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The American Democrat Harris and the Republican Pence controversially discussed key issues of the election campaign, such as how to deal with the corona virus, climate change and racism during the vice-presidential debate.
In the only television debate of the vice candidates before the US presidential election, candidate Kamala Harris made the corona virus a central issue. “The American people have witnessed the greatest government failure in the history of our country,” Harris said in Salt Lake City on stage with Vice President Mike Pence. “The American people have made sacrifices because of the incompetence of this government.”
Pence responded with the argument, often made by Donald Trump, that his administration’s measures had saved hundreds of thousands of lives. The debate was much more orderly than the duel between Trump and challenger Joe Biden, which had plunged into chaos a week earlier. The main trigger for this was that Trump repeatedly interrupted Biden.
Pence keeps ignoring questions
The vice candidates were hardly interrupted, also because Harris blocked two attempts by Pence with a determined “Mr. Vice President, now I’m speaking.” In return, Pence repeatedly exceeded his allotted time. He was not stopped by the presenter, the journalist Susan Page of the newspaper “USA Today”, and continued speaking. Pence also noted that he repeatedly simply ignored the questions and instead placed the messages he wanted to accommodate.
When asked about the position on abortions, for example, he first spoke about how the Trump administration had killed Iran’s top general, Ghassem Soleimani, with a rocket attack. Both candidates evaded the question of how their agreements with the respective presidential candidates for a transfer of power are. It’s an important point: Trump is 74 and Covid-19, Biden is 77. Either one would be the oldest president in US history when he took office in January 2021. Moderator Page didn’t ask.
Dispute over the Supreme Court
Harris also did not respond to Pence’s question about whether Biden and the Democrats would expand the Supreme Court if they won the election and regained a majority in the Senate. Republicans are trying to bring Amy Coney Barrett, a lawyer, to the United States Supreme Court. It would cement a conservative majority in court.
Pence did not comment on whether he and Trump would accept an electoral defeat. “I think we will win this election,” said the vice president. Trump lags far behind Biden in national polls. Harris stressed that as president, Biden would reverse Trump’s tax reform. Pence later said it would mean tax increases for voters. Harris stated that “Joe Biden will not raise taxes on anyone who makes less than $ 400,000 a year.”
Harris: I would go back to the Paris Agreement
Harris also said that a Biden administration would “proudly” join the Paris Climate Agreement. Meanwhile, Pence avoided the direct question of whether he viewed climate change as an existential threat. “The climate is changing, we will follow the science,” he said. Harris described climate change as “an existential threat to us as human beings.”
Pence repeatedly attacked Joe Biden’s political past as Barack Obama’s vice president and US senator. Among other things, he accused him of the fact that China had lost jobs and that Obama’s health care reform had failed. Harris (55) and Pence (61) played their 90-minute duel at a distance of about 3.7 meters from each other and also separated by Plexiglas glass. For the few viewers of the debate there was a mask requirement.
