The Daily Beast Podcast - The Daily Beast Podcast's VP Debate Recap w/ Pod Save America

Episode Date: October 3, 2024

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Hey, just pop it in to share an excerpt from the newest episode of the Daily Beast podcast, hosted by our chief creative and content officer Joanna Coles and late night legend Samantha Bee. Brought to you by 5'9. Obviously, there's only one story we can really download, and I know you're very agitated about it. I am. And that is our Veep debate, of which The Beast has been full. We had a wonderful piece by Jill Volopovich this morning, just pointing out, frankly, all the lies that J.D. Vance was telling about not wanting a national. abortion ban when we know he's asked for it and called for it and written for it. Yes.

But I know you were agitated by it too. I was. I woke up very agitated. I mean, of course, I watched the whole thing. It was, it didn't, my heart wasn't racing last night, but I didn't sleep. And then I woke up in a state of overcaffeinated. Just, my pulse is racing. First of all, I want to say that the debate was held at my old studio on 57th Street.

It was. Yes, it warmed my heart a little bit. It was fun to think of them sitting in the same makeup. chair getting their faces put on that I used to sit in. Oh, that's so fun. In a room previously decorated by Bethany Frankel. Really? From when she had her talk show, it's all white plether.

I'm not, it's chrome and white plether. They didn't have very much makeup on, though I did notice that whoever had put J.D. Vance's makeup on, it stopped a good half inch from his hair line. And I wondered if they'd done that on purpose. He, to me, looked like he was about to sell me some complex. financial instrument that I don't understand that has just like a very high commission right that he's never going to tell me about just a very like his facial expression was benign but the lying was so forceful like I think he came across as less of a peevish weasel than he usually

does but until the point when he got corrected which he was which he really didn't like he really did not like that thank you senator we have so much to get to Margaret, I think it's important because the big, Margaret, 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. You know what? Like if fact checking is your Achilles heel, then that is really a tell for us that we are about to go on a voyage of lies. It was very irritating to me. Yeah, I don't know where to begin with him.

I mean, actually, I felt he was very plausible. It felt like he was nothing to do with Donald Trump, even though he talked about it. him. He seemed so polished and he came into the debate with so much, well, with such a lack of favorability. I feel like people really don't like him. Even Republicans recognize he's not been a good candidate. But he had a very good moment, I thought, last night. I thought the whole debate was good for him. He appeared coherent and pleasant. And I almost had a moment where I was thinking, gosh, what if he gets elected and then in office becomes president? What if he's he just swiveled back to all the opinions he had when he first wrote his book and he was declaring

Trump the new Hitler and you know, what if he, I don't know. You mean like what if he, what if he course corrects? Yes, exactly. Oh, that's not. I don't think that's on the menu. I don't think that's on the menu anymore because he lives in a world of grievance. I think that what his mission was and I do think that he accomplished this is that he was excellent at making it seem like Kamala Harris.

is the current president and has been for three and a half years. But I think what is primarily driving me crazy today is that the big story today is really about civility and how they got along and how cordial they were with each other, which is really something that I despise because who needs civility if what you're saying is pure trash? Well, did you feel, though, that Governor Waltz, by the way, I really want to move to Minnesota and made it sound fantastic. The Garden of Eden is in Minnesota. Who knew? Who knew? Best health care. My goodness. I did think that Tim Walts actually missed a few opportunities to shoot daggers into J.D. Vance. I mean, we've got the pet story, which he's knowingly made. You know, he said, who cares if it's untrue? Oh, sure. I'm making a point here, which has had terrible ramifications in Ohio. Even the Republican governor has come out and said, please stop telling these ridiculous stories about.

immigrants eating pets. It's just not true. And J.D. Vance knows it's not true. And that's just the latest in his egregious lineup of lies for the sake of power. But I did feel like Tim Walls should have actually cornered him a bit more on things like that and his national abortion ban. I agree with that. I mean, they set expectations for him so low, which is such a not fun way to have to go out on a national stage and perform. They were all like, hey, Tim, we're not good at this. And by the way, we told everyone that you're not good at this. Just have fun out there. And don't fuck this up for us, which is a really impossible mission. He did, you know, like the reason he was chosen was because he called them all weird. And that's what

everybody was looking for and we didn't receive it. Right. Why didn't he just say it last night? Listen, I think that a big part of the problem and why I really am reflecting so. negatively on it today is because without any fact-checking, what is the point? The whole thing is ridiculous. The whole thing is BS. Like without any fact-checking at all, the job of moderator is anodyne and boring. It is quite blank. You're a traffic cop. No one cares. And they had a QR code on it, which you were supposed to click on and then it would fact-check. Yeah, CPS ran a QR code. Did you watch it on CPS? I did and I did not. I didn't notice that. Okay, well, there was a QR code that would pop up every now and then, which was supposed to have some fact-checking on it.

