ATLANTA (AP) – Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance used Sunday news appearances to disparage the Democratic ticket and promote Donald Trumpen record and second-term plans and defends himself from criticism of past remarks that have become a campaign issue.
The Ohio senator said in a series of taped interviews that Trump’s proposal to give presidents more control over U.S. monetary policy had merit and that he would stick to the GOP line that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, had overstated his proposal. military record.
Vance, who shadowed Vice President Kamala Harris and Walz as they visited several battleground states last week, was asked about issues including abortion and his past comments about American family life.
Some highlights from his performance:
Trump is right about Fed independence, Vance says
Trump recently suggested that presidents “should at least have a say” in the monetary policy of the US Federal Reserve. He made no concrete proposals.
Limiting the Fed’s independence from political interference in setting interest rates would be a fundamental change. Although he tried to argue that Trump said nothing about “direct” control of interest rates, Vance supported Trump’s general idea.
“President Trump is saying something that I think is really important and really profound, which is that the political leadership of this country should have more say in the monetary policy of this country,” Vance said. “I agree with him. It should be fundamentally a political decision. Agree or disagree, we should have America’s elected leaders provide input into the most important decisions of our country.”
CEO of Bank of America Brian Moyni questioned the wisdom of such a major change. “I think if you look around the economies of the world and see where the Fed central banks are independent and operate freely,” he said, “they tend to do better than the ones that don’t.”
Mining Walz’s Military Record
Walz served 24 years in the Army National Guard and was deployed once to Europe, though never to an active war zone. In a video released in 2018, he referred to carrying weapons “in war”. The Harris campaign said last week that Walz misspoke.
“A scandal of behavior,” said Vance, a military veteran.
When it was noted that Trump avoided Vietnam with questionable claims about bone marrows, Vance said that “obviously a lot of people have reasons not to serve. I criticize someone for embellishing their record, for lying and saying, ‘I went to war.'”
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, a combat veteran and top Harris ally, said Republicans were spreading “one-off” when the longtime veteran “slipped” when talking about his military service.
Medical Abortion and the Florida Referendum
Vance was evasive when asked about his position on an upcoming Florida referendum that would repeal Republican-passed abortion restrictions and ensure better access to abortion services.
Speaking broadly about states and reproductive rights, Vance said Trump “has specifically said they’re going to make this decision on a state-by-state basis.”
Vance struggled to clarify Trump’s position on whether he would support federal restrictions on the medical abortion drug mifepristone.
In a conversation with Biden in June, Trump said he would not block it. At his Florida news conference last week, he offered a mixed response, saying, “You’ve got to have a vote, too” on the issue. Vance suggested that “maybe” Trump was having trouble hearing and understanding the reporter’s question.
Walz responded in a statement through Harris’ campaign that Trump and Vance “are going to ban medical abortion. … Vice President Harris and I are going to make sure you make your health care decisions because we have a rule, would you make the same decision as anybody else: Just mind your own business.”
Vance and Buttigieg back and forth on family
During Vance’s 2021 Senate campaign, he said in a Fox News interview that “we’re effectively run in this country by the Democrats,” referring to them as “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are unhappy in their lives and the choices they’ve made, and so they want to make more wretched from the earth.”
He said they included Harris, who has two grown children, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who is gay and a married father of twins but had no children at the time of Vance’s comments.
The senator said “a sarcastic remark I made three years ago” has clouded serious discussion about “pro-family” and explained that “I criticize people for being anti-child” in their political pursuits.
Vance has also previously proposed giving more votes to families with children.
“It’s not a political proposal. It’s a thought experiment, isn’t it?” he said in an interview Sunday, insisting he was reacting to others’ ideas to lower the voting age.
“Anyone who disagrees with him is against the child?” Buttigieg responded on the news show. “He seems incapable of talking about a vision for this country to uplift the people. … It’s always about belittling.”
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Vance appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union,” ABC’s “This Week” and CBS’ “Face the Nation.” Buttigieg was on CNN and Moynihan was on CBS.
