The Megyn Kelly Show - JD Vance Shines and Tim Walz Stumbles in VP Debate, with Johnson, Lowry, Halperin, Spicer, Turrentine, Bolling | Ep. 903

Episode Date: October 2, 2024

It's a special VP debate episode, with Megyn Kelly joined by Eliana Johnson, Rich Lowry, Mark Halperin, Sean Spicer, Dan Turrentine, and Eric Bolling to discuss the brilliant performance by JD Vance, ...how pathetic Tim Walz was, the terrible CBS moderator Margaret Brennan, Vance taking over the debate and interrupting the fact check by the moderator, the shockingly horrible answer Tim Walz gave about his lie over the Tiananmen Square protests in Hong Kong, his "knucklehead" comment, his freezes and stumbles and how he could have answered differently, and more.Birch Gold: Text MEGYN to 989898 and get your free info kit on goldHungryroot: Go to https://Hungryroot.com/megyn to get 40% off your first delivery and get your free veggies. Follow The Megyn Kelly Show on all social platforms:YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/MegynKellyTwitter: http://Twitter.com/MegynKellyShowInstagram: http://Instagram.com/MegynKellyShowFacebook: http://Facebook.com/MegynKellyShow Find out more information at: https://www.devilmaycaremedia.com/megynkellyshow 

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show, live on Sirius XM Channel 111 every weekday at noon east. Hey everyone, I'm Megyn Kelly. Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show and our special live coverage of the vice presidential debate between Ohio Senator J.D. Vance and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. The moderators were not much better. They were a little better than ABC News. But J.D. Vance put on a master class in how to handle biased moderators and a lying opponent. And it was a thing of beauty. It was beautiful. It was like every Republican or Republican voter or person who in this case is rooting for Trump knows exactly what I am feeling right now, which is just, thank God. It just listening to a guy go out there and know how to raise the right points in response to the right questions, to not take the moderator's bullshit.
Starting point is 00:01:07 It was really cleansing. It was just, you never see it. It's just so great to see. The moderators are gross. Margaret Brennan, not only do you desperately need some bronzer, you need to understand how to moderate a fair debate when you have half the country who's rooting for the other guy. She didn't even attempt to be fair. I mean, I'm going to utter words I never thought I would utter. I preferred Nora O'Donnell. Oh my God. This Margaret, but she used to have a reputation as being kind of like reasonable. Like she flirted with the Catholic right, the Christian right. And she, when you get on issues of faith, she could be kind of like normal. No, no. She's been in the soup too long. She's gone totally native over there at CBS News.
Starting point is 00:02:01 You are terrible, madam. Ter terrible. The moderators were disgusting, but J.D. Vance was a vision. And Tim Walz really did indeed look like the bumbling knucklehead he said he was. There's so much to go over. We have a full lineup of guests for you tonight. We've got in-depth analysis on what we just witnessed and what it will mean with just a little over a month before election day. We're also monitoring the media reaction, which we'll bring to you. It's always fun to highlight. But first, well, you heard my initial thoughts. Let me get to my guests. Rich Lowry is here. He's editor-in-chief of National Review. And Eliana Johnson is here as well, editor of the Washington Free Beacon and co-host of the
Starting point is 00:02:43 Ink Stained Wretches podcast. With the massive tax hikes proposed by Vice President Kamala Harris and almost 40 percent top income tax rate, my lord, 7 percent increase to the corporate tax, a capital gains tax on unrealized gains. And the fact that she's proposing to add almost two2 trillion to a current $2 trillion deficit, you might be thinking it's time to make more of your tax-sheltered savings and your inflation- sheltered savings. So I want to tell you how to do that. And that's why we're going to talk about Birch Gold Group. Birch Gold will assist you in converting an existing IRA or 401k into an IRA in gold. And the best news is you don't pay a penny out of pocket. Just text MK to 989898 to get a free info kit on gold.
Starting point is 00:03:34 There's no obligation, just information on fortifying your savings before the crazy really hits. With an A-plus rating, with a better business bureau, and thousands of happy customers, you can trust Birch Gold as well. Text MK to the number 989898 for your free info kit today. Rich, do you feel me? Are you feeling you're picking up what I'm putting down? Totally. I don't know how he possibly could have improved on that performance, substantively, tonally, just everything. In terms of the message he was driving home, he brought it back to the economy and the American dream and how we need to revive it. He constantly made the point that Kamala Harris is in power now, and why hasn't she done all these wonderful things that she's promising? The only thing that was difficult for him, I think,
Starting point is 00:04:21 was the January 6th thing right at the end. That's not his fault. Donald Trump has created that vulnerability, but he deflected really deftly there as well by getting it onto the censorship. So I'm not sure when I've seen a better debate. Maybe, I don't know, I have no use for him, obviously, because my politics are opposite, but maybe Barack Obama at his height in 2008. But this was just an extraordinary performance, a stellar performance. I'm not surprised that he was great because we've kind of seen it out on the campaign trail and in various interviews with hostile interviewers. But I was a little surprised at how pathetic Tim Waltz was. Came out of the gate nervous, you know, hemming and hawing.
Starting point is 00:04:56 And then just the way he looked when he wasn't speaking on camera. He looked nervous. He looked sad. He looked befuddled. He kind of looked like the kid in the back of the classroom that can't keep up with the lecture and is desperately trying to take notes. It was just a terrible, terrible look. Eliana cannot relate to that kid. She was the front kid in the front of the class every time. This is the classic. This J.D. Vance look will go down. This will be on people's
Starting point is 00:05:26 Christmas stockings. Here's one thing I wanted to add. You know what was so masterful about what J.D. did tonight? He's been demonized by this press since he was named as the running mate. And he completely shattered that tonight. He was kind. He was likable. He complimented his beautiful wife. He brought up his kids. He kept giving Tim Walls points like, you know, I kind of agree with that. He said the thing about how if I don't win and he becomes the vice president, I will help him. He did such an effective job throughout the whole 90 minutes of showing America, I'm actually a nice guy. And those women, those female Republican voters who left the party who are now going to vote for Kamala Harris, if he was the problem, the childless cat ladies,
Starting point is 00:06:19 which did not come up, I have to imagine they're looking at him just a little softer tonight, Eliana. But your thoughts on what we saw tonight? I thought it was an extremely impressive performance on Vance's part. And I have to imagine that Rich and many other conservatives like me were thinking the same thing, which is watching J.D. Vance, it was clear that he prepared a lot, not only in terms of the substance of his responses, but also in terms of the style. He knows how to be combative, but he wasn't that combative tonight. He came across as very, very likable. And I kept thinking, this is the job everybody wishes Trump had done.
Starting point is 00:07:04 Yes. Because in terms of the discipline of his responses, he brought every response back to, well, you know who's been in office for the past three and a half years? Kamala Harris. It started with the first response to the question that was on Israel and Iran and talking about a world in flames and the chaos that has engulfed the world over the past three years. And he brought that back to the doorstep of Kamala Harris. But for as good as Vance was, Walls was extremely weak. And people were talking about, you know, the Harris campaign
Starting point is 00:07:42 was deliberately lowering the bar for Walls. CNN ran a story saying Tim Walls is really, really nervous. And there were questions about whether this is a strategy so that he can go out there and overperform. Well, they didn't actually lower the bar enough because he was extremely bad. And, you know, Vance, people are commenting on Twitter that he's really benefited from doing so many media interviews and from having so many combative exchanges with the press. Well, he was better than all of the than any interview he's done since walking on that stage in Milwaukee. And for Walls, there are a lot of people out there saying he should have done more interviews. Maybe. But on the other hand, watching him tonight, you start to think you start to understand why the campaign doesn't actually want him out there.
Starting point is 00:08:34 Yeah, that's right. When he's when he's in front of a friendly interviewer, like when he used to go on MSNBC before he got chosen. Sure, that could be a friendly, fun exchange in which you do well. This is a totally different ballgame. And it is interesting now that that CNN article. SMBC before he got chosen. Sure, that could be a friendly, fun exchange in which you do well. This is a totally different ballgame. And it is interesting now that that CNN article yesterday setting the expectations low now seems like a clarion call. Like, how? How? It's not going to go well. It's the one thing they told the truth about the whole campaign. Oh, also, Walls' biggest lie the whole night came at the end when he said, I really enjoyed this debate, J.D. Okay, so I think all three of us felt, I'm guessing, that the one moment where he went after the moderator for his time, he was fact-checked by the non-fact-checkers who were fact-checkers, but only, again, of J.D. Vance. They let Tim Walz get away with lie after lie.
Starting point is 00:09:27 And like Jesus came down and told him this is what Republican voters want to see. He wasn't having it. He insisted on having his time. I'm forgive me. But those bitches tried to cut his mic. It was just it was unbelievable. Here's the exchange in SOT1. Now, Governor Walz brought up the community of Springfield, and he's very worried about the things that I've said in Springfield. Look, in Springfield, Ohio, and in communities all across this country, you've got schools that are overwhelmed. You've got hospitals that are overwhelmed. You have got housing that is totally unaffordable because we brought in millions of illegal immigrants to compete with Americans for scarce homes. And just to clarify for our viewers, Springfield, Ohio does have a
Starting point is 00:10:15 large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status, temporary protected status. Well, Margaret, but- Thank you. Senator, we have so much to get to. Margaret, I think it's important because 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 10 years. That is the facilitation of illegal immigration, Margaret, by our own leadership.
Starting point is 00:10:56 Thank you, Senator, for describing the legal process. We have so much to get to, Senator. Those laws have been on the books since 1990. Thank you, gentlemen. The CBB 1F laws have been on the books since 1990. Thank you, gentlemen. The CBB 1F has not been on the books since 1990. It's something that's all created for us. Gentlemen, the audience can't hear you
Starting point is 00:11:14 because your mics are cut. We have so much we want to get to. Thank you for explaining the legal process. Nora. Thank you, Margaret. I am dripping contempt. Dripping contempt out of my pores for CBS News in that month. That was such a dereliction on so many levels. Hello, you morons,
Starting point is 00:11:35 a debate is unfolding. Alert, note to anchor and CBS producers, the debate is happening right here. You let it fire up. Let them go. Eliana, we talked about this a million times before we prepared for our debate back in December. When you have fire on the stage, let it play out. This is a real issue. This is a huge issue. And it's voters' number one or number two issue in virtually every poll. You didn't have a lot more to get to. There was a lot of inanity in that debate, including your next question, which was about climate change and good for J.D. Vance for fighting on it. When Trump was fact checked multiple times and Harris was not fact checked at all, I think it was on your show, Megan, when I said he should have been prepared to be
Starting point is 00:12:21 unjustly fact checked. And that's exactly what J.D. was prepared for tonight. And he did a wonderful job with that. I think any Republican candidate should be prepared when they walk on a stage on a mainstream media network to be treated unfairly and to hit pack exactly as Vance did, because viewers like it. And I think both independent and persuadable voters like to see it as well as the base. And Rich, for Tim Walz to try to say that the CB1 app has been in place since 1990, this is nothing new that Kamala Harris and Joe Biden did, is such a lie. That's what that's what Vince was about to say. Like what this has been one of the most controversial things you've done while in office.
