In an unprecedented meltdown, California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, challenged Vice President JD Vance to a debate after the VP criticized Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass during a Friday speech in Los Angeles, accusing Newsom of endangering law enforcement.
For context, Izzy Gardon, Newsom’s communications director, called Vance a liar and said his claims were baseless and provided evidence of Newsom’s condemnation of violence against police. Vance has not responded to the debate challenge and seems unlikely to legitimize this desperate attack with an answer.
Starting his disrespectful challenge, Newsom said, “Hey @JDVance — nice of you to finally make it out to California. Since you’re so eager to talk about me, how about saying it to my face? Let’s debate. Time and place?” Continuing the trend, Izzy Gardon: “Jose Vance is a liar. The Vice President’s claim is categorically false.”
As we reported, Vance began the scuffle by mocking the California leadership. The vice president said, “Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass have got to stop this craziness. Every single law enforcement officer I talked to today, every single one of them, said they feel like the local leadership — the mayor and the governor — are encouraging these far-left agitators. What is the justification for this?”
Answering his rhetorical question, Vance went on the attack, saying, “When [Border Patrol agents] go out to do their job, they said within 15 minutes of them trying to do their job, they have protesters, sometimes violent protesters, who are in their face obstructing them, preventing them from doing their job and endangering their lives.”
Continuing his awesome takedown, the Republican asked, “Why do they have that? Because those people have been egged on by local officials. They have treated Border Patrol and border enforcement as somehow an illegitimate force instead of what they are, which is the American people’s law enforcement trying to enforce the American people’s laws.”
Turning his attention to Newsom, Vance pivoted. He stated, “So, when Gavin Newsom encourages violence and rioting, he encourages people to get in the face of our great Border Patrol officers; he is absolutely endangering the lives of federal enforcement.”
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Building on his previous point JD Vance noted, “It’s interesting that, for the past couple of weeks, Gavin Newsom has said that there’s an illegitimate effort to send federal resources to secure a city that he refuses to secure, and what the 9th Circuit said yesterday is that that was a completely legitimate and proper use of federal law enforcement.”
Adding to his argument, the VP said, “The president has a very simple proposal to everybody, in every city, every community, every town, whether big or small. If you enforce your own laws and if you protect federal law enforcement, we’re not going to send in the National Guard because it’s unnecessary.”
Wrapping up his epic takedown, JD Vance stated, “What I see here today is the great tragedy when a mayor and a governor encourage their citizens to harass and endanger the lives of our police officers and our law enforcement officers. It’s heartbreaking to see, and thank God we’ve got great people who are willing to persevere despite it.”