But it didn't, at least for me it didn't work. I watched it in the Daily Beast Newsroom. A lot of us were trying the CBS QR code simply didn't work. Okay. I mean, if no one's pushing back, if no one's able to push back when J.D. Vance says things like Donald Trump saved the Affordable Care Act. I mean, like, we know that that's not true. It's just such a simple thing. Well, the first thing he did when he came into office was try and kill the affordable care.

He ran in on it. Exactly. He campaigned on it. It was extraordinary that moment. Yes. But what was extraordinary was that Tim Walz didn't push back on it further. I know. I mean, it's when you're in, when those lights are upon you, I mean, this is what happens.

It is not his strong suit. It is much more strength for J.D. Vance. Like, we knew that going in. But it was really, it was really a frustration that they were, they were not able to make clarifications or didn't feel comfortable making clarifications. I felt like the whole process. I felt that I could feel network notes. looming over the whole procedure.

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then you don't even really want to know what the answer is to your question about Iran because everybody just launches into their biography about how they were like born in the crook of an old oak tree and their mom was squatting in the potato fields and birthed them

and then they went to work. You know, it's ridiculous. But the first question should have been, do you believe that Donald Trump won the 2020 election? Or do you believe that Joe Biden won it? That should have been the first question. Instead, that came right at the very end where I'm sure most people had already left. Of course. I spoke to several people who tried to watch it and fallen asleep.

And so the most important part of do you accept democracy, would you have ratified the election, which J.D. Vance said he would not, was left right until the end. Right until the end when everybody's watching Dancing with the Stars. I agree with you. Let them do their, let's not even pretend that we're not doing biographies. Let them do that stuff and then be, and literally ask, tell us why Donald Drum's former VP is not standing here today instead of you. Tell us in your own words. Right.

How extraordinary is it that a president has changed his vice president because people were threatening to hang his previous vice president? There were so many missed opportunities. I listed them. Oh, good. I write notes. I do stream of consciousness note taking during debates. Well, you were texting pretty frantically.

I was texting frantically. And toward the end, my text no longer made sense. But I mean, really pressing J.D. Vance on the lies about Haitian immigrants that he told two weeks ago that were incredibly damaging actually sickens me. Like, do you stand behind the comments that you made about Haitian immigrants eating? cats and dogs? Do you stand behind your comments that childless people are often deranged and psychotic? And there is ample evidence. You want a nationwide abortion ban. You've said it. You've written about it. Which version of you is real? Right. I actually think that I would personally, listen, I love to throw spaghetti at the wall. There's no question. But I feel like the best debate moderators would be people who

don't have a job to worry about after. Do you know what I mean? Well, you know who won last night's debate? David, David Muir and Lindsay Davis, but particularly David Mule. Right, right. Yeah. They mean, they did do a great job. Why also as a moderator, would you take the job if you weren't allowed to fact check in real time? Listen, I don't know the machinations of what happens behind the scenes at a network, but I'm sure that this was an agonizing process for everybody.

And I don't think that the result was very effective. Like, nobody, you know, I mean, they asked them about, they definitely asked about, calling Trump, you know, Hitler. But I mean, the real question, then there needs to be a follow-up question. Right. And he just said, well, I was wrong and now I've changed my mind. The specific question is, well, when did you change your views on Trump? Because all of the stuff that he said was in 2020 when he had already been president. Right. And also, why did you think that he was the new Hitler? Saying, oh, I was wrong. Well, it's pretty weird to be wrong about saying something quite so I mean, J.D. Vance has said that shootings are a fact of life. That shootings are a fact of life

that we have to accept. How did this not come up? We're just talking about heavy doors and windows. This is such nonsense. Well, there was also an extraordinary moment where Tim Walts was talking about how his son, Gus, had been witnessed to a shooting at a volleyball event. And actually, it was a human moment when J.D. Vance said, oh, our goodness, I'm so sorry, I didn't know that that had happened. And then you went, Christ have mercy at the end, as if he was some sort of pre-ed. You know, that was a very strange moment. It was. That actually reminds me.