Starting point is 00:13:10 She's done while in office and they cut his mic and move on to climate change. It's just it's just so it's so shocking. And you said, you know, let the fireworks play out during debate. But the fireworks were between Margaret Brennan, who created this misleading impression of what's happening. Yes, these migrants are legal. But as J.D. Vance was pointing out, they're only legal because this whole new dispensation and system has been created to launder them into the country when they wouldn't have been otherwise. That's an extremely relevant piece of information. She's being misleading and he's being accurate and they cut his mic. It's totally outrageous.
Starting point is 00:13:50 I made a rude gesture to the screen as I was watching. I didn't tweet the rude thought the way you did, Megan, but you're totally justified in doing this. It's such a dereliction of professionalism on every single level. And just to Eliana's point, it all goes back to the, J.D.'s performance tonight
Starting point is 00:14:07 all goes back to being so well informed. He knew it better than she did. He knows it better than Tim Walz does, obviously. And that was the key to his entire performance. Trump too. I want to correct myself. They didn't move on to climate change there. That was earlier in the debate
Starting point is 00:14:24 where something was starting to unfold. And once again, they cut them off because they really desperately needed to get on to climate change. Every single debate. We've had climate change. We've had January 6th. Not one question, not one on Tim Walz's radical trans refuge policies in his state, seizing custody from loving parents who won't affirm their child's gender confusion so they can have body parts chopped off. Not one, not a question about his military lies, his stolen valor, nothing. But back to J6, back to climate change, a lot on healthcare. We've had a lot already on healthcare. None of these social issues matter to these moderators because in their elite circles, they don't have to deal with this. They're not going to actually have to worry about any of this. And they're just not interested because they think it, you know, no one cares. It's just not, it doesn't affect anybody and no one cares. Okay.
Starting point is 00:15:19 It's infuriating. So Rich, what did you think was the best moment of the debate? You know, separate and apart, it could have been something for Tim Walsh. It could have been something for J.D. Vance. But what was the moment that stands out to you, I would say, after the obvious one that I just played where they, CBS, cut those mics? Well, J.D. was so masterful on the border. That was pretty early on. It was just clear he had complete command of the facts and of this stage. And Waltz's worst moment when he was asked about the story that Eliana and the Free Beacon broke about how he wasn't in China during the Tenement Square massacre. And he just,
Starting point is 00:15:58 I don't know, obviously they prepared that answer at some level, but he nearly had a meltdown towards the end of it. I don't think really, he began to look, at first he looked nervous when he wasn't speaking. After that, there was a period where he just looked sad. And I think one really interesting dynamic that I wouldn't have guessed at, there was a lot of agreement and, you know, you make a good point, you know, Tim, you make a good point, JD,D., but it played differently. With J.D., since he was winning, this played as him being magnanimous. It was an element of his kind of control of the circumstances,
Starting point is 00:16:32 whereas Tim Waltz had felt weak, like, please leave me alone and let's just be friends. And I thought, predicted prior to the debate, Waltz would be, the media would say he's a winner no matter what. I don't think that's going to happen now. I think it may flip the other way and they may be angry at him for being so nice to this guy
Starting point is 00:16:48 that they've tried to make a villain. We're seeing some of that. We're already seeing some of that online. They're angry at him. In fact, maybe I'll see this. This is David Frum, I think, tweeted out something to that effect. Stand by. I saw it just as I was coming onto the air. Blah, blah, blah. Okay. Let's see. Vance is going home tonight with Waltz's wallet. Vance didn't even have to snatch it. Waltz just handed it over along with a bunch of unearned compliments to Vance's fine character. He's angry that JD came off looking like a nice guy and Tim Walls let him, we've got to play that moment of Tim Walls on the, the lie that he was in Tiananmen Square. Um, he, he said that he was in Tiananmen Square, that he was in Hong Kong, which, you know,
Starting point is 00:17:34 obviously, uh, is not Beijing, but that he was in Hong Kong when Tiananmen Square happened. And it was a lie and, and he's gotten caught on it. It just came out today. And so you had to know this was going to come up. I mean, maybe they're just so used to being babied by the leftist media that they didn't think it would come up. But here's what Rich was referring to. Governor Walz, you said you were in Hong Kong during the deadly Tiananmen Square protests in the spring of 1989. But Minnesota public radio and other media outlets are reporting that you actually didn't travel to Asia until August of that year. Can you explain that discrepancy? Yeah, well, and to the folks out there who didn't get at the top of this, look,
Starting point is 00:18:17 I grew up in small, rural Nebraska, a town of 400, a town that you rode your bike with your buddies till the streetlights come on, and I'm proud of that service. I joined the National Guard at 17, worked on family farms. And then I used the GI Bill to become a teacher, passionate about it, a young teacher. My first year out, I got the opportunity in the summer of 89 to travel to China. 35 years ago, be able to do that. I came back home and then started a program to take young people there. We would take basketball teams. We would take baseball teams. We would take dancers. And we would go back and forth to China. The issue for that was to try and learn. Now, look, my community knows who I am. They saw where I was at. Look, I will be the first to tell you,
Starting point is 00:19:01 I have poured my heart into my community. I've tried to do the best I can, but I've not been perfect. And I'm a knucklehead at times, but it's always been about that. Those same people elected me to Congress for 12 years. And in Congress, I was one of the most bipartisan people. Oh, gosh, wait, because there's more. Then it went on. There was a follow up because he didn't answer the question, right? I'm a knucklehead. You lied at the last debate. It was I have bad grammar. The last interview. Right. I have bad grammar. He told Dan Abash to excuse some of his lies. Now it's I'm a knucklehead. What does that mean? You lied. Here's the follow up. Governor, just to follow up on that, the question was, can you explain the discrepancy? All I said on this was, is I got there that summer and misspoke on this. So I will just, that's what I've said. So I was in Hong Kong and China during the democracy protest, went in. And from that, I learned a lot of what needed to be in governance. Thank you, Governor.
Starting point is 00:20:11 It looks like Saturday Night Live. It looks like a Saturday Night Live skit. Sounds like a Saturday Night Live skit. I really actually was astonished by that because look, Minnesota Public Radio had this little anecdote buried in a story yesterday. The beacon went and pulled the tape and the photographs out. CNN pulled more anecdotes of Walls talking about how he remembered Voice of America not broadcasting and this and that, his elaborate tall tales that he'd, and the New York Times did a story today. So he had to know that this was going to be asked about given that CNN and the New York Times were reporting about this today. Is that the answer they prepared? Is it? Because he could have just said, you know, I said I arrived in June. I actually arrived in
Starting point is 00:21:08 August. I misspoke and I apologize for that. Instead, we couldn't because honestly, it continues his stolen valor theme. Like he elevates everything to make himself sound a little bit better than he actually is. Like the weapons that I carried in war and he's never fought in war. Like I'm a retired command sergeant major and he's not. Like I served in Operation Enduring Freedom, which he didn't. He never went to Afghanistan. Like we didn't just do intrauterine injections when we tried to get pregnant. We did the full IVF. So I've got standing to speak on IVF, which they didn't. Over and over and over again, the Chamber of Commerce gave me a special commendation, which they didn't. Over and over, he lies to make himself sound a little bit better, a little bit more relevant, a little bit more important than he actually is.
Starting point is 00:22:09 And he keeps getting caught. And what we saw tonight here, Rich, was him disassembling because he didn't expect this question to come up. And to be honest, I didn't expect them to raise this either. I didn't think CBS would do it. Yeah. Well, as Eliana lays it out, this is a case where some other media outlets have been doing their job as well, which is good to see. And the question was asked, and it was kind of, in a way, it was an arrogant question or certainly a question to try to evade because the obvious answer is what Eliana laid out. You just say, I messed it up. I flubbed, you know, June is warm. So is August. I messed them up. And, you know, your memory plays tricks on you. And I'm very sorry. That's all he had to do. If I may say, though, that's like being like,
Starting point is 00:22:57 I was in lower Manhattan on 9-11. Oh, wait, I was actually there on 9-13. That is a very different experience. Like the reason he was caught is because it wasn't an innocent mistake. You know if you are in Beijing on the day of the Tiananmen Square massacre where hundreds were killed and shot. Like you know, you know if you were there.
Starting point is 00:23:19 You don't, oh, I was confused. You came after. Like that's why he couldn't do it, Rich. I see your point on strategy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But he's a liar. why he couldn't do it. Rich, I see your your point on strategy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I'm not saying the answer would be I'm not saying the answer would be honest. There's good cleanup and there's bad cleanup. Like we know if he handled it well or if he handled it poorly, it would still be like all of his lies are these, you know, they're puffery that all accrues to his political benefit
Starting point is 00:23:45 and places him at the center of events and allows him to better connect with people on political issues. But there's better and worse ways to try to clean up your doo-doo. And that was definitely a worse way. And also, if you're going to give a shameless answer, if you're going to give a shameless answer,
Starting point is 00:24:04 you have to be shameless about it. You can't feel guilty about it. And at that end, when he was stumbling around, it's clearly because he didn't feel confident in what he was saying because he himself knew it was BS. I know. Honestly, like if anything, maybe you pull a Newt Gingrich. You know, like I can't believe you would raise such a petty issue in a presidential debate. There are people suffering out there. You haven't raised what happened in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. And you want to re-litigate a difference between
Starting point is 00:24:29 June and August, 40 years. This is ridiculous. Like do that. Do something other than, holy shit. I'm a knucklehead. I was told there'd be none of those. What did you think overall of the moderators? Because my biggest pet peeve with them was how they kept stealing the last word and how their little follow ups, their little follow ups to J.D. Vance, which were very pointed or even more annoying ones were to Tim Walls, like, will you comment specifically on the following two things that J.D. Vance just said, which I'm telling you right now are fake. Tim Walls, they're fake. Please fact check him. Yeah, I could hear it in the tone of their voice. And they're just playing by Sunday show rules. And now a Sunday show, the way it works, a Republican is on. They usually have an elected Republican, elected Democrat on separately. The elected Republican comes on, and every other answer is fact-checked, and the host gives his or her opinion to counter it. It never happens with a
Starting point is 00:25:36 Democrat, and it's exactly what they did in this debate. It wasn't as blatant as ABC, but they did at least two fact-checks when they said they wouldn't. And the questions to J.D. had a kind of skeptical tone. And the questions, at least some of them, to Waltz were, please, can you correct this guy? He's so crazy, J.D. Vance. We need you to help us out here. Give us an assist because we can't do it ourselves directly. So it's so, so bad. And as you say, Margaret Brennan, all these people, they marinate in the same world. They, they, um, socialize with these democratic operatives, you know, they kind of share the worldview and it just shows, and they just can't help themselves. Even when they went out of their way to say beforehand,
Starting point is 00:26:19 we're not going to do it. They still did it. They, I think the kids call it flexing. They felt the need to flex out there. Like I am team Democrat and I see I'm dealing with a disgusting liar. I'm just going to telegraph it. We put a little very short sought montage. It could have gone on Eliana. Here's a couple of examples. President Trump has called climate change a hoax. Do you agree? The overwhelming consensus among scientists is that the earth's climate is warming at an unprecedented rate. Margaret? Governor, I do want to let you respond to the allegation that the vice president is letting in migrants.
