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Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris clashed over the Trump administration’s handling of the coronavirus in the only vice-presidential debate of the 2020 elections, at a time of extraordinary uncertainty for the United States following the hospitalization of the president by Covid-19. .
“The American people have witnessed the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country,” Harris said in his opening remarks to Pence, who leads the White House coronavirus task force. “This administration has lost its right to reelection.”
Pence acknowledged that the nation has been through a “very challenging time this year,” but vigorously defended the Trump administration’s handling of the pandemic that has killed more than 210,000 Americans and infected millions more, including the president of the United States. and many white leaders. House officials.
“I want the American people to know, from day one, that President Trump has put America’s health first,” he said. Promising a vaccine for the virus before the end of the year, he accused Harris of undermining faith in a potential treatment and “playing politics with people’s lives.”
Harris said he would take the vaccine if it was approved by public health experts, but “if Donald Trump tells us to take it, I will not take it.”
In a sign of the extent to which the outbreak has reshaped the 2020 campaign, the candidates sat 12 feet apart and separated by Plexiglass dividers, a Biden-Harris campaign request initially opposed by the team. by Pence. In the University of Utah auditorium, any guests who refused to wear a mask were to be removed.
The debate unfolded in the shadow of Trump’s diagnosis of a life-threatening illness, which renewed the focus on the aging of septuagenarian presidential candidates ahead of Wednesday night’s debate in Salt Lake City. Trump is 74 years old and his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, 77.
As such, the forum served not only as a preview of the top presidential contenders in 2024, but as a grim reminder that the role of the vice president is to succeed the president should he become incapacitated or die while in office.
Neither Pence nor Harris directly answered a question about whether they had discussions about assuming the presidency.
Given the uncertainty looming over future presidential debates due to the president’s infection, Pence and Harris were under additional pressure to articulate their campaign messages.
Polls show that most Americans no longer trust Trump to handle the virus and blame his administration for failing to control it. Trump, who claimed to have “learned a lot” about the virus from his own experience with it, has since downplayed its severity, likening it to the flu and urging Americans not to fear it.
In a video shared shortly before Wednesday’s debate, Trump called his infection a “blessing from God” and said everyone should have access to the experimental treatment he was given during his hospitalization.
Harris, who was elected to the Senate in 2016 and unsuccessfully ran for president against Biden last year, is the first woman of color to participate in a vice presidential debate. Over the course of 90 minutes, he will attempt to argue that the Trump administration has failed in its response to the coronavirus and the economic fallout, without going too far to antagonize the president while his prognosis remains unclear.
The vice president tested negative for Covid, but there were questions about whether he should participate in the debate given his potential exposure. The virus has infected several members of the White House staff, as well as several US senators and military officials.
The candidates have been preparing for weeks. Harris, a former prosecutor, has earned a national reputation for his sharp cross-examination of powerful men, from administration officials who appeared before the Senate judicial committee to Biden, whom he confronted during a primary debate last year.
In 2016, Pence put in a fair performance, skillfully defending Trump while relentlessly attacking Hillary Clinton. Since then, he has proven to be a loyal deputy to the president and a more disciplined messenger of the administration’s agenda.
