability in the debate stage.

Meanwhile, Vance will portray himself as the man for middle America because he comes from a “disadvantaged, struggling community,” his debate advisers said Monday night.

He will position himself as someone who understands the difficult decisions Americans make every day about whether to turn on the heat at night or go grocery shopping the next morning, while Tim Walz will “paint a Pollyanna picture of how great things are.” “will” if Harris wins, Trump senior adviser Jason Miller told reporters on the call.

A recent New York Times/Siena poll found that more people in the Midwest had a positive opinion of Walz than of his rival in Ohio — with 48% of voters in Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin holding a negative opinion of Vance.

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Republican Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota, who played the role of Walz during Vance's debate prep sessions, angered his fellow Minnesotan. Emmer, who represents the Republican-leaning district just northwest of Minneapolis, told reporters that his former House colleague was a “total fraud.” He predicted that Vance would “take the floor with Tim Walz” in Tuesday night's CBS debate.

“No amount of niceness from Minnesota will make up for the fact that Walz embodies Kamala Harris's open-borders, soft-on-crime policy stance,” Emmer told reporters.

Jason Miller, Trump's senior campaign adviser and a veteran of his 2016 campaign and transition team, agreed with the Minnesota congressman: “There's no nice Minnesota there.”

Miller indicated that Vance will pursue Walz over the “wave of illegal immigration crimes” under Harris' watch and “taxpayer-funded gender reassignment surgeries.” He urged political reporters not to be fooled by stories that suggest Walz, a veteran politician, is “really nervous and biting his fingernails.”

“Tim Walz is very good at debates. Really good,” Miller said, referencing Walz’s 12 years as a member of the House of Representatives before becoming governor of Minnesota. In fact, Miller said, Walz's tenure in Congress will come up “in a big way” in the debate.

“He won’t be the wildly gesticulating effeminate caricature we see at rallies, pointing at Kamala Harris and dancing around on stage,” said Miller, a longtime trusted Trump aide who worked on both the 2016 and 2020 campaigns .

More Swiftboat allegations

Also on the call were retired Army National Guard veterans Tom Behrends and Tom Schilling, who accused Walz of “stolen valor” for resigning from the Guard and allegedly abandoning his fellow soldiers en route to Iraq had.

A 24-year veteran of the Army National Guard, Walz eventually became Command Sgt. Major of the 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery Regiment. He filed withdrawal papers in March 2005 while considering a run for Congress, and ultimately retired from active duty in May. Walz's unit received a mobilization order in August and deployed the next year.

His comrades remain divided over his decision, and some told the Daily Beast that they believed he could do more for his Iraq veterans as an antiwar advocate in Congress.

Stay out of Springfield

During the question-and-answer portion of the call, an Associated Press reporter asked whether Vance would repeat Trump's claims from the presidential debate that immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, eat people's cats and dogs.

Miller dodged answering the question and instead said, “I would certainly expect Senator Vance to talk about all aspects of illegal immigration, including, as we've seen, and that's a big issue with regards to Springfield, the Kamala.” -Harris pretext when it comes to illegal aliens and the issue of temporary protected status.”

He said Vance would “take strong action” on flights that carry migrants from abroad, including from Haiti and Central America, in “staggering numbers.”

October surprise?

Miller suggested that Vance would call Harris the “border czar.” And he said Vance will have “a few other things that I won't preview here.”

However, the Trump adviser quickly rejected the idea of ​​another debate with Harris. Miller said Trump has no plans to revisit the Harris debate, saying she “lost terribly” and that “the momentum is going against Harris.”

Harris has continued to push for a second debate after a strong showing in September, recently telling an audience in Las Vegas that she is “fully ready” for a rematch with the former president.