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USVP VANCE’S TWO BITS FOR COLLEAGUES IN MID-TERM ELECTIONS

By PETER THOMAS BUSCH

America is divided into loyal Republicans and loyal Democrats, each of whom have distinct perspectives on a motherboard of issues, such as fiscal responsibility, immigration, wealth redistribution through taxes, responses to domestic terrorism and waging foreign war.

United States Vice President JD Vance teased the results in the upcoming mid-term elections for Congress by courting swing voters and unhappy Republicans by striking a more moderate, middle ground tone on issues with CBS Anchor Tony Dokoupil on a CBS live streamed Town Hall from Flatrock, Michigan, on Saturday, October 17, 2026.

CBS Tony Dokoupil, who anchors the daily primetime Evening News for the network, called the discussion, “Things that Matter,” presenting in a swing state just a bit more than two weeks away from a major opportunity for the American Public to shift the balance of power in Washington DC.

Dokoupil correctly described swing voters as messengers who control the power two years into a Presidential Administration’s four-year mandate.

On the chopping block is United States President Donald Trump’s America First political and economic platform, which has pissed off just about everybody who does business with America, including a lot of the domestic population, perhaps illegally inside the homeland states, and also legally inside who have sympathy for the unannounced arrivals.

Michigan is an important bellweather state, alongside Texas. The Democrats need just four additional seats to take power in Congress, where legislation is made, and a lot of Presidential actions get double checked or ghosted, depending on who is President and who controls power in the Senate.

For example, technically, Congress can bring an end to foreign wars started by a Presidential Administration without first obtaining Congressional approval.

Dokoupil pointed out that the mid-term election results will be a close call as a result of many Trump voters from 2024 having decided to change their pledge based on fundamental issues such as the War with Iran and the high price of gasoline.

Vance opened by stating he “fundamentally trusts the American people” to cast election ballots wisely, in the true spirit of American democracy.

Vance said the Trump Administration has been working behind the scenes to keep prices from going higher, and that the challenge has been that previous Administrations have not taken steps in anticipation of a terrorist state shutting off the global oil supply.

Generations before them should have taken very obvious measures a long time ago, such as increasing the nation’s refining capacity, according to the Vice President.

The Golden Age of America was promised by Trump to the electorate during the Presidential Election in 2024 – you know in exchange for votes. However, hard-working Americans, forced onto the daily grind, are losing money at the gas pumps, and finding less cash available to buy expensive groceries in a land rich in both farmland and oil.

Voters want the wait to be over for the financial benefits from the Trump election win, that were so well underwritten by the President, Dokoupil chortled.

One townhall attendee, who owns an amusement park and bar, testified with bewildered eyes that her family has struggled to keep the family entertainment center financially viable.

Vance countered that the Trump Administration has kept their campaign promises of eliminating taxes on overtime and taxes on tips as a way of helping small businesses.

Vance maintained the Trump dialogue that America was broken by previous generations. “What broke the US was a bipartisan multi generational failure that… shipped jobs overseas.”

Vance noted that when he was growing up, he had witnessed recurring fragmentations of the economy, such as factories closing down and neighbours losing a job.

“It’s going to take longer than 18 months to turn things around.” Vance explained. When cornered on the promise of a Golden Era of America, Vance genuinely explained the progress so far as:  “I would say we are turning the ship around.”

“Democrats were running a sugar high economy when you just kick things down the road,” Vance underscored.

Questions were also raised about data centers ruining neighbourhoods with 70 percent of Americans not wanting a data center close to their homes, anytime soon. This issue led to other questions about the ultra rich controlling America.

One townhall attendee who lives across the street from a data center stated the noise was unbearable, with constant buzzing through closed windows 24/7, like having a vacuum on in the living room.

Vance stated that “Data centers can be good, but they can also cause a lot of problems like in your case.”

“We have to make sure that ‘data centers’ are good community members.”

In case anyone is wondering, using AI on the phone to script your life is done remotely at the data centers.

Vance whole heartedly agreed that Tech Billionaires have too much control over America. And Mr. Vice President reminded everyone that the Constitution is the law not the algorithms created by an AI CEO.

‘The First Amendment determines what we say in America not some billionaire,’ Vance pointed out as a reminder that was intended to be heard in the other regions to where billionaires have retreated for respite from America’s push back of tech.

The townhall agenda also got to immigration and the ICE Patrols.

The visa entry system was criticized in the way workers are imported and then exported through the H1B system in which an employer can import a worker if they cannot find an American to do the job.

Vance dissed the label of him having an anti-immigrant sentiment, taking a more practical approach, suggesting that certain communities have been lost to unregulated illegal immigration.

And no one challenged the middle-man assertion that the right balance with the border on the south had to be achieved, with millions of unvetted immigrants flooding into America during the President Biden Administration.

Vance also defended the current Administration’s immigration police by stating that many ICE Agents are patriots, but he also acknowledged that when someone ‘screws up’ they should be investigated and disciplined if found culpable.

One townhall attendee underscored a concern for drug trafficking and human smuggling across the southern border.

“When too many people come too quickly, it changes the country very profoundly,” Vance stated.

Vance spoke against the demonization of skin color, including white skin color.

“Ethnic hatred ebbs and flows everywhere in the world…’but America has been doing a better job than most nations to create interracial harmony,’ stated Vance.

Censorship is not the answer.

“Censorship only gives the bad ideas more power,” Vance stated, while acknowledging the existence of the dark internet and that a lot of the on-line racism is coming from foreign paid actors.

Election fever is spreading in America with the mid-term swing a significant opportunity to change the results from the last Presidential Election. In America, the President is under pressure to perform in a leadership capacity and to deliver as many of the election promises as possible within the first 100 days of the Administration.

However, two years in, a loss of power in Congress can limit the President’s ability to continue-on with unpopular policies. Congressional Power is substantial in American governance, with a a serious power shift changing the focus of the nation from the White House to the bi-cameral Congress.

Americans love electioneering so much that the political machines seem to be churning non-stop even during California wildfires, Kansas tornadoes and Florida hurricanes.

I wish you well, and God’s speed!