By: ANDRES ARROYO
One week after what was arguably the worst and most chaotic presidential debate in history, the two Vice President nominees took to the debate stage in Kingsbury Hall, Salt Lake City. Normally the Vice Presidential debates are considered not as important as the presidential debates, and it is usually moderate/swing voters that watch it in hopes that it can help them make their decision on who to vote for. But this year it was different, and many people watched the debate; many to see what the new debates rules would be, and if they would work, as well as to hopefully get an idea of what the Biden/Harris agenda would be like if elected, as we didn’t get to hear their side in the Presidential Debate that the President bulldozed.
This debate ended up being very different from what we saw between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. The first difference that stood out was that this debate was actually civil, unlike the presidential debate where Donald Trump was trying to interrupt and distract Biden like a kid on the golf course blowing an air horn right as Tiger Woods is about to hit the ball. However, there were a couple moments where both candidates, but more so with Vice President Pence, did begin to go over their two minutes to answer the questions and respond to each other’s statements. Fortunately when that happened, moderator Susan Page of USA Today was able to end it quickly and kept her cool, as well as her command in this debate.
One highlight moment came when Vice President Pence interrupted VP nominee Kamala Harris in the very first segment; he actually interrupted several times, and boy was that a mistake. Senator Harris immediately fired back, saying, “Mr. Vice President, I’m speaking.” Ouch! The “Momala” came out of Senator Harris, and not only did it silence the Vice President, but it also was humiliating for him.
But there was humiliation on both sides, as both candidates oftentimes didn’t answer the questions, and instead talked about something they likely wished the moderator had brought up. Those were funny moments that were kind of like when you buy your kid a birthday gift that ended up not being what they wanted, so after they open it and put it to the side they start to talk to you about another item, like a set of airpods, which is the kid’s way of hinting that that was what they actually wanted for their birthday.
What was really the “seriously dude?” moments were that the few times the candidates did answer the questions, they made false statements and claims. Here were a few lies told by Mike Pence:
- Mike Pence claims that their administration always tells the truth. The President alone has made 20,055+ (and counting) false or misleading statements. Can you imagine if you count all of the administration’s cabinet members?!?!?
- Mike Pence said that the Trump/Pence administration has and will follow the science. Not true. If they did they would wear masks.
- Pence claimed when the COVID-19 crisis began, that their administration shut down all travel from China. That’s false; It was just a partial travel restriction which exempted U.S. citizens and permanent residents, and tens of thousands still kept traveling from China to the U.S.
- Claimed that China “travel bans” were very effective in combating coronavirus: they weren’t.
- The Vice President claimed that their administration lowered taxes for middle and working class Americans. That is false. According to the TaxPolicy Center, analysis found that most of the benefits of the tax cuts went to the top 1%, and cut the corporate tax rate from 35% to 20%; a 15% tax cut for big business.
And the craziest two things Mike Pence brought up were the 2009 H1N1 pandemic and the “Obamagate” conspiracy. He accused Biden and Obama of spying on Donald Trump and Pence’s campaign in 2016, and saying that there was never a peaceful transfer of power by Obama. What is stupid about the “Obamagate” thing was that, despite not producing A SHRED of evidence, it was investigated, and authorities said they found no evidence of anyone spying on anyone’s campaigns. It’s an investigated and debunked conspiracy theory, and yet for some reason the Trump camp still keeps bringing it up.
He also tried to compare the Trump Administration’s response to COVID to Obama/Biden Administration’s response to the H1N1 pandemic, and accused them of poorly responding to the H1N1 crisis, and not leaving a plan behind for the future. Really? First, although one is too many, only 12,469 people in the U.S. died from the H1N1, AKA Swine Flu, compared to Trump/Pence Administration’s 215,000 deaths and counting. Second, the Obama Administration did leave a 104 page plan for the future. Senator Mitch McConnell even admitted it in a few news interviews. Trump just didn’t care, and preferred to downplay it, not follow the scientists, and basically live in a different world where people wouldn’t follow the CDC recommendations. Meanwhile, the rest of the nation was left to its own device. Now we are at 210,000 plus deaths and counting thanks to their administration’s poor response.
As for Senator, and Democratic Vice President nominee Kamala Harris, she made a few false statements herself. Here were a couple of her’s:
- Senator Harris said that 300,000 manufacturing jobs were lost because of Trump’s trade war with China. That is not true. Before the pandemic, there was a net gain of 483,000 manufacturing jobs.
- Senator Harris said that both she and Biden will not end fracking, and have never supported that idea. It is true that Biden doesn’t plan to end it, but does want to place strict regulations on it. As for Harris, she has openly supported ending fracking.
- As for the question if she supported “packing” the Supreme Court: that’s inconclusive, as she didn’t answer that question.
Overall, Kamala Harris did win the award for making the fewest false statements, but she still made a few false statements. Meanwhile Pence, lied and bluffed his way through the hour and a half. And the lies I mentioned were just some of the lies Mike Pence told, not all of them. He was so full of crap in this debate, that he was attracting flies. LITERALLY!
Oh boy, how disgusting, and how crazy right?
It is also sad. God bless you and your family little Fly. Our thoughts and prayers are with you, because now the fly and its family have to quarantine for 14 to 21 days, and hope they don’t end up getting COVID from Pence, who has been working a lot in person with the President prior to when he tested positive for the virus.
Overall
Overall, the opinions of people after this debate for the most part remained the same. People planning to vote for Biden are still planning to vote for Biden, and Trump supporters are still planning to vote for Trump. The only thing that all three groups (Biden supporters, Trump supporters, and swing voters) agreed on was that it didn’t have the same vibe as the Presidential debate.
As for swing voters, some have made up their minds, while some are still unsure of who to choose. For those who aren’t sure of who to vote for yet, it would be best of you to go on youtube and watch town halls with both candidates and choose based on what they say in those. But whatever you do, don’t throw away your vote. Whether it’s by mail or in person, GO AND VOTE!
As for who people thought was the winner: that award definitely went to the fly, as there are memes all over social media about it being on the Vice President’s head for over two minutes. We hope that the fly does not contract COVID after being in contact with a member of the Trump Administration, and that it’s in self quarantine knowing that it’s now a superstar.
beniciapaw.com 