The Most Shameful Interview in the History of American Politics — Tim's Take

[0:00] Hey, y'all. It's Tim Miller from The Bulwark. This morning, J.D. Vance did a round on the [0:04] Sunday shows on CNN, NBC, and CBS and delivered what I think is the most shameful performance [0:11] that I've seen in politics. I don't really like to use hyperbole such as that, but I [0:16] took some serious time this morning trying to think about the last interview round that [0:22] I've seen that was anything as grotesque as what J.D. Vance did this morning, and it was [0:26] hard to come up with anything. I said I had just re-watched Palin, the infamous Palin [0:33] Couric interview a couple weeks ago, and what J.D. Vance is doing is just orders of magnitude [0:40] more disgusting and more irresponsible than anything Sarah Palin did, which is just kind [0:46] of crazy to think about. So I want to dial in with you guys on one of the three interviews [0:51] in particular, because I think that it shows just the lengths of his mendacity and just [0:59] how far he's willing to go to advance his racist anti-immigrant arguments. So this is going [1:07] to be a little bit from the Dana Bash interview. I'm going to play a couple segments for you. [1:11] Here's the first one where J.D. Vance just straight admits that he is making up these stories. [1:16] The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about [1:21] cat memes. If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the [1:29] suffering of the American people, then that's what I'm going to do, Dana, because you guys are [1:34] completely letting Kamala Harris coast. Okay. So, I mean, he literally admits it by accident. He says, [1:43] if I have to create stories to get you guys to pay attention, he says what he's doing. He doesn't, [1:50] you know, he gives away the game. You know, at other points in the interview, he keeps falling back on [1:55] this notion that he isn't really making it up and there are constituents that are saying this to him, [2:01] that he doesn't provide any details. At one point, I think it was in the NBC interview, he does [2:07] mention this video that Chris Rufo, a kind of anti-woke, wannabe, MAGA intellectual type posted of [2:18] allegedly migrants, but we don't really even know. All you can see in the video is a barbecue grill [2:28] with like what appears to me to be two chickens on it, but like they're claiming that it's cats, [2:34] you know, but again, it wasn't even in Springfield, this, this alleged incident and this grainy grill [2:42] video. So he mentions that, but like, he doesn't offer any other details at any point in these [2:48] interviews. And, and then he can, again, gives away the game by saying to Dana that he will keep [2:53] doing this. He'll keep creating stories. If that achieves his end, it's a, just a purely, [2:58] you know, Machiavellian defense of his lie. So later, this kind of, there is an extended back [3:06] and forth between Dana and JD where I must say just another aside on this. He, he just, he keeps [3:14] using her name in a way that's very grating to me. I don't know. It's just, it's not the shameful [3:19] part of the interview, but once you notice it, you can't unnotice it. Yes, Dana. Okay, Dana. Okay, [3:24] Dana. I don't, you know, just, it's a, he has a very unappealing meand. Let's, let's listen to [3:32] another clip from later in the interview where he tells Dana to shut up. You accused me of causing [3:38] a bomb threat. Doesn't that mean you should shut up about the residents of Springfield? Don't you [3:43] realize you're engaged in basic propaganda to silence the concerns of American citizens? [3:49] I was, you know, again, so he's, he's like, really, he's being extremely condescending and [3:55] smug. Saying, like, shut up is, you know, something that we tell our six-year-olds not [4:00] to say. Like, how this helps with the gaping gender gap, I don't know. But I think it just [4:10] shows that underneath this, you know, sort of sociopathic presentation, obviously, this is [4:17] getting to him, uh, that he, that he would, that he kind of treat her like that, treat [4:22] an interviewer like that. Um, then, then here's the last part of the clip that, uh, that I really [4:27] want to talk about. Why don't you bring on some of the people on your program who say that the [4:32] migrants are eating their pets? You're applying a double standard here. You're saying if one person [4:37] accuses J.D. Vance, I'm going to take that person's word as the gospel truth, even if you [4:43] misrepresent it. If you have another person who's saying they're eating the cats, you're [4:48] going to completely ignore them, attack them, silence them and harass them. That double standard [4:53] is why the people don't trust the media and why we're not talking about public policy 51 [4:59] days out from presidential election. Okay. So unfair, you know, the way we're treated, [5:03] you just asked me all these questions. You'd never ask Tim Walz these questions. And, you know, [5:08] because I guess Tim Walz isn't, you know, uh, making up, uh, uh, kind of imaginary, imaginary [5:15] race wars in his head, which is, you know, and, and spreading them on the debate stage. At least [5:20] I don't expect he'll be doing that at their first debate here in a couple of weeks. Uh, but so it's [5:24] his woe is me. It's his grievance. But here's what he says in that, in that clip. Why don't you bring [5:30] on some of the people who said that the migrants were eating their pets? These people don't exist. [5:35] They don't exist. I, Dan Abash cannot interview someone that doesn't exist. Okay. Like you made [5:43] this shit up. Uh, this is an old wives tale. That's been, that's been going around for half [5:50] a century. Now I was reading an old newspaper clip from 1987 where they were talking about, [5:54] well, how Orientals are stealing pets and eating them and how there's no evidence of it. Like you, [6:00] you just made this shit up, even though you like your wife is from an immigrant family and like [6:07] your kids, I just like, I just can't imagine what his kids will think about this when they grow up. [6:12] Like it is just so disgusting. He's like, I'm creating this imaginary racist narrative about [6:19] Haitian immigrants. By the way, over the course of the interview, he continues to talk, call them [6:23] illegals. They're not illegal. They're here legally. Um, uh, for the most part, I guess, [6:28] I don't know that every single person in Springfield is here illegally, but, but broadly [6:32] Haitians were granted temporary protective status. And so they're allowed, uh, not only they allowed, [6:38] they're legally here in this country, they're taking jobs that are, that needed to be filled [6:43] in the city. So he's just smearing and creating a hurt and advancing a horrific racist narrative [6:51] about these people who are just working, coming to America, doing what everyone has done in the [6:56] history of this country. It's what America is all about to work hard, play by the rules, [7:00] have a job, move to someplace where they have more opportunity. Like this is this fucking country. [7:04] It's what the country is about. And you're making up a bullshit lie about them. And then getting on [7:09] your high horse with the media. And they're like, why won't you, why won't you interview this [7:14] imaginary racist that I made up to smear people that live in my state? Like the whole thing is [7:21] fucking sick. It's like, it's George Wallace esque. It is like the, that, that he went on three shows [7:29] today and just did, did this little rigmarole where he's like going around this little smirk, [7:36] telling people, telling, you know, acting like it's the media's fault for calling him out on this lie. [7:42] Uh, it's just, it's deeply, deeply depressing and wrong. And, and JD Vance knows it. Yeah. As I said [7:50] in the podcast this week, JD Vance knows it. He, he called Donald Trump out for this in 2016. He [7:54] said it was representable. He said, God wants better from us. That's true. Whatever higher [8:01] power you believe in does want better or us, or just maybe other humans deserve better. [8:06] All right. So that's it. We'll be back. We'll be continuing to monitor the campaign events, [8:10] interviews that are happening over the weekend. Obviously we'll be back with the podcast on Monday. [8:13] Make sure you subscribe to the feed. We'll see you soon. Peace.