Trump Makes Unexpected Call to Vance’s LIVE Town Hall with Surprising Question
During a live town hall on Thursday evening, former President Donald Trump surprised his running mate by calling in and posing a question to Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), which sparked a range of reactions from an audience of undecided voters.
Moderator Chris Cuomo opened with a playful comparison, likening Trump to Beetlejuice. “If you invoke the former president’s name too many times, he’s gonna want to weigh in,” he joked, prompting Vance to chuckle along with the crowd. After a brief pause, Trump announced he had “quite an interesting” question for Vance, adding, “The answer should be easy.”
“How brilliant is Donald J. Trump?” he asked. Vance and most of the audience burst into laughter, though a few remained expressionless, with hands folded. Cuomo added humor, saying, “Take your time.” Vance began, “Well first of all, sir, this is supposed to be undecided voters,” and humorously added, “I would hope that I have your vote of all people. First of all, sir, of course you’re very brilliant, and we both agree that it’s important to have very smart people running our government.”
Vance then shared a story highlighting Trump’s humility. “Here’s the thing about President Trump, a side of you sir, if you’ll forgive me for telling this story, that I think people don’t see… One of my favorite moments with President Trump was during an event we hosted near our home in Cincinnati a few months back. My wife was understandably a little nervous to talk to the President of the United States, and he asked her, ‘What do you think about your husband being in public service?’ She, being diplomatic, responded, ‘Sir, he really cares about the people of Ohio, he’s thrilled to serve them. I’m happy to support him however I can.’ And President Trump chuckles and says, ‘Yeah, my wife hates it too.’” Vance’s wife, Usha, who was seated at the back, smiled warmly at his retelling of the exchange.
When Vance was first selected, some media outlets framed his and Trump’s partnership as an unlikely pairing, but the two quickly dismissed that view publicly. Critics had attempted to use Vance’s earlier critiques of Trump against him, attributing them to youthful inexperience and an unformed perspective. But Vance has since established himself as a strong America First populist, after winning his Senate seat in 2022. He has criticized Democrats for extensive spending on the war in Ukraine and earned Trump’s praise for supporting his third presidential campaign.
Their alliance has strengthened over time, with Trump primarily targeting Vice President Kamala Harris and Vance actively challenging her running mate, Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota. During the recent vice-presidential debate, Vance engaged Walz on contentious issues like national abortion laws and government spending. Walz, meanwhile, faced criticism for appearing unprepared for his first national spotlight.