JD Vance’s Debate Charade: Blaming Harris, Not Congress

So, in case you missed it, JD Vance spent last night’s debate trying to convince everyone that Kamala Harris has been running the country all along, single-handedly sabotaging immigration policy. Who knew? Move over, Joe Biden, apparently we’ve been living under the “Harris Administration” this whole time, according to the Trump-Vance ticket.

Vance’s debate control tactic was clear—pin the immigration mess repeatedly on Harris and hope no one notices that Puppetmaster Trump demanded that Congress tank any solutions before the election.

Even after Governor Tim Walz gently pointed out that, actually, Congress (you know, the guys responsible for passing laws) has been the one blocking bipartisan immigration reform, Vance pretended not to hear him and just kept pushing his fantasy version of events. But hey, why let facts get in the way of a perfectly good political blame game?

Political Factoid: The vice president doesn’t have the power to pass laws. Her main job is to support the president, cast a tie-breaking vote in the Senate, and step in if the president can’t do the job.

To be fair, the Biden administration did roll out the “Biden-Harris Administration” label from the get-go, in a well-meaning attempt to elevate Harris’s role. Inclusivity, teamwork, historic firsts—it was all supposed to be a sign of progress. But here’s the fun part: this branding gave the Trump-Vance ticket the perfect excuse to turn Harris into their favorite punching bag. When something goes wrong? Boom, it’s all on her. Successes? Who’s that, again?

Somehow, Vance kept at it, even after Walz pointed out Trump’s campaign strategy, and to top it off, the debate moderators just let him. They might as well have handed JD a megaphone and a sandwich board that says, “I’m running with this narrative, and nobody’s stopping me!” No fact-checks, no corrections, just crickets. Voters are left to believe that Harris is secretly running a shadow government, pulling all the strings. Is it true? Of course not. But why let a little thing like truth ruin a perfectly good narrative?

Let’s be real. Immigration reform is stuck because Congress—yes, Congress—has consistently failed to get its act together. Harris doesn’t have a magic wand to fix it and neither does Biden. So, instead of giving Vance credit for his imaginative storytelling, maybe we should focus on the real problem: legislative inaction. Congress has been sitting on its hands for years, but sure, let’s blame the vice president for her supposed failure to pass laws.

Bottom line: Vance’s attempt to frame Harris as the mastermind of immigration policy is a smokescreen. It’s not Harris we need to hold accountable—it’s Congress. They’re the ones blocking reform, not the so-called “Harris Administration.” But I guess blaming the right people doesn’t make for good political theater, does it?