Tim Ryan Used Their Tumultuous Debate To Remind Everyone That Trump Himself Called J.D. Vance An ‘Asskisser’

There are handful of major races this midterm election season, but there haven’t been a ton of debates. John Fetterman is recovering from the stroke he had last spring, but he’s hoping to square off against his frequent trolling target Dr. Oz. Herschel Walker keeps backing out of debating Raphael Warnock (and is a little busy these days anyway). But on Monday, J.D. Vance and Tim Ryan duked it out in person for the Ohio Senate seat they both want, and neither held back. But Ryan might have gotten the sickest burn — by quoting Trump.

Last month, Trump held a rally for Vance, the Hillbilly Elegy author-turned-MAGA candidate. Vance used to be a fierce Trump critic before he decided to rebrand as a hoped-for politician, which is probably why he dragged him in front of the crowd, joking that Vance was “kissing my ass, he wants my support so much.” All Ryan had to do is dig it up and throw it back in his face.

“A couple weeks ago, in Youngstown, on the stage, Donald Trump said to J.D. Vance, ‘All you do is kiss my ass to get my support,’” Ryan reminded the crowd. He then pointed out he’s in the pocket of lots of far right influencers, including Mitch McConnell and Peter Thiel, who will make him do what they want. But he wasn’t done.

“And here’s the thing that’s most troubling about this lack of courage, is that after Trump took J.D. Vance’s dignity from him on the stage in Youngstown, J.D. Vance got back on stage and started shaking his hand and taking pictures, saying, ‘Hey, aren’t we having a great time here tonight? I don’t know anybody I grew up with, I don’t know anybody I went to high school with that would allow somebody to take their dignity like that, and then get back up on stage.

“We need leaders with the courage to take on their own party,” he said. “And I’ve proven that, and he was called an asskisser by the former president.”

Ryan concluded, “I’m for Ohio. I don’t kiss anyone’s ass like him. Ohio needs an ass kicker not an ass kisser.”

It was a powerful roundhouse, and Vance spent most of Ryan’s segment squirming. Someone even went and spliced together the two events, and it’s even more devastating that way.

Election Day is on November 8.