Thread by @jbendery

My god did JD Vance lie and gaslight his way through last night's VP debate. About big things. So casually. Things that are so easy to call out.

Like.... (1/x)

... his claim that Trump “salvaged” Obamacare.

How many times did Republicans in Congress try (and fail) to dismantle Obamacare? 65? 70? And how many times did Trump demand that they do it, before and after he became president? Dozens.

Last night, Vance bizarrely claimed Trump was Obamacare's savior because of some regulations he put in place as president.

“I think you can make a really good argument that it salvaged Obamacare, which was doing disastrously until Donald Trump came along,” he said.

What??

“When Obamacare was crushing under the weight of its own regulatory burden + health care costs... Trump could have destroyed the program,” Vance said. “Instead, he worked in a bipartisan way to ensure that Americans had access to affordable care.” Yeah no. huffpost.com/entry/jd-vance…

All Trump talked about was his plan to repeal Obamacare. It was one of his key campaign promises in his 2016 campaign.

By July 2017, GOP efforts to tank it had failed dozens of times. Trump was egging them on the whole time.

I already forgot the whole (1/x) thing. Whatever.

Vance also scoffed at the idea that he supported a national abortion ban.

Except he did, and it's so easy to look it up.

He backed a 15-week ban and said anyone who didn't would be making the U.S. "the most barbaric pro-abortion regime" in the world. cbsnews.com/news/ohio-deba…

Vance lied so much about his record on abortion.

He straight-up wanted to "end abortion," something he put on his own Senate campaign website -- until Trump tapped him to be VP, and then he quickly scrubbed that.

Got a screenshot at the time tho:

https://x.com/jbendery/status/1813614058668716218

“First of all, I never supported a national ban,” Vance declared last night.

But then, because he knew that was a lie, he just used a euphemism for it!

“I did, when I was running for Senate in 2022, talk about setting some minimum national standard.” huffpost.com/entry/jd-vance…

A "minimum national standard" on when a woman can get an abortion is a national abortion ban.

Vance also casually dodged a basic question about whether he believes climate change is a hoax — something Trump has claimed.

He called it “weird science.”

It is not weird science, it is science. What was that! 😂😭

Yes, Vance was a better debater than Walz. He's a Yale law school grad who has been a nationally known figure and doing TV hits for years.

But his calm way of speaking was a mask for stunningly dangerous lies and gaslighting.

Like when he wouldn't say that Biden won in 2020.

Easily the most disturbing moment of the night.

Walz: Trump still won't say he lost the 2020 election. Did Trump lose?

Vance: “Tim, I’m focused on the future."

“He peacefully gave over power on Jan. 20." huffpost.com/entry/jd-vance…

Vance somehow stood up there and, with full confidence, said Trump "peacefully gave over power" in Jan. 2021.

An image from the peaceful transfer of presidential power in Jan. 2021.

Here are some photos from that whole insurrection that Trump fueled -- and that left 140+ cops injured, several later dead by suicide and that nearly got his VP killed.

In case you were wondering why JD Vance was on stage last night and not Mike Pence. npr.org/sections/pictu…

Never mind that Vance spent all night whitewashing Trump's extreme plans for a second term. He repeatedly refused to talk about Trump's plans for mass deportations and setting up camps along the border -- and separating parents from their children.
huffpost.com/entry/jd-vance…

Truly, a disturbing display last night by JD Vance.

His role on the ticket -- and in a potential second Trump admin -- is simply to spread the same dangerous lies and extreme policy plans that Trump shouts about in all-caps on social media, but in a slicker way.