It’s a made-for-television vice presidential matchup, where a small-town coach goes toe-to-toe against a venture capitalist, so we are offering free Bongo Cards to help you participate as the rivals slug it out.
For the first time in the shortened, albeit heated, presidential campaign season, Democratic candidate and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will go up against Ohio Republican Sen. J.D. Vance on Tuesday, Oct. 1.
Based on what we’ve seen so far, it’s likely about to get — as Walz has called Vance and running mate Donald Trump — “weird.”
Follow the action with these NJTODAY debate bingo cards.
If you get one in each row, shout bingo, close your eyes, and make a wish for democracy to exist for another four years!
The vice presidential debate will be hosted in New York City by CBS News with moderators Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan, less than a month after current Vice President Kamala Harris virtually slaughtered disgraced former President Donald Trump in Philadelphia.
The debate questions are not known, but it is anticipated that viewers can expect women’s reproductive rights and child care to be among the topics discussed, along with questions about how each would support their presidential candidate’s agenda if elected.
As one might follow along on the topics, veracity is likely to be a serious challenge, although Americans should be circumspect about voting for candidates who refuse to tell the truth.
During the presidential debate, Trump made over 30 false statements, while Harris was notably more truthful. CNN pointed out a single inaccuracy from the vice president, which stemmed from a statement that lacked essential context.
Harris said that a “Trump sales tax” would raise prices for middle-class families by about $4,000 a year, referring to the Republican’s proposal to implement new tariffs if he returns to the White House.
Trump has called for adding a tariff of 10% to 20% on all imports from all countries, plus a tax upward of 60% on all imported goods from China. Together, a 20% across-the-board tariff with an additional 60% tax on Chinese-made products would amount to about a $3,900 annual tax increase for a middle-income family, according to the Center for American Progress Action Fund a liberal think tank.
The Peterson Institute for International Economics estimated that Trump’s proposed tax hikes would cost the average middle-class household about $1,700 annually while the Tax Policy Center said they would cost middle-income households $1,350 a year.
Trump’s staggering number and variety of false claims included several egregious lies about topics including abortion, immigration, and the economy.
Trump falsely claimed in his debate with Harris that there was virtually no inflation during his administration. Cumulative inflation during Trump’s presidency was about 7.8%.
“I had no inflation, virtually no inflation,” Trump said.
Trump repeated a lie that migrants arriving in America came from prisons and mental institutions that are being deliberately emptied out to dump undesirable people in the US.
“We have millions of people pouring into our country from prisons and jails, from mental institutions and insane asylums,” Trump claimed.
Trump makes this claim often, but there is no evidence that would corroborate his lie.
Trump also falsely claimed during the debate that “21 million people” are crossing the border monthly into the United States under President Joe Biden. His ridiculous number is false.
While Republican and Democratic politicians may use sharply different rhetoric, today there is far more alignment between the two parties on border policies than at any point in the last two decades. However, Trump sabotaged a bipartisan Senate border security bill, even as he describes border arrivals as “an invasion,” calling unauthorized immigration a threat to U.S. society that will require a “bloody story” to resolve because he wants immigration to remain an issue that benefits his campaign, which is based on hate and fear.
Trump’s most bodacious lie during the debate repeated a falsehood promoted by Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance. Trump claimed that Haitian migrants in the city of Springfield, Ohio, are stealing people’s pet dogs and cats and eating them.
“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in, they’re eating the cats,” Trump lied. “They’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”
The City of Springfield and the local police have said this is false, and they have found no evidence for the claim, which appeared to originate from a social media post from someone who said she was sharing a story about a neighbor’s daughter’s friend.