John Jefferson
Tuesday’s vice presidential debate between Republican Sen. JD Vance of Ohio and Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz brought together two candidates with different visions for the future of America.
Their body language also sharply contrasted with one another as Vance espoused a sense of calmness and command of the issues, whereas Walz appeared nervous and overly fidgety at times, although he did manage to find his stride later in the debate, body language expert Carole Lieberman, M.D., tells Fox News Digital.
“What JD Vance had that made him most likable and most trusted was that he was authentic… you could just say it in one word. JD Vance was authentic. He did big hand movements and so on, but they were just to explain what he was saying,” Lieberman said.
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“JD Vance came across as being very steady, like you can kind of see him as a captain of the ship, and he wasn’t too stiff, but you knew what you were going to get. Each time he seemed sure of himself… And so you felt like you would be safe with him. He gave an air of stability,” Lieberman added.
That ran counter to Walz, whom Lieberman said was anxious and jittery, particularly at the beginning of the debate.
“With Tim Walz, he was all over the place. He was very nervous, and he also had body language signs of lying. His body language was discordant with what he was saying. It was like too much, it made you feel exhausted and scared,” she said.
Lieberman said Walz fumbled his question about being in Tiananmen Square for the deadly protests in the spring of 1989. Walz previously said he was in Hong Kong during the protests, but Minnesota Public Radio and other media outlets report that Walz actually did not travel to China until August of that year.
CBS News moderator Margaret Brennan asked Walz to explain the discrepancy. Walz initially tried to talk around the question but eventually admitted he “misspoke” after calling himself a “knucklehead at times.”
“He was so defensive, he was just talking in circles and didn’t want to admit that he had lied. If he had said that at the very beginning, it would have been more honest,” said Lieberman.
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Lieberman says body language plays an important role in debates, as people may not give their full attention to the entire debate and some topics interest people more than others.
She said 40-year-old Vance came across as the more experienced politician, even though he has only served in the Senate since January 2023, whereas Walz served in Congress from 2007 to 2019 before going on to be governor of Minnesota.
“[Walz] seemed like he was the new politician, like he was just trying to figure these things out. He was always looking down… I mean yes, it’s OK to take notes when you’re talking but… he was frantically taking notes like, ‘Oh, man, I better say that’ and ‘This is the answer to that.’ It really didn’t seem to help him much, but I think it was a nervous compensation,” said Lieberman.
“Whereas with JD, you could see the Yale debater,” she asserted.
“He obviously has had… years and years of practice, debating in college and as a lawyer and so on. You read about or heard about both of them practicing, but if it’s coming from an authentic place, you don’t really have to practice that much. You know what you want to do and you just say it. Whereas if you’re hiding things by squirreling around, then you do have to practice to make sure you don’t say that, or you do say that. And that’s kind of how it came across.”
The CBS News Vice Presidential Debate showcased the two candidates’ platforms on issues such as the ongoing war raging in the Middle East, abortion laws and their respective tickets’ economic records. During the 90-minute debate, Vance and Walz had a handful of clashes, including moderators turning off Vance’s microphone.
Commentators on both sides of the political spectrum largely agreed that Vance won the debate with a more polished performance in what was a highly policy-driven event devoid of personal attacks. The pair were seen shaking hands and chatting immediately after the debate.
Lieberman said Vance was confident in prosecuting the case for the Trump ticket and was comfortable arguing the issues the Republican Party stands for.
“He wanted to ‘Let’s go, I can’t wait to do this, I’m going to do it’… he’s Trump lite,” she said. “It’s kind of the authenticity that ‘I want to take care of America, I want to make America great again,’ all of that just came through naturally and by the end, you just kind of wanted him to push Tim Walz away. ‘You’re making me nervous’ kind of thing, and with JD Vance, you just kind of felt, ‘OK, that’s good.’”
Lieberman said it appeared that Walz’s strategy was to blame former President Trump, in large part, for many of the issues or cite Trump when responding to answers, and when that line of response became ineffective, he appeared lost.
“Walz was nervous, in parts, and then he had some signs of lying, like, for example, fidgeting. Mainly his movements were discordant with what he was saying. These puppy-dog looks at Vance did him in, in my opinion… He was practicing what to say bad about Trump, and that was not a good plan,” she said.
Lieberman said Walz also had some “brain freeze moments.”
“You could call it a senior moment — he would stare and you were wondering, ‘Is he going to go on? Is there more?’ And that was very sort of worrying,” she said.
“Throughout the 90 minutes, you would find yourself getting more and more nervous, anxious, irritated by Tim Walz, whereas you were beginning to feel calmer and as though things were going to be OK with JD Vance. And even if you couldn’t hear the words that they were speaking and you were just watching them, this is how you would feel.”
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