5 Takeaways From The Vice Presidential Debate
Vice President Mike Pence didn’t come to the first vice presidential debate against Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) to answer questions about what’s going on right now.
Since the train wreck of a presidential debate last week, the nation’s government has been in a total frenzy.
President Donald Trump was just hospitalized for several days after contracting the novel coronavirus, which has killed more than 211,000 Americans and left the economy in pieces. The White House recently held what is now being considered a superspreader event, and more than two dozen administration officials, from security staff to top-ranking generals, have contracted COVID-19. And still, Trump continues to downplay the disease, calling it a “blessing” in his life.
But on Wednesday night, Pence had little to say about those realities. Instead, he told the story of an administration that valiantly fought the coronavirus pandemic and won, rattling off a series of lies about the magnitude of testing and about all the protective equipment available to health professionals, even as time delays and shortages persist on both fronts.
Pence claimed the Trump administration has always told the truth about the seriousness of the pandemic, despite Trump’s own words in a February recording, admitting in private that the disease was deadly at a time when he was telling Americans it wasn’t more serious than a flu. The vice president went on to promise a vaccine in short order, even though health officials say it will likely take longer, and he said the White House has been transparent with its information about Trump’s health, which isn’t verifiable.
The coronavirus pandemic loomed large over the first and only vice presidential debate Wednesday, held in Salt Lake City and moderated by USA Today’s Washington bureau chief, Susan Page. Pence, who has thus far tested negative for COVID-19, was potentially exposed to the coronavirus at the White House last week. The two...