Starting point is 00:26:51 Of course that's not true. Governor, do you care to respond to any of those specific allegations, including that the vice president is, quote, letting in fentanyl and using kids as drug mules, among other things regarding children. I'd like for you to clarify, there are many contributing factors to high housing costs. What evidence do you have that migrants are part of this problem? I mean, it was just so one-sided, Ellie. I love the, here's- And he's still lost. Here is your multiple choice answer of the things that were incorrect in J.D. Vance's response.
Starting point is 00:27:31 Yeah, and while still lost, and one of the things that happened right off the top was their question on, would you support a preemptive Israeli strike on Iran. Guys, Iran just rained down 200 missiles on Israel today, and Iran's proxy attacked Israel on October 7th. Iran's other proxy, Hezbollah, has been attacking Israel since October 8th. What are you talking about? It was the first question of the debate. It was crazy. When Margaret Brennan asked that question about migrants and housing, with her voice dripping with contempt, it was so great because J.D. said, yeah, there's this Federal Reserve study. We'll post it on social media.
Starting point is 00:28:18 And I'm sure she had no idea there was a Federal Reserve study. She just considered the idea in and of itself just absurd, right, and preposterous and something he'd made up. But of course, you know, one of the basic economic laws is supply and demand. So if you create more people that, yeah, have more demand for housing and the supply is still limited, prices will go up. Ask the people in Springfield. I mean, that's one of the things they've been complaining about. But that was the other thing. So she mentions Hurricane Helene and the damage and the devastation that's happening now in the southeast. And I'm like, OK, this is good. CBS is going to go there. This is not a story that's make that makes Biden and Harris look good. They have not been doing well on their response.
Starting point is 00:28:56 She was out in L.A. having beef Wellington and some sort of special blueberry corn cobbler. I don't know what it was. And with a bunch of celebrities partying while these people were dying on the roofs. And Joe Biden was at the beach in Delaware. Okay, so they're raising it. Great. Let's have a tough question for him on the response. No, they turned it mid-question to climate change. Climate change makes these natural disasters much worse. Isn't climate change real and a devastating problem? Donald Trump, the follow-up there, we played it at the top of that salt montage. Donald Trump said it was a hoax, which he did say back in 16, and then he corrected himself in 18 and made clear what he meant. In any event, that's the problem we face, Eliana, right? They try to sneakily get
Starting point is 00:29:41 in news of the day, big news of the day. But when the landing, the proper landing would have hurt Team Blue, they pivoted to one of their favorite little pet causes. It's amazing because the hurricane is actually somewhat of a problem for Harris right now, and that she's sort of scrambling. She had no public events today, which is astonishing. And she's sort of scrambling to demonstrate that she's in control of FEMA. And if you look at the issues that voters care about, climate change is extremely low on that list. And so to think that it would be the second question in one of three major national debates is kind of amazing. And I remember talking to you about this, Megan, when it was like in the first or second Fox News Republican primary debate, when they asked about it, we were talking about,
Starting point is 00:30:37 you know, particularly among Republican voters, why would you raise this question? It is amazing given how many questions didn't get asked. There was no question on China in this debate. There was no question on Ukraine in this debate. And there were serious issues that didn't get asked about in this debate that voters care far more about than climate change. And the hurricane's one of them right now. That's right. It really was amazing. And in the absence of any, like the way she kept saying to Walls,
Starting point is 00:31:11 would you like to respond specifically to the claim that she is letting in fentanyl? Then another one, would you like to respond specifically to the claim that Kamala Harris is letting in illegal migrants? And she didn't look at JD and say, that Kamala Harris is letting in illegal migrants. Oh, the thing about drug mules, too. She didn't look at J.D. and say, would you like to respond specifically to his claim
Starting point is 00:31:32 that he did not sign a law allowing abortion into the ninth month? Would you, J.D. Vance, like to respond specifically to his denial that he signed a law removing life-saving care from babies born on the table after botched abortions. That was actually a good exchange guys. Do we have that one? Um, where they, we do. Um, okay, let's watch that. Cause that was actually a very good exchange for Vance where he just, he was like, you did, you did sign that law and Waltz denied it. And JD was like, what part of what I'm saying
Starting point is 00:32:06 is wrong? And, and Tim walls fell back on that was fact-checked at the ABC debate, the last of the most controversial fact-checks of all time. Watch here. It is 13. You're free to disagree with me on this and explain this to me, but as I read the Minnesota law that you signed into law, the statute that you signed into law, it says that a doctor who presides over an abortion where the baby survives, the doctor is under no obligation to provide life-saving care to a baby who survives a botched late-term abortion. That is, I think, whether you're pro-choice or pro-abortion,
Starting point is 00:32:44 that is fundamentally barbaric. These are women's decisions to make about their healthcare decisions and the physicians who know best when they need to do this. Trying to distort the way a law is written to try and make a point, that's not it at all. What was I wrong about, Governor? Please tell me, what was I wrong about? That is not the way the law is written. Look, I've given this advice on a lot of things, that getting involved, getting against, that been misread. And it was fact checked at the last debate. But the point on this is, is there's a continuation of these guys to try and tell women or to get involved. This is what he keeps saying, Rich. We misread the law on tampon Tim's mandate
Starting point is 00:33:21 that tampons go in the boys bathroom. No, we didn't. We misread the law that babies born to mothers trying to abort them have no right to life-saving care. No, we didn't. We misread the law in which he allowed abortion through the ninth month of pregnancy. No, we didn't. He, that's what he just keeps. He misspoke on all of his lies and all of his laws. We're just confused. We misread the law. JD Vance is a lawyer who went to Yale Law School. I am a lawyer who practiced law as a litigator for 10 years.
Starting point is 00:33:53 We didn't misread the law. It's very basic statutory construction. He's just a liar. Yeah, so he's completely wrong about that. And JD challenged him in a way that cornered him, but not in a way that made J.D. seem like a jerk. It was very deftly handled. And the, the referendum, how did I change on this song? You know, the referendum went against me in Ohio, and it made me think about it more. Stand by, Rich. Let me play it, and you take it on the back end. It's not 14. You know, I grew up in a working-class family in a neighborhood where I knew a lot of young women who had unplanned pregnancies and decided to terminate those
Starting point is 00:34:43 pregnancies because they feel like they didn't have any other options. And, you know, one of them is actually very dear to me. And I know she's watching tonight and I love you. And she told me something a couple of years ago that she felt like if she hadn't had that abortion, that it would have destroyed her life because she was in an abusive relationship. And I think that what I take from that as a Republican who proudly wants to protect innocent life in as a Republican who proudly wants to protect innocent life in this country, who proudly wants to protect the vulnerable, is that my party, we've got to do so much better of a job at earning the American people's trust back on this issue where they frankly just don't trust us.
Starting point is 00:35:19 I want us as a Republican party to be pro-family in the fullest sense of the word. I want us to support fertility word. I want us to support fertility treatments. I want us to make it easier for moms to afford to have babies. I want it to make it easier for young families to afford a home so they can afford a place to raise that family. Amazing. Keep going. Yeah, really well done. And so much effort has been made by the media and Democrats to portray J.D. Vance as a hateful jerk. That's all he is. And so much effort has been made by the media and Democrats to portray J.D. Vance as a hateful jerk. That's all he is. And for 90 minutes, he put the lie to it, including with that answer. And look, J.D. played kind of the online right game to win that Senate primary in Ohio, where
Starting point is 00:36:00 you kind of put an accent on your obnoxiousness. And so often people who play that game, that's all they can do and they lose elections. But J.D. always had this other dimension to him that we just saw tonight where he can elevate his game. He can be in a different mode. He can be in persuasive mode. And it was just very good, again, from beginning to end. It's just hard to imagine how you improve on any of it.
Starting point is 00:36:24 That is so well said. That was the guy I met back in 17 or 18 and who cried when I talked about his sister, Lindsay, who he loves deeply and who loves him. She's five years older than he is. And she can't forgive herself for not protecting him more from the abuse that he suffered at the hands of their mom and some of the men who came through their house, their living situation. And he is an emotional guy in a lovely way, not in a weird way, not Tim Wall's way where he's constantly like, he's, he is, he connects with that heartstring thing. And I have absolutely every belief that that was genuine Eliana. And I do think, I don't think it was done for the women of middle America. Like I'm going to be likable now. I think it was a genuine outreach. Like I get it. Trust me, we're working on it. I think a lot of hard work went into that performance in terms of preparation and in
Starting point is 00:37:28 terms of shipping, shifting into this other gear that, uh, rich is talked about. Um, it's hard to know whether it was genuine, um, or, um, or whether it was practiced, but it actually doesn't matter because it didn't come across as false. And I do think that for politicians, J.D., since he was elected to the Senate, and he wasn't a great candidate when he ran for the Senate, he wasn't great in his Senate debates. It is hard for them to shift out of the one gear they've been in. And the one gear JD's been in is combative and feisty. And that wasn't the person we saw tonight.
