Too bad there can't be pinch-debaters like there are pinch-hitters in baseball. Then you could get your Whitmer, Shapiro, or Buttigieg to step in for Walz in the debate without having to make them the actual VP candidate. Meanwhile Peter Thiel paid for Vance to be the VP candidate, as he has been paying for much of Vance's rapid rise in politics. Trump had to agree, but reasonable analyses suggest that if left entirely up to Trump, it would have been someone less articulate and intelligent.