Plagued by notably high unfavorability ratings, Sen. JD Vance set out to soften his image on the debate stage Tuesday while still hitting the current Democratic administration on policy.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump took his campaign’s strategy into his own hands — literally — and resorted to schoolyard taunts.
“JD is steady and strong, Tampon Tim is sweating bullets, he is nervous and ‘weird,’” Trump posted on Truth Social, as he delivered what he called a “play by play” on his social media app.
(Characteristically, Trump said in a video at the outset of the debate — minutes before attacking Gov. Tim Walz — that he was “not going to say anything bad” about Kamala Harris’ running mate “because we’re going to keep it very straight.”)
But time and again Tuesday night, Trump took shots at Walz, resorting to “Tampon Tim” at least eight times — an insult that may actually further help Harris’ campaign as she and her running mate try to appeal to women voters.
It was a marked departure from Vance’s strategy onstage, where Vance admitted his positions on abortion and other women’s health care decisions haven’t always been popular but argued that there was so much a Trump administration could do to give women more options in reproductive care.
Trump, however, was less concerned about modulating his rhetoric.
“Democrats are NOT Pro WOMEN, they are letting MEN play in WOMEN’s Sports,” he wrote on Truth Social. “Walz can’t even define what a Woman is!”
Trump did issue a 107-word, all-caps post about how he would not support a federal abortion ban — “IT IS UP TO THE STATES TO DECIDE” — while also saying he personally supported exceptions for abortion for rape, incest and “the life of the mother.” But Vance made direct appeals to voters, contending that Republicans needed to earn back Americans’ trust on the issue of abortion.
Early on, Trump also cast doubt on the moderators, setting the stage for the possibility that Vance could flop even before the debate started.
“Both young ladies have been extremely biased Anchors!” he wrote three minutes into the debate. Attacking the moderators for bias is a similar tactic to the one his team used in the minutes and days after his own rambling debate performance.
The vice presidential debate lacked the viral moments of the two presidential debates — the first where Joe Biden cast significant doubt on his ability to serve another term as president, and the second where Trump relentlessly attacked Harris and made baseless claims about Haitian immigrants.
The vice presidential debate was marked more by lines like, “I actually agree with you,” as well as Vance offering his sympathies to Walz’s son for witnessing a shooting — and Walz thanking Vance for his kind words.
The most contentious moment of the debate may have been when Vance disagreed with the moderators performing a fact-check, and CBS ended up cutting the mics to both candidates as they all tried to talk over each other.
Although Trump took breaks from his name-calling to post some graphs and statistics, he kept returning to “Tampon Tim.”
“‘Folks’ - Tampon Tim stealing Crooked Joe’s signature catchphrase. Sad!” Trump posted at one point.
“Did Tampon Tim just say he has ‘become friends with school shooters?’” Trump asked at another point.
Meanwhile, on the social platform he doesn’t own, Trump seemed bored by the debate after the first hour, pivoting to posting on X about Pete Rose instead.
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Claire Heddles is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.