Starting point is 00:38:12 And that is what makes me think that an extraordinary amount of preparation that was sort of more humane, moderate, you know, the person that we saw in that and relatable sort of the word that I was searching for. I think he did the Trump Vance ticket a lot of good. I think what he did tonight was help restore the equilibrium on the narrative about him. It's not completely countermanded, but he helped restore it by having an audience of millions and just letting people see who he really is, whether this will change the trajectory of the race. I don't know. I don't know that Trump needs the trajectory of the race changed, but I think the narrative on JD Vance has to change after tonight. And he did a great job of hammering, hammering, hammering on policy and the difference between the two candidates at the top. Like he did everything he could possibly do. Now what we need is for Donald Trump not to get so irritated by all the praise that J.D. V them away from too social. Um, I laugh, but tonight actually,
Starting point is 00:39:29 uh, Trump said very nice things to JD before he went out there. He reportedly said, I'm just have fun, have a great time, which is really sweet. That's good. Takes all the pressure off guys. Thank you both so much. Thank you. Thank you. All right. We're going to be right back with the hosts of the morning meeting. This is Mark Halperin's program. He's coming on. Sean Spicer will be here and we're going to get into that. And there's a new Democrat that they're bringing with them. What did the Democrats think? What do they think? I mean, because I'll tell you what's happening right now. I'll give you one, one example, Claire McCaskill, MSNBC contributor, now former senator, tweets out, I actually think most
Starting point is 00:40:05 Americans fundamentally understand that the VP is not the president. So Kamala Harris had absolutely no responsibility for any of those mean things that J.D. Vance raised. Oh, and by the way, if you think Tim Walz is a moron, he's only going to be the VP, which is not the president. See, it covers all bases, that tweet. I don't think they're feeling very confident about how that went. Is it consequential? We'll ask it on the opposite side of this break. Hungry Root is one very easy way to eat healthy. They send you fresh, high quality groceries, simple, delicious recipes, and essential supplements. It's like having someone else do all the planning and shopping so you don't even have to think about it. Hungry Root gets to know your personal health goals, dietary restrictions, favorite foods,
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Starting point is 00:41:26 delivery and get your free veggies too. That's HungryRoot.com slash Megan. Don't forget to use our links so they know we sent you. Join me now with more. The three hosts of The Morning Meeting, a fast-growing interactive show on the Two-Way YouTube channel. Mark Halperin is editor-in-chief of Two-Way. Sean Spicer is a former White House press secretary and host of The Sean Spicer Show. And their usual co-host, Tim Hogan, had to step away for the rest of the election season, so they have now added Dan Turrentine, a former Democratic strategist. Guys, welcome. Dan, good to have you here for the first time as well. Thank you.
Starting point is 00:42:07 By the way, Megan, I just figured out why Tim left. He definitely got a heads up about this debate and he didn't want to be on with you to have to account for it because I was wondering why Tim couldn't handle us. And it's not it. He knew that you were going to come on your show. And he was like, after that performance by Tim Walz, I wouldn't want to have to answer for it. All right. I'm going to start with Dan, our new friend, because he's a Democrat. And we I would love to get your reaction to kick it off to what we just saw. J.D. Vance did absolutely terrific tonight. And I say that not to filibuster, but because, you know, he was comfortable, he was confident, he was in command. And in comparison, I thought Tim Walz looked a little overwhelmed.
Starting point is 00:42:52 He looked, frankly, a little small and simple. You know, Democrats always have talked about for the last two years what would happen if they ran against somebody who didn't have Trump's kind of personal baggage, his conduct issues. And I think you saw it tonight. You know, J.D. Vance just really prosecuted the case about, you know, why haven't you done it? You talk a great game, but again, why haven't you done it? I think the best thing, as you know, you were talking about with your previous guest, I'm not sure ultimately people make their decision based on the vice president. I think where Vance might have fallen a little short is one of the goals of the Trump campaign is to paint Harrison Walls as dangerously liberal. And I don't really think they did that. They just focused on you haven't done the things that you're proposing now.
Starting point is 00:43:39 But that's about it. I think, you know, a charitable thing that one could say about their performance tonight. Fair point on that last issue. I think they, too, also that they should have done that. And we didn't hear a lot of that tonight. They're doing it more in their ads and so on. Mark, what do you think? Four quick points.
Starting point is 00:43:58 First, I don't think it fundamentally changes the race on the margins. I think Vance becomes a much more valuable surrogate now because I think it's going to be harder for the press to mock him. I think Republicans will be really enthusiastic to greet him on the campaign trail in those Rust Belt states. And that helps because he's the main surrogate. And they sort of flipped it right now. He's the policy guy, and Trump is the attack dog. Number two, I think it positions Vance to be a very big part of the Republican Party in the future. He demonstrated how to speak MAGA to the suburbs, and that's what Donald Trump can do on occasion, but Vance did a master class on it tonight. On the Walt side, I think he's lucky that he was bailed out by the moderators because what was a mismatch would have been a massacre had it been a level playing field. His performance was shaky at best.
Starting point is 00:44:52 He had a few good moments, but I really do think they dodged a bullet. And as you see from tweets from Claire McCaskill, you read from David Axelrod, Democrats are clearly trying to play this down. Finally, and it gives me no pleasure to say this, I just don't understand how a news organization that watched the disastrous and surreal performance by ABC could engage in a moderation of a debate that's supposed to be fair to both sides in such an unequal way. It was shocking to me that once again, we saw an uneven performance by them, just not even close in the subjects that were chosen, in who they chose to fact check, in who they gave time to and how they framed rebuttals. It's just stunning to me that in this
Starting point is 00:45:37 day and age, after we've seen what the reputation of the so-called mainstream media is like, that CBS could have put together such a performance. Mark, the mic cut moment when J.D. Vance, a debate was unfolding. They were actually starting to go at it. It was interesting, and it's on one of the most important issues in the country. And those CBS producers cut his mic.
Starting point is 00:46:03 It was malpractice. It really was. Yeah. I mean, that's one moment. But the whole thing, I mean, just look at the subjects that they chose. And as Sean pointed out, what they left out. I mean, I just I don't understand it on the one hand. On the other hand, as I said after the first debate, if you go to a Chinese restaurant, you can expect to be served Chinese food. And the Republicans agreed to do a debate on CBS. They obviously had to expect some of that. But I am someone who studied liberal media bias my whole career and worked in newsrooms like that. I just can't believe that that's what they think is the way to serve all the American people with the responsibility, the solemn responsibility. They have to be the moderators of a presidential debate. I just, I just breathless at thinking about what they did.
Starting point is 00:46:50 The other piece of it too, Sean, is that I can tell you having moderated these, some warmth would be nice. You don't have to go out there like it's a proctology exam. You know, you can, you can genuinely smile and say, I'm sorry. I know. All right. And you can say, I will let you guys finish this exchange. And then, and then after this, I have to move on it. You don't have to be so stiff and unlikable. And look, I don't mean to be personal, but Margaret Brennan's makeup looked very severe. She looked very pasty. I meant it when I said she needed a little bit of bronzer. She needed to warm up in a couple of different ways.
Starting point is 00:47:31 I don't think they did her any favors because she came across as very cold and unlikable. And you're not supposed to lose the debate as the moderator. Anyway, Sean, what were your thoughts? Yeah, first of all, I agree. I mean, I wish I could say I was shocked. I do honestly believe, though, that they felt like they had a mission, which is we need to stop Donald Trump. And this was our last potential effort. So they understood the mission at hand. ABC, they got their mission. They tried to inject themselves. And I get Mark's point. And I agree with him 100 percent%, except I think the media has recognized after 2016 that they have a bigger role to play.
Starting point is 00:48:09 They believe fundamentally that they have to do everything they can to stop the resurgence of Donald Trump and the return of the White House. I mean, the topics were unbelievable. It literally was like, we don't need to give you the questions. Don't worry, we got you this time.
Starting point is 00:48:22 We're gonna cover all of the key things. But to your point, Megan, they let that debate go on at the end. When it came to abortion, it was like, hey, we'll let you guys go at it because we thought we thought that you were going to have have no problem with this on child care. They let the debate go on when they thought it would benefit Waltz. They cut J.D. off when it didn't when they didn't think it was going to benefit him. The bottom line, though, is J.D. did a couple of things that were masterful. One, he constantly remind people about the top of the ticket. It wasn't about him, his record.
Starting point is 00:48:49 He did inject a little bit about Tim Walz, but he made sure that he reminded people they're voting about on a president. And he kept going back to Kamala Harris, her record, her time in office. And he also went back to the record and results of Donald Trump over and over again. And that's where I think this this is the the fundamental existential question right now. This is Donald Trump. He has a record. He has results. If you like it, you know what you're getting. This is Kamala Harris and the last three and a half years of her. You know, she can't give you any more excuses. J.D. kept pivoting back to that over and over again. The problem that Waltz had fundamentally is Kamala Harris won't tell us where she is on a position. I mean, she hides from is Kamala Harris won't tell us where she is on
Starting point is 00:49:25 a position. I mean, she hides from the press. She won't tell us why she flip-flops on these issues. So how do you expect Tim Waltz, who frankly is handicapped from doing a good job to begin with because he wasn't a good debater, to articulate somebody else's positions that he doesn't know, she doesn't know? And that was fundamentally apparent tonight. He couldn't articulate her position because she doesn't know what it is. Yeah, that is a tough one. I mean, what did you make, Dan, of the moment where,
Starting point is 00:49:54 I'm going to guess that the debate prep folks around Tim Walz did not tell him the headline out of tonight's debate should be you with the caption under it, I am a knucklehead. That's good. I mean, it was unbelievable. I mean, look, this is something that if the Harris ticket loses is going to be, you know, picked apart now for a long time, which is just like the top of the ticket. Tim Walz was picked partly because he was such an effective communicator this summer making the case against Trump advance.
Starting point is 00:50:28 But ever since he was selected, like Harris, he has done very few interviews, very few press conferences. And so he looked rusty up there tonight. Right. I mean, normally you would explain these things, you know, a month ago. You would have been asked, you know, 20 times now. And it would be old news a little bit. And I know this latest attack about whether he was in China at the time is new. But all these things have built up. And so going into tonight, everyone wanted to know, how is he going to deal with both defending his own record, his own personal history, Harris's history, Harris's record, and the evolution of that record because we haven't heard from him. And that answer, it's not as bad as Dan Quayle
Starting point is 00:51:12 against Lloyd Benson. And I said to someone earlier, thank God it took him two minutes to wrap himself in a pretzel because if he did it in 10 seconds, it would be on the internet for the rest of our lives. They'll be slicing it down to 10 seconds. I'm sure they already have. I just, by the way, can I just, the Tiananmen Square answer, I think, look, the knucklehead answer was, I'm so glad he said it, but the reality is, is that you were either there or you're not right. And we see this continued pattern with him. He lied about IVF. He lied about his record in the military, both in terms of the use of command sergeant major, then the weapons of war. He lied about a wreck or receiving an award from a Nebraska Chamber of Commerce.
