Former President Donald Trump's running mate J.D. Vance was widely mocked after telling Trump how "brilliant" he is during the Decision Desk town hall on News Nation to address undecided voters.
In a bizarre clip from the town hall posted on X by the Republicans Against Trump account, host Chris Cuomo announces that Trump called in to ask Vance a question so he could "weigh in" on Vance's performance.
Cuomo announced:
"We have a call right now from former President Donald John Trump. He wants to weigh in."
Trump said:
"I do have a question and I think it'll be an interesting one. The answer should be easy. How brilliant is Donald J. Trump?"
Vance burst into laughter before responding:
"Well, first of all sir, this is supposed to be [for] undecided voters. I would hope that I have your vote, of all people. First of all, sir, you're very brilliant."
"We both agree. We both agree we need very smart people to be running our government."
You can watch what happened in the video below.
It was one very cringey moment and Vance was swiftly mocked for his fawning response.
Vance continued to extoll Trump's virtues, saying Trump would “be a good president for all four years.” Suggesting Trump has stamina, he urged Americans to "look at the campaign schedule Trump has kept compared to his Democratic opponents."
Vance did not acknowledge that Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign has repeatedly noted that Trump has generally campaigned much less than she has even if Trump is currently making the rounds in battleground states ahead of the election.
The suggestion Trump is belied by a recent Politico report that revealed that when the online news site The Shade Room asked the Trump campaign to set up an interview with Trump, it was told by his advisers that he was “exhausted and refusing [some] interviews."
Allegations that Trump is in fact exhausted were lent credence after he appeared to fall asleep in the middle of Latino summit in Doral, Florida, distracting from the opportunity to speak to Hispanic voters about issues like economic growth and border security. He has also canceled multiple events, including a CNN debate, which then turned into a town hall with only Kamala Harris attending.
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