After the vice presidential debate between US Senator J.D. Vance and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, there’s a moment that will stick with us, as it explains a lot about politics today.
After Vance lied, again, about Haitian immigrants, moderator Margaret Brennan said: “Just to clarify for our viewers, Springfield, Ohio, does have a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status."
Vance replied:
"The rules were that you guys weren't going to fact-check.”
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Vance was referring to the debate rules. These rules were agreed to in advance by Vance, Walz and CBS News, the debate host. There would be no live fact-checking for the duration of the event. There would be online fact-checking, but not from the moderators.
So Vance expected to lie without interference. When Brennan spoke truthfully, saying that Haitians who live and work in Springfield are there with the blessing of federal law, he looked almost shocked.
This morning, liberals and Democrats are saying his reaction is so typical. Vance wants rules that allow him, Donald Trump and the Republicans to lie and lie and lie, regardless of the consequences.
But that’s only half right.
Perfect distillation
Vance wants rules and laws that protect him and his friends. But he wants the same rules and laws to punish his enemies. He wants the law to explicitly recognize in-groups and out-groups. And he wants those in authority to recognize the difference when applying the law.
Most of us believe the law should be applied without fear or favor. Everyone is subject to the law. Everyone should be treated equally under it. When the law isn’t applied equally, we call that an injustice.
But most of us don’t understand how equality is seen by Vance, Trump and the rest of their maga movement. Equality is no virtue. It’s a vice. The in-group should never, ever, be treated the same way as the out-group. When the law is applied equally, they call that an injustice.
This debate moment is the perfect distillation of composer Frank Wilhoit’s old saying. “Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.”
The importance of impunity
Liberals and Democrats often call this hypocrisy, but we’re not talking about saying one thing while doing another. MAGA does not pay lip service to equality. It opposes it. Vance was outraged by Brennan fact-checking him, but he would have no problem with her fact-checking Tim Walz.
It’s better to call it impunity – for the rule of law and the other small-r republican principles that are enshrined in the Declaration of Independence. Everything about MAGA politics depends on everyone else honoring those values while MAGA subverts or violates them.
This impunity is central to their idea of freedom.
If they are not free to break the rules, they are not free.
More than a “damning non-answer”
This was again perfectly distilled during another debate moment. Walz asked Vance directly if Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election. He paused before saying, “I’m focused on the future.”
“That’s a damning non-answer,” Walz said.
It was more than that.
Vance immediately asked Walz if “Kamala Harris censored Americans from speaking their minds in the wake of the covid situation?” He was referring to Trump and the Republicans who were spreading lies about the disease and to the vice president’s role in combating those lies.
Walz ignored him, but the answer, for Vance, is yes. Maga wants to lie and lie and lie, not only about the covid but about the election, and anyone like Harris who stands up for the truth violates their “freedom.”
Unfairness is the point
The conventions of decency ask us to at least try to be honest. That’s why Brennan, even though she wasn’t supposed to fact-check Vance, felt compelled to. His lies about Haitians were too ugly to overlook.
But asking MAGA to be honest violates their First Amendment rights, and holding them morally accountable for what they say is censorship.
“F you, CBS - how DARE YOU,” wrote Megyn Kelly last night.
The rules bind you, but protect me. If they don’t, I’m free to break them. Indeed, my liberty depends on having impunity for the rules.
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