Starting point is 00:51:53 The guy has a pattern of lying about it. And then we get asked tonight, very simply, were you there or not? It's not like you're like, you know what? I forgot I was in a Target parking lot and he died in Minnesota. You either were in Tiananmen Square or you weren't. And the idea that he couldn't answer that question, I mean, no one says to yourself, you know, you're right. It wasn't Tiananmen Square. It was outside the Duane Reade. It doesn't make sense.
Starting point is 00:52:15 I thought it was at Iwo Jima, but it was just a movie about it. And look at how well J.D. Vance on a couple of occasions said, I misspoke. Like he just owned it and pivoted right off of it. I mean, it was a masterclass and how to get out of it. Whereas Tim walls was just, you know, but, but then I do Tim walls, his own argument, he either intentionally misspoke on the debate stage tonight, or he told the truth. Either way,
Starting point is 00:52:46 this is not a good answer. SOT 15 on the subject of school shootings. Governor, you previously opposed an assault weapons ban, but it's only later in your political career. Did you change your position? Why? Yeah, I sat in that office with those Sandy Hook parents. I've become friends with school shooters. I've seen it. Wait, what? Right? What? I don't know if he meant that.
Starting point is 00:53:14 School shooting victims is what he meant. Yeah, we hope so. He meant school shooting victims. I just want to go back to China Answer. I'd love to know how they rehearsed it, because i'm sure they prepared for it but that that the the mind and the and the kind of posture of someone who could give the answer as bad as he gave i mean i don't know what he was trying to accomplish with that answer but vance didn't go after him right you imagine if trump had been in that situation and his opponent had given an answer like that he would have gone right after i thought I thought a big part of what Vance showed tonight was he showed grace throughout small moments and large.
Starting point is 00:53:50 When he learned, apparently on stage, that Waltz's son had witnessed a shooting. We have that. He said something about the acting. Stand by, Mark. Let me play it. And I'll take it on the back end. It's at 16. Well, I thank all the parents watching tonight.
Starting point is 00:54:04 This is your biggest nightmare. Look, I got a 17-year-old, and he witnessed a shooting at a community center playing volleyball. Those things don't leave you. As a member of Congress, I sat in my office surrounded by dozens of the Sandy Hook parents, and they were looking at my 7-year-old picture on the wall. Their 7-year-old were dead, and they were asking us to do something. And look, I'm a hunter. I own firearms. The vice president is. We understand that the Second Amendment is there, but our first responsibility is to our kids to figure this out. Senator? Tim, first of all, I didn't know that your
Starting point is 00:54:39 17-year-old witness is shooting. I'm sorry about that, And I appreciate Christ have mercy. It is it is awful. Keep going. So he I mean, there's so many things he did tonight that Donald Trump would never do. They're just not part of his DNA. That's one of them. But again, I just think, you know, like Ross Duterte of The New York Times, whose judgment I respect, who's a conservative but no lover of of Trump, but does respect J.D. Vance, said it was the best Republican debate performance in recent memory. I think moments like that, the fact that he was willing to say congenial things and graceful things and show grace to Tim Walz, I thought, again, strengthens his appearance.
Starting point is 00:55:23 And again, all the things he did tonight that were strong go right back to why he was chosen in the first place. A much derided pick in part because the media has gone after him. What did he do? He put a suburban dad face on MAGA. He spoke MAGA in a way that centrist voters could appreciate. He wasn't cruel. Now the Democrats will say he's a liar, he's a phony, et cetera. But he's a really popular guy with a lot of people who know him. And you saw that tonight. He was the version of himself that people who like him, and I know a ton of people who like him and respect him. I also know a bunch of people who think he's a phony, but he was his best self tonight in every way to win a debate.
Starting point is 00:56:06 To your point, I will say that I feel like those of us who knew JD Vance prior to him getting picked, like had spent some time with him, were in favor of this pick. And people who didn't know him weren't because they were solely looking at it through the eyes of get Nikki Haley so we can get that wing of the party behind Trump. But those of us who knew J.D. Vance knew fully this side of him more than the public-facing side and knew that this would come out, knew that he was actually very bright and like a very gifted mind. Think of how this kid had zero advantages. And basically, after having served in the Marines, got himself through Ohio State in two years with a double major. And then on to Yale.
Starting point is 00:56:43 I mean, you could see how brilliant this guy was last night and think of what it takes to overcome the childhood adverse experiences he had completely by your own bootstraps, absolutely no connections to get yourself up to that. Like that's what we saw tonight. Somebody with heart and a gifted intellect and all the skills needed to express both. And so Sean, that's why it was, it was like, you know, I talked about the joke. I opened the show by saying, if you're a Republican or if you're any, if you're right of center, you know, you watch it. You're like, thank God. Finally, somebody who can do that.
Starting point is 00:57:17 But, you know, the funny thing is, is that for so long since J.D., frankly, was picked, you heard you've heard from the media that this guy is nuts. He's crazy. He's extreme. Tonight, for the first time, you've heard from the media that this guy is nuts, he's crazy, he's extreme. Tonight, for the first time, people heard from him in an extended way. And I think to Mark's point, the way that he talked, the way that he interacted with Waltz, there are people that are probably like,
Starting point is 00:57:35 why is he not at the top of the ticket now? He won a lot of people over tonight. Frank Luntz did a focus group tonight where he talked about the fact that most of the people came over to the JD side by the end of it, which was a shock from where they started. Tonight, people were reassured why Donald Trump picked him today. One small incident, and I was talking to Dan off camera about this. It was funny because during the Harris-Trump debate, she would do this tactic where she'd go, you know, one, two, three, four,
Starting point is 00:58:05 your tie is ugly. And Trump would go, my tie is great. It's the mace, you know, and he took the bait. Tonight, there was an instance at the end where Waltz said to J.D., your alma mater, and he was referring to Wharton, where J.D. didn't go to school. He didn't take the bait. And I know that sounds trite, but the bottom line is that J.D. pivoted right back to talking about Kamala Harris and her record and Donald Trump's results as president. He understood the mission at hand and did it very, very well over and over again, never taking the bait, always getting back to the key point that he wanted to make, putting the spotlight on Kamala Harris. Conversely, Dan, Waltz did take the bait on what could have been and probably was his best moment of the night, which is when we got to J6. And he said, they asked J.D. Vance, did Trump win? And J.D. wouldn't exactly answer. And we all knew that he was playing with plutonium in that moment, given his audience at home of, you know, his of one, his boss.
Starting point is 00:59:07 And he he was on his heels. And Tim Walz for a moment was like, you didn't answer the question. Did he win? And J.D. Vance is like, the thing to talk about is censorship. You care so much about the Constitution. Why do you censor under the first man? And Walz took the bait. And I was like, Democrats,
Starting point is 00:59:25 welcome to our world. This is how we felt, right? We watched Trump chase all the liver snaps that were thrown out for him by Kamala Harris. Hey, Megan, something that just came in my inbox. Joe Klein, who hates Donald Trump, hates things. J.D. Vance is he calls him a mortal sleazeball. His headline is coach gets clobbered. It was an embarrassment. And he said it was almost as bad as Joe Biden's performance, which is he said it was close to his bed. So sometimes debates, you know, left, right. And, you know, people see what they want to see. Joe Klein, who's who's who's willing to be honest, he's a centrist Democrat, but he hates Donald Trump. His verdict is pretty conclusive.
Starting point is 01:00:08 So what does that mean? I mean, Megan, I would say Democrats are having any regrets on him. Are they thinking about Josh Shapiro at this point? Go ahead with your point. Yeah, well, I mean, I'll make two. I mean, it's amazing that fans put walls on the defensive, not just on January 6th, but on abortion. I mean, it's the first time in two and a half years that I've seen a Democrat get a little flustered and uncomfortable on abortion. But yes, to go to your next question here, I was, you know,
Starting point is 01:00:37 looking at X kind of throughout the night and a lot of my Democratic friends, and there were a whole lot of, oh, why didn't we pick Governor Shapiro? But then, you know, I go back to, again, one of the reasons Vance was picked was that he was good on television. He was an effective communicator. And you didn't see that tonight. And you haven't really seen it the last month and a half since he's been selected. Okay, so. And in this day and age, in this day and age, sorry, go ahead. In this day and age In this day and age Sorry, go ahead In this day and age To win a debate decisively
Starting point is 01:01:08 And be civil To be respectful And still clobber somebody That is really hard to do So Mark, it doesn't matter Because you've got the Harris campaign I'll go to you next, John But you've got the Harris campaign
Starting point is 01:01:20 Coming out already saying Quote, Vice President Harris Believes that the American people Deserve to see her and Trump On the debate stage one more time. She will be in Atlanta on October 23rd. Donald Trump should step up and face the voters. So she doesn't want this to be the last memory. That's obvious. No, no. Again, I think J.D. Vance now becomes a supercharged surrogate. Republicans will be the crowds will be bigger. They'll be more enthusiastic. I think it's possible the press will give him a
Starting point is 01:01:48 better and more fair hearing. Because when you have people like Joe Klein and Amy Walter and others who are looked to as kind of arbiters say, this was a mismatch, Chris Silliza, all these people who never say a nice thing about J.D. Vance saying, yes, he was great. I just think it makes him more valuable. And it doesn't, I don't think the polls will move, but I do think J.D. Vance will raise more money for the ticket now. I think he'll get bigger crowds, more enthusiastic crowds. And I think, again, he becomes the voice of the future for the party in a way that, again, was the whole regional basis for his being chosen. The tweet you mentioned earlier among others was, um, he wrote, he tweeted out, here's the thing. VPs don't make policy presidents do.
Starting point is 01:02:30 Who talks about the Pence years and you know, many other tweets along that. Go ahead, Sean. No, I think the point that you're getting at is, does this now force another debate? I think Donald Trump looked at this tonight and the big question is, does he say, I don't want that to, I want to show the, I can do that. And does Kamala Harris, obviously you just read it clearly doesn't want that to be the last word from her side. I I've not, I've been very skeptical about a third debate, if you will. Uh, uh, you know, among this iteration
Starting point is 01:03:00 of candidates. Yeah. Um, I, I just don't know now. I. I mean, if I were Trump, I think he's going to say, yeah, I'll go again. I saw how you did that. No, what? Mark and I are shaking our heads no. Why? Why would he say this is a win? It's late.
