Dan Pfeiffer, writing at his Substack The Message Box, said JD Vance didn’t win the debate.

JD Vance is a slick debater. He has the natural advantages of lacking a moral core and an ability to lie shamelessly. It’s how you go from calling Trump “America’s Hitler” to licking every boot in the MAGA media to possibly serve as Trump’s vice president.

Tim Walz started the debate a little nervous. He had some awkward moments. Most theater critics on Twitter and the political media scored the debate as a win for Vance. And if this were a high school debate competition, they would be right. Vance was poised. His answers were precise. Walz was overly elliptical at times and missed opportunities to call out Vance’s blatant lies, but political debates aren’t won by winning the approval of the pundits. They are won by making persuasive arguments to the voters tuning in.

I guess so, but Dan’s a little biased.

Vance did fine by mostly not coming across as “weird” as he has as of late. Of course, it makes no difference. It’s the guy at the top of the ticket that people really care about, and Trump is a fascist, adjudicated rapist, conman, and indicted criminal. I still don’t quite understand why the polls are so close.

Walz was fine. He was folksy and let Vance get away with delivering an insane amount of bullshit in a short amount of time. I mean, we got used car salesman-style slick lines/lies about solar panels and guns, January 6, illegal immigrants, saving Obamacare (ha!), a national abortion ban, and that Trump peacefully transferred power after losing the last election. I would have liked to see Walz call out these lies stronger. Generally, Vance was a more polished performer in a debate setting, but Walz was more effective on issues like school shootings, abortion, and health care.

The only thing anyone will remember about this debate is Vance refusing to acknowledge that Trump lost the 2020 election and his line, “Margaret, the rules were that you guys weren’t going to fact check,” after lying again about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio. First, that wasn’t in the rules, and second, viewers realized he wasn’t upset because the debate moderators were wrong; he was upset because the debate moderators were telling the public the truth.

In the end, it will have no impact at all on the race. None. Zip. Zilch.

Dave Pell, writing in his newsletter Nextdraft, sums up my feelings toward this election cycle.

These days, the main thing I feel while watching debates and other political coverage is that I want it to end. The show. Our obsession with the race. The social media posts. The endless texts. This era. Trumpism. The media’s poor performance. The lies. I want to go back to life before Trump.

Me too.