Source: The Washington Post / Getty
Conservatives across the MAGA world would have us believe that colleges and universities are cesspools of liberal propaganda and biased discrimination against right-wing “free thinkers,” but maybe — just maybe — the real reason they hate these institutions of higher learning so much is that it’s more difficult for them to slip their fact-less nonsense past people who are educated.
During the vice presidential debate Tuesday night between Sen. JD Vance and Gov. Tim Walz, Vance either revealed that he doesn’t actually know what the role of vice president is in government, or he pretended to be ignorant of it because he knows his constituents aren’t the most discerning people in the world when it comes to differentiating between truth and disingenuous political posturing. During the debate, Vance repeatedly accused Vice President Kamala Harris of failing to deliver on the promises she is now making to voters during her time in the White House under President Joe Biden, which would be fine if not for the glaring fact that vice presidents do not have the power to make executive decisions.
Fortunately for JD Vance, who may or may not know exactly what he’s even supposed to be doing in his role as VP should he and Donald Trump be elected to the White House, there’s a — *checks notes* — college student who was kind enough to explain it to him in a video that has gone viral on social media.
After the debate, MSNBC’s Jacob Soboroff talked with students at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. One student, Marcus, expressed frustration with that particular spin from Donald Trump’s running mate.
“If anybody took high school civics class they’d know what the vice president can do and what the vice president can’t do,” Marcus began.
“Neither candidate on that stage talked about what executive action they’re gonna take on day one to do what they want, nor were they asked,” he continued.
“Because they know that they can’t,” Marcus pointed out. “That’s not how the vice presidency works. You don’t get to do what you want, you do what the president delegates you to do.”
Marcus points out a particularly irritating narrative that Trump, Vance and the rest of Harris’ MAGA detractors cling to. Even if one were to buy into their long list of (mostly) lies regarding the state of America under the Biden administration, one would have to admit — if they’re well-versed in the inner workings of our government — that the role of the vice president is largely symbolic outside of the relatively rare occasion when one has to provide a tiebreaking vote during Senate proceedings and the even rarer occasion when one takes over as president when the president steps down, is successfully removed from office or dies. (Note: until the 1950s, vice presidents presided over the Senate, but since then, they have served largely in an advisory role.)
This has been an inconvenient truth for the Trump campaign, especially since Biden declined to seek reelection and Harris stepped up to fill his shoes. Then again, no truth is really all that inconvenient for Trump and JD Vance since virtually all they do is lie.
For example, Trump and his minions have repeatedly claimed Biden appointed his VP to the position of “border czar,” which, in their imaginations, means she was left in charge of the immigration crisis at the southern border. Trump’s supporters have, of course, run wild with this narrative while either being ignorant of or unconcerned with the fact that “border czar” isn’t a position that exists, and even if it did, it’s certainly not something a VP would have the power to take on.
Here’s the truth regarding that lie, according to Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee:
Instead, Biden asked Harris to lead diplomatic efforts to reduce poverty, violence and corruption in Central America’s Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, as well as engage with Mexico on the issue.
It was similar to the job Biden had when he was vice president.
But that was an overly broad mission, Murphy said.
“It’s hard in a short period of time to come up with a strategy that impacts the very real and complicated psychological decision-making that people in those countries go through when they’re deciding to come to the United States,” Murphy said in a phone interview.