Starting point is 01:03:14 It's late. Maybe that's it. John, were you using some of that Kamala Harris legalized marijuana before this show? No. Okay. You know what?
Starting point is 01:03:22 I'm just telling you. I know, but just trust me on this. I'm telling you, I think at least the discussion of it is going to come back up in Mar-a-Lago tomorrow, which is maybe we should. Let's lay out. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised to see a truth come out that says if she'll do it here, here, and here, I'll meet her.
Starting point is 01:03:40 But he may not want to do it on the terms that she's laid out. But I think you're going to see talk in the next 24 hours. Put a tracking advice on Laura Loomer. That'll be the sign. If she heads down for debate prep, we'll know. I can't imagine he's like there was a report on CNN. She's, you know, these two, they're like, I will see you at NBC on this day. And then the other one, I will see you at CNN on this debate.
Starting point is 01:04:02 Be there or be whatever. OK, it's just so crazy. So she's saying this is a CNN debate that she's agreed to that he's never agreed to. And he has still agreed to a Fox News debate that she has not agreed to. Or maybe it's NBC. I'm losing track now. But CNN had a report out yesterday saying he's reconsidering the possibility of going to the CNN debate. So that dovetails. Oh, wait, he just tweeted. Oh, boy. Some people are saying, some people are saying,
Starting point is 01:04:33 hold on, Mark. He just tricked out. Stand by. It reads, Lyon Kamala just put out a request for another debate because they lost so badly tonight. Again, it's like the fighter who lost gets up and says, I want a rematch. I beat Biden. I then beat her. And I'm not looking to do it again too far down the line. Votes are already cast and I'm leading big in the polls. I'll make America great again. She's incapable of it. So it's a no for now. Go ahead. Go ahead, Mark. No, just some people are saying that they'll do the debate, but it has to be on the morning meeting. That's what some people are saying. Yeah, some people. Yeah, they are. Here's another one of those moments, by the way, where you sort of saw the magnanimous J.D. Vance. I want to get this on, SOT18. It's really rich for Democratic leaders to say that Donald Trump is a
Starting point is 01:05:23 unique threat to democracy when he peacefully gave over power on January the 20th, as we have done for 250 years in this country. We are going to shake hands after this debate and after this election. And of course, I hope that we win and I think we're going to win. But if Tim Walz is the next vice president, he'll have my prayers, he'll have my best wishes and he'll have my help whenever he wants it. But we have to remember that for years in this country, Democrats protested the results of elections. Hillary Clinton in 2016 said that Donald Trump had the election stolen by Vladimir Putin because the Russians bought like $500,000 worth of Facebook ads. This has been going on for a long
Starting point is 01:06:01 time. And if we want to say that we need to respect the results of the election, I'm on board. But if we want to say, as Tim Walz is saying, that this is just a problem that Republicans have had, I don't buy that. started off with 12 people. Five said they were leaning toward Trump. So that leaves seven at the start up for grabs or leaning Harris. I'm not clear on where it was, but at the end, he just tweeted out 12, two in favor of JD. So JD Vance won over. I'm going to have to do the math. 12 minus five. A bunch. It's a bunch. Megan, it's a bunch of people. It went over a bunch of people. More than half a dozen.
Starting point is 01:06:54 A covey. Yeah. So wait, that brings me back to Dan. Does that mean, is anybody thinking, I don't think they're going to do a switcheroo, but do you think there are a lot of Democrats tonight saying, what was wrong with Josh Shapiro? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Look, and then if Israel and Iran go to war, they'll be like, yeah, now I remember why they did not pick Josh Shapiro. And no, look, I mean, I think if you're the Harris campaign, you just move forward.
Starting point is 01:07:20 I would not be surprised if they have some announcement to make in the morning to try to shift the conversation. Maybe she announces she's going to North Carolina or Georgia or something. But you just try to move forward. And at the end of the day, you know, this race probably doesn't change very much. And it's a super close race. Okay. And I do want to ask you, Sean, because you were... Go ahead, Mark. Well, she is going to the affected States in the next couple of days.
Starting point is 01:07:45 She announced that to me. Um, I want to ask you, Sean, cause you mentioned this, um, the abortion answer does deserve a little attention because it, it is amazing to see a Republican be able to say like, Hey, you didn't answer. And I will say to its credit, um, the moderators at CBS news came in on the abortion question with walls on ninth month. Is that cool? You never see that. That was Nora. She was the only one out there who was asking. I mean, Margaret was just, I went over it. Um, and he didn't answer it. He did not answer the question. And then when JD.D. tried to pound him on like you did sign that law, he lied and he said he didn't sign it. And he did sign a law saying that you could have an
Starting point is 01:08:32 abortion through the ninth month. He did. He just like any time he got pinned down on the law. But it was again, you never see this happen, Sean. No. And Dan, Dan was absolutely right. This is the first time I've ever seen a Republican effectively communicate better than a Democrat on this issue. But J.D.'s precision on the facts, right, because it wasn't just the allowing up to nine months. But the issue that Tim Walz really got caught on was they changed the medical definition of what a doctor was responsible of doing if there was a born alive baby that went through a botched abortion. That's a fact. J.D. was absolutely right on that. And he pressed Waltz on it and he kept going after him. J.D. was relentless on this issue. He was spot on in the facts. He was empathetic and caring. I mean, he literally did everything that Republicans have
Starting point is 01:09:20 been saying they should do on this issue. I've never in my life seen a Democrat on defense when it comes to this issue. Walt literally blew this issue, which has been their defining and biggest issue when it comes to this election. All of their ads, all of their money, all their get out the vote effort is predicated on this. This is their target rich issue in terms of expanding the gender gap. He blew it tonight. For the first time in political history, a Democrat got screwed on this issue. It was amazing to watch J.D.'s surgical like precision getting in there on things that hadn't been responded to, asking the open ended questions like what exactly am I wrong on? How did I misstate it?
Starting point is 01:10:04 Which can be the scariest questions to receive up there like, oh, crap. wrong on? How did I misstate it? Which can be the scariest questions to receive up there. Like, oh crap. I thought I would just be able to be like, it's a lie and move on. He really was, I mean, it really looked like somebody who had gone through a surgical residency when it comes to rhetoric and argument, which is kind of what law school is. And maybe also at Yale, even though I would recommend Albany Law School for all of you out there. It's a fine pedestrian law school and you can see the law clearly because you don't have all that ivy in your eyes. It's wonderful. Highly recommend. So Mark, I'll end with you. Final thoughts on
Starting point is 01:10:35 where we are tonight and whether, I know you say you don't think it'll affect the race, but you don't think, and I'm just going to generate enthusiasm and all that, you don't think it's going to lead to a polling bump. And take on my point of Trump doesn't necessarily need a polling bump because right now it's so tight, that's good for Trump. Well, we'll never know if it'll lead to a polling bump because there's so much else going on right now right we've got three big stories that have harris elites a little bit back on our heels or at least imperiled the docs the the doc strike uh the um uh the middle east and and the aftermath of the storm i think that my republican sources who said about a month ago that the polls
Starting point is 01:11:23 would move in the in the sunbelt states back to Trump and that Pennsylvania would be a better state for Trump. That may be happening before our eyes. There's some indication in the public data and in the private data that that's happening. So what this will do, as I said, it will elevate Vance as a fundraiser, elevate him as a surrogate. I think it'll also give just Trump himself. I don't think he'll be upset about the performance. I think he'll say, see, I was right. I picked him and he turned out to be great. Just what I thought all along. I do think it'll give Republicans a shot of confidence. It'll give Democrats a little bit more trepidation about putting Waltz out. And of course, we know they have trepidation about putting Harris out. So it gives them a shot of momentum. They certainly win a couple of news cycles off of this. But in terms of seeing a fundamental shift in the polls off of it, that's more than any
Starting point is 01:12:08 vice presidential debate, even one that's almost an historic mismatch can possibly do. I can only imagine Kamala Harris sitting at home thinking, what happened to my emotional support governor? Is this what you do when I hire you as my emotional support governor? You say you're a knucklehead. After she writes. You have a meltdown. You have the weird faces. After she writes.
Starting point is 01:12:29 She's got to write a thank you note to Margaret Brennan. She's got to get that done on the VP station. Absolutely. I'm sure she'll be in the running for press secretary if Kamala Harris pulls this whole thing out. You guys, it's been a pleasure. Dan, welcome to the party. Great to have you.
Starting point is 01:12:43 Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. Wow. What a night. OK, we're not done. Eric Bolling's here. He's going to close out the evening like we have every other debate in this cycle. And you're not going to want to miss his analysis. Don't go away. I'm Megyn Kelly, host of The Megyn Kelly Show on SiriusXM. It's your home for open, honest, and provocative conversations with the most interesting and important political, legal, and cultural figures today. You can catch The Megyn Kelly Show on Triumph, a SiriusXM channel featuring lots of hosts you may know and probably love. Great people like
Starting point is 01:13:15 Dr. Laura, Glenn Beck, Nancy Grace, Dave Ramsey, and yours truly, Megyn Kelly. You can stream The Megyn Kelly Show on SiriusXM at home or anywhere you are. No car required. I do it all the time. I love the Sirius XM app. It has ad-free music coverage of every major sport, comedy, talk, podcast, and more. Subscribe now. Get your first three months for free. Go to SiriusXM.com slash MK show to subscribe and get three months free. That's SiriusXM.com slash MK show and get three months free. Offer details apply. All right, joining me now, Eric Bolling. Happy to tell you that he is host of the brand new show, Bolling! With an exclamation point, which launched yesterday on YouTube, Rumble, and all podcast platforms. Bolling!
Starting point is 01:14:14 I like it. Bolling! Welcome back to the show. Tell me everything. What'd you think? Miss Megan, you guys did a great, great summary of what went on. And I think you hit on something very importantly with the four fact checks by Margaret Brennan only. I think Nora Donald was pretty fair. I think she was even-handed. Margaret Brennan, who I've known a very long time, used to work with her at CNBC prior to her CBS gig. She had so much bias. She had so much animosity when she was talking to J.D. Vance.
Starting point is 01:14:51 But you guys are right. The one time when J.D. really had the composure, J.D. Vance had a composure, when he was called out during an answer that should have been a third rail for Republicans, a layup for Democrats, called out during the answer. And Waltz had nowhere to go with it. And then Margaret Brennan, to her credit, maybe it was Nora, one of them, to their credit, said Waltz explained. And then he got twisted himself into a pretzel, started gaslighting. But the point is, I think you see when they call J.D. Vance weird, that was Tim Walz who came up with that line.
