Former President Trump praised Sen. J.D. Vance’s (R-Ohio) performance against Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) in last night’s vice-presidential debate, calling Vance “fantastic” while criticizing Walz.
“JD was fantastic last night — it just reconfirmed my choice,” Trump told Fox News Digital in an interview on Wednesday morning. “There was a brilliance to what he did.”
Trump added that Walz “embarrassed himself and the Democrat Party last night but was made to look even worse by JD’s brilliant performance.”
Despite the former president’s sharp critiques of Walz, Trump said that he still viewed the governor in a better light than Vice President Harris.
“On the other hand, Tim Walz proved to be a man that doesn’t have it in any way shape or form for the office that he is seeking, though I would put him a large number of steps above Kamala,” Trump said.
Trump had already complimented Vance on the social platform Truth Social, saying in a post that his running mate “crushed it.”
“JD crushed it! Walz was a Low IQ Disaster — Very much like Kamala,” Trump wrote in one post. “Our Country would never be able to recover from an Administration of these two. Can you imagine them representing us with sharp, fierce Foreign Leaders? I can’t!”
Following last night’s face-off between Vance and Walz, the senator received stellar feedback for his performance, with pundits describing him as “sharp” and offering a “commanding performance,” and even some Democrats complimenting his presentation.
“You know, JD Vance was a better debater than Donald Trump,” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) told Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday after the debate. “Donald Trump should have taken some lessons from him.”
New York Times Columnist Ross Douthat called Vance’s performance “commanding,” while Walz’s presentation was “a nervous ramble.”
“For Vance, it was a commanding performance. For Walz, it was a nervous ramble. For the audience, it was the most civil and substantive debate of the Trump era,” he wrote.
According to a CBS poll, 42 percent of debate watchers said that Vance won the debate, while 41 percent said that Walz beat the senator. Seventeen percent said it was a tie, according to the polling from CBS, which hosted the debate.
The Hill has contacted the Harris-Walz campaign for comment.