Senator JD Vance of Ohio was about two-thirds of the way through a televised town hall — taking questions from voters in downtown Detroit on Thursday — when he received an unexpected cold call from his boss.
“I do have a question,” former President Donald J. Trump said on speakerphone during the NewsNation broadcast. “I think it would be quite an interesting one. The answer should be easy.”
“How brilliant is Donald Trump?” Mr. Trump asked, referring to himself in the third person.
The appeal for praise appeared to throw off Mr. Vance. As Mr. Vance and some members of the audience laughed at the question, Mr. Vance did not immediately answer. “Well, first of all,” Vance said. “Sir, this is supposed to be undecided voters.”
The short exchange, lasting less than three minutes, was a rare public appearance where Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance shared the spotlight, and reflected the contrasts at the top of the Republican ticket. Mr. Vance, who has frequently joked about Mr. Trump needling him for his previous life as a Never Trumper, assured Mr. Trump that “sir, of course, you’re very brilliant,” before pivoting to tell a story about his wife, Usha, meeting Mr. Trump.
Mr. Trump then teed up Mr. Vance to attack Vice President Kamala Harris, mentioning that he had watched Ms. Harris’s town hall on CNN the previous night. He asked Mr. Vance, “How brilliant is Kamala?” Mr. Vance and some members of the audience laughed. Mr. Vance again hesitated to answer.
“Uh, that’s a very tough one, sir,” Mr. Vance said. “Um, I’m supposed to say …” He trailed off.
“Bad stuff,” Mr. Trump interjected. “Don’t say it. I don’t want to hear. We don’t need any more. We’re doing just fine.”
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