Starting point is 01:15:25 Oh, my, in retrospect now, I would have laughed at his. How ironic that it was Walz who called Vance weird. And they may have gotten him that pick. And so I think you saw a couple, I think I agree with Halpern where I don't think this is going to move the needle. I'll get to two reasons. One of them is because I don't think this is going to move the needle. I'll get to two reasons.
Starting point is 01:15:45 One of them is because I don't think VPs are that impressive or that important. However, Trump's my friend. With a 78-year-old president, he is right now smack dab in the middle of life expectancy in American males. You have to think what would happen. So you look at those two candidates side by side on that stage. If Trump, God forbid, passes away, could J.D. Vance step in? Yes. Unequivocally. Independence. Democrats wouldn't say no. Independents have to say yes. Same independence. If Kamala Harris wants to go back and pick coconuts from her heritage Jamaican coconut trees that her mom
Starting point is 01:16:22 talks about all the time, would America be okay okay with the Tim walls as commander in chief? I think the answer is unequivocally. No, he was nervous. Just a quick interjection. Remember, she just gave an interview where she was at. Was it Oprah? I can't remember. No, I think it was Stephanie rule where she was like, what was the last biggest decision you've had to make? Like a gut, the way you used your gut. And she said, it was selecting my running mate. It was selecting Tim Walz. I just went on instinct. I used my gut. Okay, well, we see where that's gotten us.
Starting point is 01:16:54 I'm a knucklehead in a vice presidential debate. But she also recently has said, during that whole period when she was making that decision, she was under massive insomnia because everything was happening so fast. She was all of a sudden the candidate. Joe Biden was no longer the candidate. She wasn't sleeping. And I think she was just preparing the world for the realization because she was probably realizing like we are now that it was a terrible pick. Now, does it matter? The right's going to say, well, it really depends. You can see Trump made a great decision. He's a good,
Starting point is 01:17:29 he picks only the best people. Well, we can say that's not necessarily the case. Trump, term 1.0, there were a lot of people who ended up stabbing him in the back. I would say Mike Pence was a terrible position. In fact, I was interviewing Trump a week. It was literally a week before the 2020 election. Maybe it was two weeks. I'm sorry. It was two weeks before the election. And I said to him, are you going to replace Vance?
Starting point is 01:17:53 And he looked at me. He's like, no, no one ever asked me that before. No, I'm going to stay with him. In hindsight, it was a bad decision. He should have. Pence. I'm sorry, Pence. I say Vance.
Starting point is 01:18:03 I meant Pence. Yeah. So I asked him if he was going to replace Vance in prior to the election. He said, no, I'm going to stay with them. And he should have because Pence has been proven to be nothing but terrible for Trump and for MAGA and really for for for real concerns. But I but I realize those two needed a divorce that It wasn't meant to be. But I think he's a good man. Okay, so here's the other thing. J.D. Vance, I realize it may not have changed his trajectory, but what do you make of my theory that it has rehabilitated him
Starting point is 01:18:36 in the minds of some who have seen nothing but negative media coverage about this guy, right? And then suddenly, I don't know what the ratings will be. They won't be as good as the presidential debate between Trump and Harris, but I bet they'll be decent. That they suddenly saw this totally new and different figure who was not this disgusting person, who was actually quite likable, who was polite, right? Because that was a risk that he would come across as too slick against this Midwestern. He's Midwestern, too, but like this folksy, avuncular Tim Walls with the flannel. And gee, I'm just kind of like a regular football coach. And he didn't. He did not come across as slick.
Starting point is 01:19:13 He was smooth. He was effective. But he was likable. I think J.D. Vance did what Donald Trump. They wanted Trump to do the first debate, the second debate against Kamala Harris. Trump took the bait too many times, and we talked about that. I think had Trump had that same demeanor, that confidence, that cogent delivery, you exuded confidence, I think he would have been in much better shape after the first debate. Here's why I don't think
Starting point is 01:19:45 this debate matters. I don't think there should be another debate. I think Trump won the election today, not because of this debate. It had nothing to do with the debate. I think the two things that happened today, we woke up and we saw the 45,000 longshoremen went on strike. That's going to create a massive, if it lasts, it's going to, they didn't ask about it, but it's also going to create a massive problem right now. It already is. Cars are already being stopped at the ports. Things are going to start to back up. Prices are going to start going to see it no matter what happens. You're going to see gasoline prices raise anywhere between 30 and 40 cents a gallon if it stops, if they even release, you know, if they even open up the ports right now. It's already on its way up. Prices will go up. And then ransending ballistic missiles into Israel.
Starting point is 01:20:41 Those two events, I think any independent vote, there's people on the right who are going to vote for Trump and on the left, they're going to vote for Harris no matter what. But the independent voter has to say, this Harris, Biden, Harris and Walz now, this whole administration has caused us tons of heartache in the family budget over the last four years. They haven't fixed anything. Vance was very smart in saying all her ideas are great, but she had four years to do it and she hasn't done anything. So what makes you think anything would change going forward? So I think people realize that. And with this long Sherman strike and what could happen, it's going to sway a vote,
Starting point is 01:21:21 an independent vote to Trump. And then you realize under Trump, there wasn't an Israel, there wasn't an attack by Hamas or an attack by Iran on Israel. There wasn't Russia taking Ukraine, going into Ukraine. These things didn't happen under Trump for a reason. Trump at dinner with Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago sends missiles to a Syrian airbase with Russian soldiers on it at dinner with Xi Jinping. The world leaders know, don't F with this guy. Just don't play games with this guy on his watch. We have some sound about that that I wanted to get on. Here's one of these moments where Vance is responding to a question on what's happening in the Middle East. Watch it. Top four. The U.S. did have a diplomatic
Starting point is 01:22:06 deal with Iran to temporarily pause parts of its nuclear program, and President Trump did exit that deal. He recently said, just five days ago, the U.S. must now make a diplomatic deal with Iran because the consequences are impossible. Did he make a mistake? You have one minute. Well, first of all, Margaret, diplomacy is not a dirty word, but I think that's something that Governor Walz just said is quite extraordinary. You yourself just said Iran is as close to a nuclear weapon today as they have ever been. And Governor Walz, you blame Donald Trump, who has been the vice president for the last three and a half years. And the answer is you're running me, not mine.
Starting point is 01:22:48 Donald Trump consistently made the world more secure. Now, we talk about the sequence of events that led us to where we are right now. And you can't ignore October the 7th, which I appreciate Governor Walz bringing up. But when did Iran and Hamas and their proxies attack Israel? It was during the administration of Kamala Harris. So Governor Walz can criticize Donald Trump's tweets, but effective, smart diplomacy and peace through strength is how you bring stability back to a very broken world. Donald Trump has already done it once before. Ask yourself at home, when was the last time, I'm 40 years old, when was the last time that an American president didn't have a major conflict breakout?
Starting point is 01:23:26 The only answer is during the four years that Donald Trump was president. Amazing. You couldn't improve on it. The other point is Barack Obama sent $120 billion in cash in C-130 transports over to the Ayatollahs in Iran. Donald Trump came in and said enough is enough. We slapped sanctions on Iran. We slapped sanctions on Iran. They were going bankrupt. Tehran was looking for food. They were at the mercy of the world. They were on their knees. Probably the third or fourth largest oil producer on the planet, was brought down to begging for help under Donald Trump. Trump leaves office. Biden comes in, lifts the sanctions,
Starting point is 01:24:12 sends billions upon billions of dollars back over to Iran. Next thing you know, they're funding Hamas. They're funding Hezbollah. Rockets are going into Israel. Israel says, you know, we're not going to wait for this anymore. We're going to take matters into our own hands because you screwed up, Joe Biden. You screwed up and you put us at risk. The world is a safer place under Donald Trump, like it or not, like his methods or not.
Starting point is 01:24:36 It just simply is. And by the way, we're better off for it. If you don't think that translates into other things, safety and security, think about what it does for prices. There's a reason inflation was 1.4% under Donald Trump. Energy prices were lower. Trump wanted to drill as much as he possibly could. I've been an oil trader for 40 years. The only time oil ever traded as low as it ever did, and it traded at zero.
Starting point is 01:25:07 It actually traded negative during Donald Trump. Think about that for a second. They were giving away barrels of crude oil because they had so much they didn't have anywhere to store it. That happened under Donald Trump. Do we forget that? It was $1.89 a gallon for a reason. It wasn't just markets going back and forth. It was because Donald Trump's policies created more energy, created more supply for energy. Demand was always there. Supply, he created it. Biden comes in, Obama leaves, Trump comes, Biden comes back in. They immediately put
Starting point is 01:25:39 the clamps on leasing certain lands to drill on. They say they don't, but they do. And they threaten fracking. One more thing about fracking, if I may. With this, what's going on with the longshoremen and now Iran throwing bombs into Israel, oil is going to be a major, major player. I believe that the election will come down to Pennsylvania. I think that's the state that will decide the election. Whoever wins, Pennsylvania wins. Fracking is a major, major industry in Pennsylvania.
Starting point is 01:26:14 Kamala Harris, they can't trust her. If they trust her that she's going to be pro-fracking after she clearly has stated on several occasions she would ban it completely federally, they're out of their minds. And I think the people of Pennsylvania, outside of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, bring Trump presidency. I want to I want to talk about the economy. This is a true area of expertise for you. I love this story. But I remember watching you on the five one day and it was when the White House was shut down for tours under I guess it was Obama. It was he was not allowing tours of the White House because of the budget, whatever. And you were like, this is ridiculous. And you said, it was like, I don't know, maybe like $140,000 a day to keep the white house open for the tours. And you said, I will personally fund the tours, you know, for, for the next week, if you just open it back up.
