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After watching the debate tonight, it’s hard not to ponder whether Kamala Harris and Mike Pence would not be better suited to run as presidential candidates than Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
I know it’s an illusion, but anyway, it was probably the future of the United States that we saw.
There were times during the hour-and-a-half-long debate when Harris and Pence broke off, even occasionally talking to each other. We almost insulted each other.
But overall, they played a completely different and higher division than the debate we saw between President Donald Trump and challenger Joe Biden. Although Trump was the one who had the greatest blame for that chaos.
The clash of the night was a traditional television political debate with harsh arguments, but where the two participants at least a couple of times had friendly things to say about each other. They were both calm and collected. It was possible to understand what they were saying. They showed respect to each other.
His performance, at least partially, restored hope that America would continue to be a democracy.
The corona pandemic dominated
For the rest, Kamala Harris did her best with her first comment, which accused the Trump administration of “making the biggest mistake any president has made in American history” in its handling of the crown pandemic.
The pandemic was the topic that dominated the debate and where the two candidates had totally opposite stories.
Pence emphasized that Trump quickly stopped all travel from China (which is not really true) while Harris repeatedly mentioned how many Americans have died so far in covid-19: 210,000.
Understood that with a Democrat as president, there would have been less.
The question that determines the choice
Harris knows that the crown pandemic is the problem where the American people give Trump the worst rating and the one that can beat her and Biden in the election.
Another important issue was the economy, in which Harris repeatedly reiterated the great difficulties faced by the American people with Trump’s policies. However, not to mention in a word that mass unemployment and economic collapse have affected the entire world, no matter who ruled. Even with a Democrat as president, unemployment in the United States had skyrocketed.
Unsurprisingly, both Pence and Harris were careful not to stray from their respective lead candidates’ messages at any point.
Pence went on to claim that a corona vaccine will be available to the American people by the end of the year, even though most experts believe it will be available until the summer.
Photo: Morry Gash / TT NEWS AGENCY
Kamala Harris and Mike Pence during the debate.
To a direct question, Harris said that he would not take a vaccine if it were only sanctioned by President Trump and not by the United States Department of Communications. Leading Pence to accuse her of undermining public confidence in a vaccine.
Twice during the debate, Pence made the interesting observation that “you are entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts.” A rather shocking statement from an administration that launched the concept of “alternative facts” and where the president turned the lie into a weapon. Interestingly, Harris did not respond to that attack.
The question they avoided
The question that both Harris and Pence avoided answering most clearly was whether they had discussed with Biden and Trump, respectively, what would happen if the person elected president was unable to fulfill his or her commitment, for example due to illness.
The question is highly relevant given that Trump, if reelected, will be the oldest sitting president in the United States. Joe Biden, 78, will become the oldest incoming president in US history.
Trump is currently sick with covid-19 and big questions have been asked about Biden’s health with unproven claims that he would be insane.
But neither Pence nor Harris wanted to answer whether they had discussed the question of how a possible transfer of power would occur. When or under what circumstances.
Yet, of course, that’s the question countless voters are asking.
There is no clear winner
It’s probably no exaggeration to say that both Kamala Harris and Mike Pence aim beyond “just” being vice president.
Even if Donald Trump were re-elected, he could not run in 2024. There is a long way to go, but chances are high that the next Republican presidential candidate will be named Mike Pence.
Joe Biden will likely only sit for four years if elected. That makes Kamala Harris a very likely Democratic candidate in the nose race. In that case, she could become the second black president but the first woman of the United States.
The debate did not have a clear winner, but both Pence and Harris demonstrated that they have presidential qualities should the worst happen.
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