I don't know why that reminds me of this, but the abortion issue. I need someone to say out loud at a debate real soon. I need people to say out loud that abortions at nine months do not exist. Right. What we are talking about is palliative care for dying infants. And the GOP needs to stop torturing people with this line of attack or this line that people are going around. executing babies on this lab. And him talking about how he has a friend who once had an abortion, but he still loves her, I'm like J.D. Vance, it's like newsflash. You know a lot of women who've

had abortions. One in five women in America. And actually, most people who've had abortions are parents, our mothers. It's actually not the feckless 15-year-old girl, which the Republican Party presents as someone who's having an abortion. It's actually mothers who've got children who know the incredible amount of effort and energy and yes, money it takes to have a baby. And also, J.D. Vance, you know a lot of men who participated in the making of an unintended pregnancy.

Why is it never discussed as a men's issue here too? I don't know. Anyways, no one just, J.D., no one told you because you pepper your daily conversations with phrases like the blood of Christ and no one trusts you and they are right not to. He appears to have no. core whatsoever. So he says whatever happens to be in the wind or whatever he thinks Donald Trump will like him for saying. And Donald Trump was going insane on truth social. He was. Yes, he was.

I know you're not on truth social, but I like to watch it because I like to know what he's saying. And at the beast, we try and keep reports of what's happening on truth social because we know not everybody's on it. But he immediate, I mean, first of all, he can't stand not being the center of attention. I know. I know. I was very painful for him to have to watch JD Vance. Like if he was smart, he would let J.D. Vance speak for him more often. But yes, he would.

Well, he'd also learn what he's not. He's not. He's not statement. I know. I know. I was positive as I was watching that it was definitely bothering him and getting into his craw. Yeah. What were you doing?

Were you sitting on your sofa? Were you in the fetal position? I'm trying to imagine you sitting there firing off your texts. jotting your notes. I sit on a big, a gigantic chair that contains multitudes. So I sit on my big chair with a snack and a drink. I have my laptop, my phone, and a notebook, and probably a cat. And were you watching it on your own?

No, I was watching it with my 16-year-old son and also Jason was there. My husband was there as well. Yeah. It's unfortunate, and I think that one very impactful thing is that no one can ever name their baby Margaret again. He really... He really... Do the impression of J.D. Vance saying Margaret.

But he said, Margaret, I don't want to... I don't want to guess. But if I was guessing, I would say 12 times. 12 times. So, Margaret, I want to answer the question. Well, first of all, Margaret, diplomacy is not a dirty word. So first of all, Margaret, before we talk about deportations, we have to stop the bleeding. And that gets me to your point, Margaret, about what do we actually do?

And the final point, Margaret, is you ask about family separation. Right now, in this country, Margaret, we have 300... 120,000 children. Look, Margaret, first of all, the gross majority of what we need to do at the southern border is just empowering law enforcement to do their job. Margaret, the rules were that you guys weren't going to fact check. That is the facilitation of illegal immigration, Margaret. It's one of the reasons, Margaret. Margaret, I've been extremely consistent. And I want to talk about this tariff issue in particular, Margaret. Now, you asked Margaret, what would immediately change the equation for American citizens? Yeah, well, first of all, Margaret, a number of my Republican colleagues

and some Democrats, too, have worked on this issue. And I think there is a bipartisan solution here. Poor Margaret Brennan, she probably can't get the echo out of her head. The way that he says Margaret is like when an insult calls women females. Do you know what I mean? Like... It just felt wrong in his mouth. It just feels wrong.

Take the word out of your mouth. Take the word out. Nelskevel, who is a great writer for The Daily Beast, has a theory of why RFK Jr.'s words sounds so wobbly. You know he's got that very, very wobbly boy. Yes, yes. And she says the words are so appalled by how he's put them together that they refuse to come out of his mouth properly. Oh, boy.

Oh, boy. Okay. So who does this debate matter to? I have a theory. Well, go on. Well, I just think it matters to people who want some cover for voting for Trump. People who just don't want to pay their taxes. That's my assessment of it.

Just people who are like, just give me one reasonable thing and I'll just go for Trump. Like, they probably were anyway. but they wanted a more reasonable projection of a human politician that they could just like feel okay about. I think the polls have got it split pretty much 50, 50 for the one. The thing that struck me was that the debate itself, at least the three debates we've had this season, have each favored the younger candidate. So Trump over Biden, Carmelah over Trump and J.D. I think just squeaked ahead of waltz in this debate. But I also thought watching the two men last night how Carmelah has just modernized and freshened the dialogue and how watching a woman with a man is so much more interesting than watching two white guys just going at it.

I did enjoy being Vance Splained. Yes, Vanceplaining was. It's a real moment, wasn't it? It really was. I really just need someone to say abortion is health care, 10 times in a row and I'll be satisfied. Want to hear more? Subscribe to the Daily Beast podcast wherever you're listening to this

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