COLUMN: Kamala Harris trumps Mike Pence at Vice Presidential Debate
The 2020 Vice Presidential Debate was held in Salt Lake City Oct. 7, and of course I had to tune in after the absolute catastrophe of the Presidential Debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump the week before.
I had set my expectations for the debate rather high. One of my main expectations was that the debate would not be a repeat of the name-calling and constant interruptions from the Presidential Debate. I also expected a more mannered agenda.
I was looking forward to the discussion of climate change, each administrations plans on handling global warming and both parties were going to handle putting the economy back together after the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, I was curious to see how they would handle the topic of social justice and the uprisings and demonstrations taking place across the country.
I believe both candidates backed their running mates and tried to defend why their ticket was better than the other.
But it was clear who was the winner from the debate after the chips had settled. Despite Harris's beating around the bush and a bit drawn out answers, it was clear who was more prepared for the debate. Both candidates answered the questions presented by moderator Susan Page to the 'best of their ability' but both dodged direct answers needed to be heard by the American people.
Pence took it upon himself to bring up frivolous and untrue facts to almost seem like he knew what he was talking about, but really it was all a hoax. For example, Pence flaunted the fact that Trump has a health care plan to protect preexisting conditions for those who have health insurance. Which was a flat out lie, as President Trump and a coalition of Republicans are in support of an ongoing lawsuit being presented before the Supreme Court that could tear down the Affordable Care Act a law enacted under the Obama administration. It would ban insurers from denying coverage or charging higher premiums based on consumers' pre-existing conditions. When asked directly AGAIN about the supposed health care plan from the Trump administration, Pence decided to switch topics and avoid a direct answer completely.
On the other hand, Harris even made similar statements like Vice President Pence, and dodged direct answers to questions by segued replies into trips down memory lane. For example, when she brought up the time Biden asked Harris to be his running mate via Zoom call, never fully answering the question posed by the moderator. Harris even claimed during the debate that Trump 'got rid' of the White House pandemic office, which is flat out not true and highly misleading. Although the fact is true that the current administration got rid of the office, some of the members of the team were still kept onboard or later resigned to related roles, but the fact of the matter is, due to the disbandment of the office, it is not a 100 percent fact that due to the closing of the office led to the current situation we are dealing with in terms of COVID-19.
It is also worth noting that the best part of the debate had nothing to do with what either candidate said, but rather a pleasant visitor who decided to land upon Vice President Pence's head. The friendly fly blew up on social media and gave me the necessary laugh I needed to propel me through the remainder of the debate.
It was rather clear by the end of the debate that Pence was spouting untrue facts in an effort to try and discredit not only the Democratic party but Biden Harris's campaign. And Harris might have bitten off a bit more than she can chew by giving the American people direct answers about not only what Joe Biden was going to do as president, but what role she would take in being by his side in order to help facilitate running the country.
My hope for the future depends not on the candidates and their prescript responses in debates, but my fellow Americans who are left in control of voting and due to COVID, this year's election surely has a lot in store for all of us. I made sure to vote through my absentee ballot, my hope and wish is that everyone else exercise their right to vote and get this reality star out of office.
