J.D. Vance is grilled on whether Trump lost the 2020 election after Walz gave his ‘best answer of the night’ on January 6

In a debate in which he flubbed a few sentences and said he’s an “idiot” sometimes, Tim Walz asked JD Vance a pointed question about whether Donald Trump lost the 2020 election.

The response he received from Trump’s running mate is one that Democrats say will strengthen their argument that Trump is a threat to democracy and that Vance would help him overturn the will of the voters.

“Did he lose the 2020? Election?’ Walz asked Vance after debate moderators drafted a lengthy question for the Ohio senator that included pointing out that Trump and his allies had thrown out 62 election claims in court.

“Tim, I’m focused on the future,” Walls said. Then he tried to change the subject. “Did Kamala Harris censor Americans from expressing their opinions in the wake of the 2020 Covid situation,” Vance responded.

“It’s a damn non-answer,” Walz interjected.

The segment began when Vance was asked about his own statement that he would not have certified the last presidential election when states certified electors who made Joe Biden president. Trump famously criticized Vice President Mike Pence for refusing to reject votes certified by states.

Vance started with an attempt to turn. “First of all, I think we’re focused on ‘how we can solve the inflation crisis caused by Kamala Harris, how we can make housing affordable, how we can make groceries affordable,’” he said.

“What President Trump has said is that there were issues in 2020 and my own belief is that we need to fight about those issues and discuss those issues peacefully in the public square.”

He also talked about what happened after the attack on the Capitol. ‘And what happened on January 20? Joe Biden became president. Donald Trump has left the White House,” Vance said.

“Did he lose the 2020? Election?’ Tim Walz asked JD Vance about the 2020 election

Vance said Trump peacefully relinquished power on January 20, when Trump left Washington without attending Joe Biden’s inauguration

Vance ignored Trump’s efforts to get states to throw out legally cast votes in their states, his pressure campaign on Mike Pence and calling supporters to DC on January 6.

He then accused Harris of “censorship” on social media, saying that issue “to me is a much greater threat to democracy than what Donald Trump said when he said protesters should protest peacefully on January 6.”

Walz tried to draw a clear line in a debate in which the two rivals reached agreement on gun violence and other issues.

“Donald Trump refused to acknowledge the results,” Walz said. ‘He was very clear. I mean, he lost this election, and he said he didn’t. One hundred and forty police officers were beaten at the Capitol that day, some carrying the American flag. Several later died.”

‘Sometimes you really want to win, but democracy is bigger than winning elections. You shake hands and try to do everything you can to help the other side win,” Walz said.

Walz himself sees the moment as a strong point, in a debate in which he said in a bizarre flub that he was friends with school shooters.

‘I think it was a good debate. The audience was presented with a contrast, and I think the ending sums it up. The issue of democracy is important,” he said.

Trump, who was acquitted in his second impeachment trial when 57 senators voted guilty, falling short of the two-thirds majority needed, continued to hint at his claims of election fraud hours before the debate.

He called the election, which Biden won in the state by about 20,000 votes, “just an embarrassment.” They won’t be able to do that a second time.’

Vance was asked on the All In podcast earlier this month whether he would have done that if he had been in Mike Pence’s role on January 6. Pence famously rejected Trump’s fraud claims and refused to throw out votes certified by the states.

“I would have asked the states to submit alternative electoral lists and let the country have the debate about what really matters and what kind of elections we had,” he said.

That could have led to millions of votes being thrown out.