A top adviser on the Trump campaign has warned that Governor Tim Walz should not be underestimated ahead of the vice presidential debate with JD Vance tonight.
Jason Miller, one of former President Donald Trump’s closest advisers, who helped him prepare for his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, said that Walz is “good and disciplined” on the debate stage.
The CBS debate tonight with the vice presidential candidates is the last event both campaigns have agreed to before polling day in November.
Speaking on CNN, Miller said: “Walz is good. This is his second term as governor of the state of Minnesota and when he shows up and hits that stage, he’s disciplined. He’s on point and he lies through his teeth.
“He’s well programmed because this has been his life for the past two decades and so when he gets the debate stage, Tim Walz is going to be good and JD Vance, I think is also going to do very well, but do not underestimate Tim Walz. He can be much better than people think.”
Newsweek has contacted the Harris campaign for comment.
JD Vance at a campaign event on September 25, 2024, in Traverse City, Michigan. He will face Tim Walz in a debate tonight.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
However, former White House official William McGurn, who was chief speechwriter for George W. Bush, said that Walz could actually be an asset to Vance during the debate, describing the Democratic vice presidential nominee as gaffe-prone in a similar way to President Joe Biden.
“What makes the Walz and Biden goofs so damning is that they puncture the pretense on which the Harris campaign is built,” McGurn wrote in an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal on Monday.
McGurn said that it falls on JD Vance to “keep the focus on the unpopular policies of the incumbent administration.”
Despite the impact of the first presidential debate in leading Biden to drop out of the race, the vice presidential debate seems less likely to make a change to the current situation in the race. A poll conducted by CBS ahead of their broadcast found just a quarter of viewers were watching to get information about who to vote for.
Instead, 71 percent of viewers were watching to support the candidate they had already chosen, while 61 percent were watching to see if the other side made a mistake. Only 14 percent of respondents said they wanted to see the two candidates criticize each other.
Do you have a story we should be covering? Do you have any questions about Donald Trump’s campaign this election? Contact LiveNews@newsweek.com.
