Following the first vice presidential debate, many believed J.D. Vance had a decent performance against Tim Walz. Donald Trump’s running mate may have fared well overall, but Vance did display some strange behavior during the debate. A particularly awkward moment for the Republican vice presidential nominee came when moderator Margaret Brennan asked Vance about past comments about Trump, including calling him “unfit” and comparing him to Hitler, while also questioning the former president’s economic plan. “Why should Americans trust you’ll give Donald Trump the advice he needs to hear, and not the just advice he wants to hear?” Brennan asked. Body language expert Traci Brown spoke exclusively with Nicki Swift and pointed out several gestures in Vance’s two-minute response that indicated he may not have believed what he was saying.
JD Vance confronted on once calling Donald Trump “America’s Hitler”
“I’ve always been open and sometimes of course I’ve disagreed with the President,but I’ve also been extremely open about the fact that I was wrong about Donald Trump.” #VPDebate #VPDebate pic.twitter.com/Fbgt4RAAJX
— IT’S TIME FOR JUSTICE (@LiddleSavages) October 2, 2024
The first sign that Vance was being dishonest came before he even started answering the question. “Vance closes his eyes longer than a normal blink when he doesn’t want to see or deal with a topic,” Brown told us. Not only was Vance uncomfortable answering this question about his running mate, but he also mimicked Trump’s debate body language. He replied, “Sometimes, of course, I’ve disagreed with the president, but I’ve been extremely open about the fact that I was wrong about Donald Trump.” While saying this, Vance held up both his hands with palms facing each other, which Brown described as “a cousin of Trump’s accordion gesture.” A movement made when attempting to contain a problem.
These were only a couple of the signs that Vance was uncomfortable, and there were even more as he discussed his past comments about Trump.
J.D. Vance’s rapid blinking told a story
Body language expert Traci Brow picked up more tension from J.D. Vance, which was told through his eyes as he fielded the question from the moderator concerning his feelings about Donald Trump’s ability to be president. “Most importantly, Donald Trump delivered for the American people. Rising wages. Rising take-home pay,” Vance responded. According to our expert, the eyes told the truth. “His blink rate on ‘delivered’ and ‘[rising] take-home pay’ went very high. This indicates stress on the topic,” Brown told Nicki Swift while adding that Vance once again showed the Trump-like “containment gesture.”
Meanwhile, Vance made another gesture that implied he was telling the truth when saying he was skeptical of Trump. “I didn’t think he’d be able to deliver on [those issues],” he told the moderator. At the time, Vance flashed his palms, which our expert said indicated that “he’s telling his truth.”
Near the end of his reply, it seemed that Vance had had enough of the Trump topic and was ready to move on. “I’ve been extremely consistent, that I think there are a lot of things that we could’ve done better in the Trump administration,” Vance said. As Brown pointed out, Vance held up “the universal stop sign” while delivering that line. All signs pointed to Vance being truly uncomfortable fielding questions concerning his past disparaging remarks about Trump.
