OPINION:
Last week’s vice presidential debate was notable for exposing one of the most hapless and unserious vice presidential picks of all time. It is not easy for someone as unserious as Kamala Harris to find someone to be her even less serious No. 2.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz did his best to offer folksy affability. But he quickly found himself drowning in word salads and fruit Jell-O logic while trying to evade simple questions or retreat from the disastrous policies of the Harris-Walz ticket.
As Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio told him in the debate in a moment of pity, “Tim, I think you have a tough job here.”
But the debate will go down in history for another, far more important reason. It was the night the deep state died.
For the entirety of Donald Trump’s short, explosive political career, he has battled a two-front war.
One front is against Democratic politicians. They hate him, of course, because he has successfully raided so many of their voters with his policies aimed at actually helping working-class voters — Black, White, brown and every Democratic “identity” in between.
Mr. Trump is a threat to their power. An “existential threat,” as the smart people like to say.
Perhaps the more interesting front, however, is Mr. Trump’s battle against Old Guard Republican politicians. They, too, see him as an “existential threat,” and for good reason.
If you have ever wondered what the deep state is, it now sits before us more obvious than ever before. It is the united front of the big government complex controlled by both parties — from Democrat Joe Biden to Republican Dick Cheney — deploying every weapon in their arsenal to destroy Mr. Trump because he poses an “existential threat” to the grip on power both parties have enjoyed for decades.
Spy. Impeach. Bankrupt. Jail. Brand him “Hitler.” They have tried everything. All because Mr. Trump represents an “existential threat” to the power structure they use to enrich and empower themselves while basic government functions collapse and taxpayers are defrauded.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced last week that it is broke — just as Americans up and down the Appalachian Mountains got demolished by biblical floods and a new storm gathers offshore. This after the agency — and the wider government — has spent hundreds of millions of dollars importing, housing and feeding millions of illegal aliens.
“But it came from a different department inside FEMA!” they cry. You mean a department of the federal government that is not funded by American taxpayers for the emergency needs of American taxpayers?
And then Vice President Kamala Harris has the scorn to proudly announce $157 million more of your money going to Lebanon, a country that harbors Hezbollah terrorists hell-bent on eliminating Israel and destroying the United States.
However much you hate these people, it is not enough.
For the high priests of the deep state in both parties, last week’s vice presidential debate was terrifying because it revealed not only how ridiculously unserious Mr. Walz is but also how gifted and committed Mr. Vance is to carrying forward Donald Trump’s American First agenda — no matter what they manage to do to Mr. Trump.
Mr. Vance does not have Mr. Trump’s flair for commanding attention and forcing the debate to more favorable ground no matter how much the political press fights him. Mr. Vance does not walk with the swagger of the unflinching warrior that is Donald Trump.
We would never be where we are today without Mr. Trump and his extraordinary gifts.
But Mr. Vance proved last week he has his own set of gifts, and he is determined to destroy the deep state.
• Charles Hurt is the opinion editor at The Washington Times.
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