Tim Walz faces a Yale Law reckoning

The Harris-Walz team has a plan to coax Trump into another debate. According to NBC News, the Democratic National Committee will accuse Trump of being a chicken in the hopes of getting under his skin: “The chicken billboards, which will first appear at Trump’s rally Monday in Indiana, Pennsylvania, include a digitally altered image of Trump in a chicken suit alongside the words ‘There’s no debate: Donald Trump’s a chicken.’”

The tactics here aren’t subtle, but considering Trump’s penchant for taking the bait, it just might work.

But if Operation Chicken lays an egg, then the last big televised event of this campaign season is next week’s vice presidential debate, when Ohio senator J.D. Vance and Minnesota governor Tim Walz will take the stage at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City.

Vance has the opportunity to hammer the current administration’s failures and to demonstrate the focus and discipline that his running mate’s ABC performance lacked.

Walz has a chance to articulate Kamala’s policy proposals, which at best have been vague and at worst have been utterly non-existent.

Perhaps a sign of what is to come, happy warrior Walz has been busy trying to lower expectations for his upcoming performance.

During a rare interview on MSNBC, he told Rachel Maddow, “Look, he’s — he’s a Yale Law guy. I’m a public school teacher, so we know where he’s at on that.”

Walz can pretend that Vance’s Yale education is what is giving him the upper hand, but the reality is that the senator has just had more practice taking punches. He has been sitting down for combative interviews with the mainstream media for weeks now.

Walz on the other hand prefers to take questions from his own running mate on topics like “white-guy tacos” and Bruce Springsteen. Not exactly high stakes stuff, even by Democratic Party standards.

It is entirely possible that the CBS moderators will try to absorb the blows for Walz like the ABC moderators did for Harris.

And yet, there is another feather in Vance’s MAGA cap. He witnessed the ABC showdown and should be just as prepared to go toe-to-toe with Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan as he is to face off against Tim Walz.

In a recent appearance on Gutfeld!, Trump revealed his one regret after his debate against Kamala Harris, David Muir and Linsey Davis.

“I think my only regret is that I wanted to be elegant, and I didn’t want to go after the anchors,” he said. “I wish I did, in a way.”

As funny as it is hearing Trump lament about wanting “to be elegant,” he is on to something.

If the moderators are going to switch from referees to players during the debate, then they deserve as much scrutiny and push back as the actual opponent.

Based off his recent appearance on CNN, it seems like J.D. Vance has already been practicing holding the Ministry of Truth’s talking heads accountable for their hypocrisy.

During a very tense exchange with Dana Bash, Vance called out the hackish host for her constant interruptions and aggressive defense of all things Kamala.

“I noticed that when you have Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, you gave them multiple choice answers to the questions that you asked, and you allow them to answer the questions,” he calmly replied. “I’m happy to be here to talk about policy, but if you’re going to interrupt me every single time that I open my mouth, then why am I even doing this?” he asked a startled Bash.

Speaking of Bash, I hope Vance follows up on some of the questions that the CNN anchor meekly posed to Tim Walz during his tag-team interview with Kamala Harris.

One matter that I think the American people would appreciate some clarity on? Walz’s stolen valor scandal.

In 2018, while discussing gun control, Walz told a crowd, “We can make sure that those weapons of war that I carried in war is the only place where those weapons are at.”

The problem is that Walz has never deployed to an active war zone.

When Bash confronted the governor on that lie, Walz explained that his wife — an English teacher — told him his “grammar’s not always correct.”

Naturally, Dana Bash was satisfied with that explanation. I’m not so sure J.D. Vance will be as easily convinced.

Let’s hope that transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, who is supposedly standing in for Vance during Walz’s debate prep, is getting the folksy Midwesterner ready for his close up.

If not, poor grammar will be the least of Walz’s problems.