Starting point is 01:26:57 And Greg Gottfeld responded by saying, I'm just now realizing that this show is not your primary source of income. It was your successful career as an oil and gas trader. So you know of which you speak when you're when you talk about energy and the price. So tell us what is going to happen now with this potential war in the Middle East and Iran right smack dab in the middle of it. Well, if you can tell me what Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will do in response, I mean, I believe we need to defend. I hate wars and I don't want any would never send another American human being into a war. But if you tell me how Joe Biden is going to respond, I'll tell you what I right now, I think if we defend Israel, if we defend Israel through if we defend
Starting point is 01:27:45 Israel through assistance, you can put boots on the ground, God forbid. I think you could see another $200 barrel of oil. You could see another $4 or $5 higher per gallon. Yeah, I know where you're going. You led me right into that. The supply that is 770 million barrels of oil that was put into place to protect against justice, a supply disruption to the United States. That was what it was there for. Because Biden raised prices so much with inflation and gas prices were spiking, he released oil to put more supply onto the market to reduce the price of oil the problem is he gave away or sold out let's put it called this way sold out more than half of our emergency strategic petroleum Reserve so we're around 300 million barrels which were supposed
Starting point is 01:28:39 to be 780 filled so he's sold that we don't have it anymore. We have a, we use 20 million barrels of oil a day. So what are we 15 days of supply, God forbid a supply disruption. So he puts us at risk to save his own hide his own ass because he jacked up oil prices to start with. It's the worst energy policy we've ever been exposed to. It's even worse than Barack Obama's or Al Gore. That was a great, I mean, J.D. Vance tonight did a very good job of over and over raising energy and just saying it all starts with energy. It all starts with energy. There was a sharp exchange on the economy. And unbelievably, I was glad this came up, frankly, because I think J.D. Vance expected to use it defensively. He wound up using it offensively to begin with, saying they keep citing experts like we don't believe in the experts.
Starting point is 01:29:28 We're done listening to the experts. And it was great to hear him say it because Kamala Harris everywhere has been saying, oh, the experts prefer my financial plan to his. Goldman Sachs says my plan is better than his. Meanwhile, the head of Goldman Sachs came out and said, we didn't say that. That's not true. So it was good to see J.D. Vance say offensively, like they're obsessed with the experts. We are obsessed with common sense and the regular man's wisdom. Here's a little bit of that exchange in Sat 9. I've made a note of this. Economists don't be trusted. Science can't be trusted. National security folks can't be trusted. Look, if you're going to be president, you don't be trusted. Science can't be trusted. National security folks can't be trusted.
Starting point is 01:30:05 Look, if you're going to be president, you don't have all the answers. Donald Trump believes he does. My pro tip of the day is this. If you need heart surgery, listen to the people at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, not Donald Trump. And the same thing goes with this. And I ask you out there, teachers, nurses, truck drivers, whatever. How is it fair that you're paying your taxes every year? And Donald Trump hasn't paid any federal tax in the last 15 years. And the last year as president, that's what's wrong with the system. There's a way around it. And he's bragged about that. We're just asking for fairness in it. And that's all you want. You have a minute. Governor, you say trust the experts, but those same experts for 40 years said that if we shipped our manufacturing base off to China, we'd get cheaper goods.
Starting point is 01:30:48 They lied about that. They said if we shipped our industrial base off to other countries, to Mexico and elsewhere, it would make the middle class stronger. They were wrong about that. They were wrong about the idea that if we made America less self-reliant, less productive in our own nation, that it would somehow make us better off. And they were wrong about it. And for the first time in a generation, Donald Trump had the wisdom and the courage to say to that bipartisan consensus, we're not doing it anymore. We're bringing American manufacturing back. We're unleashing American energy. And, you know, Eric, the other thing, so you mentioned all your favorites there, but the other thing is Donald Trump and what he did to Iran, as you just outlined, was the left was
Starting point is 01:31:30 extremely critical of it. They wanted to pretend like that was a real deal where Iran was really going to disarm and we could really just trust them. And Trump knew it was BS and thought the stick was going to work much more effectively than the carrot. And he was proven right. You know, now things have spiraled out of control and they want to say, oh, it's because we didn't have this lovely deal. Nobody believes that has been watching this thing unfold. But finally, you have this effective spokesperson for it. And the thing about the experts, is there anybody who's not a far left Democrat alive in this country who is still in the place of, well, I I bow to the experts. I'll tell you what, right. And again, exactly, exactly right. Everyone was warning. Don't let them out. Don't let them out of this.
Starting point is 01:32:20 The the the the deal that Trump put them into. Don't let them out of the corner. They're on their knees, not going to be able to progress with their nuclear their nuclear weapons. The deal that Trump put them into, don't let them out of the corner. They're on their knees, not going to be able to progress with their nuclear weapons. And as even Margaret Brennan said, they're closer now than they've ever been. And that's because they did let them out. And they sent cash to the Ayatollahs and to Tehran. There was a great response by Jeannie Vance. He's like, who's been in the vice presidency for the past three and a half years? Like, you can't say like, hello, what did you do about it?
Starting point is 01:32:51 There was a moment of bias. And those who say that Margaret Brennan wasn't biased, I can tell you, she came from CNBC. I was there at the same time. She, she, watch, watch MSNBC. MSNBC rightc right now saying tim walls won the debate that's that's how crazy this is right now that's how you know what wait a minute let's play it don't we have that with rachel maddow do we have that standby i think we've got it hold please my team my teams are working so hard cutting sound i know they're amazing team, by the way. They're awesome.
Starting point is 01:33:27 A cordial debate between these two men. I wouldn't describe them as evenly matched because they are so different, so different in style and so different on substance. Very interested to hear from the spin room, to hear from all of my colleagues here, to get to all of the analysis that we're going to get to. I think the big picture takeaway from this is that one of these candidates is much slicker than the other, is a much more practiced kind of professional debate style speaker. And the other candidate won. There was one bad moment for Tim Walz in this debate where he got mixed up and embarrassed in answering a question about exactly what month he had been in China in relation to the Tiananmen Square protest. But then on guns, on January 6th, on Obamacare, on the economy, on blaming everything on the border, back again on health care, on abortion, on every issue on substance. J.D. Vance was very polished and very slick. And
Starting point is 01:34:29 Tim Walz beat him on all the substantive points. At least that was my take on it. Oh, my God. Wow. Wow. I mean, just be honest. She's just lying for her teeth. Just be honest. I mean, we can say, Megan, I was with you after the Trump-Harris debate. She won. I said she won. She did. She she baited him into a place that he wasn't going to go, didn't want to go. And she won that round. Let's be honest, Rachel Maddow. But the point I was making was Margaret knows better than the one question that she asked both of them. She pushed both Walls and Vance on the idea of housing. Remember, housing came up. And when Vance answered Trump's policy for affordable housing, she went at Vance and she said, well, where are they going to get the federal land to do exactly what you want to do?
Starting point is 01:35:29 OK, fair enough. Fair question. Right. You don't want to give away federal land. You change the market. You disrupt the free market principles. And then she asked Walls about something he obfuscated, talked about the three million homes that Kamala is going to build. But she let it go right there. And, you what? Vance could have picked up on this too. Where are you going to get the land for 3 million homes? Where are you going to get the money to build 3 million homes? Do you know what you're going to do to the price, the cost of construction labor? If you take federal money and go put that money towards construction laborers, you're going to pull them away from private sector labor. And then the private sector, they're going to be searching for labor. Price of homes
Starting point is 01:36:08 are going to skyrocket. Your prices of homes are going to skyrocket because you can't afford them. Price of free homes over here, who gets it? It's unfair. It'll cost hundreds of billions of dollars. It's completely disruptive to the free market in housing, one of our most important industries in America. But no one, no one asked him or her yet about where the money and where the land is going to come from for her ideas. It's right. The bias is incredible. And Margaret, Margaret, you never get the chance to sit with her. You don't get this. So Margaret Brennan is she hates Trump. She's got a difficult history. First of all, this pair and CBS News has done, I think it's 83% negative coverage of Trump. Of all the coverage that we see
Starting point is 01:36:51 on the morning show and the evening show on CBS News, it's 83% negative of Trump. Not quite as high as ABC, which was, I think, 97% negative for Trump, but high, high. I mean, that's not a lot of positive stories, 17% positive or neutral. And this was Margaret Brennan. Our audience may have forgotten this. It was the night of assassination attempt number one in Butler, Pennsylvania, when Trump was still bleeding from his head. And this is how she handled it on the air, SOT 50. And he closes with God bless America. And we saw him raise handled it on the air, Sat 50. And he closes with God bless America. And we saw him raise his hand in the air defiantly, blood on his face as he left the stage.
Starting point is 01:37:31 He is recovering from these injuries now. This was a traumatic event, no doubt for him. But I did notice there was no call for lowering the temperature, condemning all political violence, and really trying to signal to his supporters as well not to retaliate or to have any kind of escalation. Margaret, there's something wrong with you, my dear. Yeah, yeah, it's incredible. The sad part is, you know, we're probably tied in the most consequential election, certainly in my lifetime. And they owe it to the American people to have a more fair, balanced, to use another Fox term, fair and balanced debate. Because it matters. Why would they put her on there?
Starting point is 01:38:22 Why would they allow her to do it? Put Major Garrett. Major Garrett worked for Mother Jones Magazine, Fox News and CBS News. He's got he like you can't peg him on his politics. Put him out there. But no, they had to do the two ladies, the two women. Girl power. This is a girl power election because Kamala Harris is running. And it was a fail. Margaret, she embarrassed herself. Really, Norah O'Donnell did fine. Margaret embarrassed herself.
Starting point is 01:38:49 And that is a wound from which she will not recover. You, however, have done beautifully here tonight, my friend. It's great to see you bowling. Good luck with the show. And I look forward to listening to it. I love you, Megan. Always good being on with you. And let's do this again. You're awesome. You're on, my friend. I appreciate it. All the best to it. I love you, Megan. Always good being on with you. And let's do this again. You're awesome.
Starting point is 01:39:07 You're on my friend. I appreciate it. All the best to you. Okay. So I would love to know your thoughts and what we witnessed tonight. I am still not over the mic cutting by CBS news, just as a real debate as Vance was making points, as he was pinning down Tim Walz. What do they do? Somebody hit the panic button. No points scored against our guy that I'm embarrassed for them. I'm embarrassed. They, somebody must have realized that they shouldn't have done that after the fact. So it's just so obvious, right? You don't expect to be so obvious in their hatefulness towards the Republican and their obvious bias, but they are, and they were, um, what do you think? It's so late. It's almost 1230. Will you email me? We're going to go on the air again tomorrow.
Starting point is 01:39:56 Normal time. We do the show live on Sirius XM triumph channel at noon East, where you can hear us live. And then later we released the show as a podcast and on YouTube. So I would love to hear your feedback on what you thought specifically. It's Megan, M E G Y N at megankelly.com. So send me an email and then let's go to sleep and tune back in tomorrow with our friends from the fifth column. That'll be fun. Uh, really appreciate you guys. Thanks for watching. Big response on YouTube and on SiriusXM tonight. We're grateful that you trust us on these big nights. Good night for now. Thanks for listening to The Megyn Kelly Show. No BS, no agenda, and no fear. Thank you.

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