To start, I would like to point out that integrity was kept during this debate which allowed me a lot more content to really sit down and digest for this article, which is great because I don’t feel like this will be so one-side leaning. I don’t want that. I want this as unbiased as possible. It also allowed me, and I’m sure several other Americans, to breathe last night. However, I noticed issues during this debate from both sides that concerned me.
The first topic was COVID-19, which was the longest portion of the night. Senator Kamala Harris was the first to be questioned to which the moderator, Susan Page, asked what would Biden’s administration- if he were elected- do that the Trump administration wouldn’t do.
Senator Harris immediately started with a lack of proportion fallacy- which is an over or under exaggeration of facts. She stated, “Well, the American people have witnessed what is the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of the country.” Though that statement could be argued, it wouldn’t be necessarily true.
She went on to state a few statistics regarding the pandemic within the United States like the number of people dead and who were infected, how many businesses closed, who filed for unemployment, and how frontline workers are treated. She brings up that both the president and vice president knew of the virus as of January 28th and didn’t tell people nor did they do anything to help stop it.
She went on to claim that “the president said [COVID-19] was a hoax”, which, in technicality, isn’t true. It’s a misleading statement stemmed from social media. The fact-checking site, PolitiFact gave context. This claim that President Trump claimed COVID to be a hoax was from his North Carolina rally on February 28th of this year where he said, “[Democrats] tried the impeachment hoax. That was not a perfect conversation. They tried anything. They tried it over and over. They’d been doing it since you got in. It’s all turning. They lost. It’s all turning. Think of it. Think of it. And this is their new hoax.”
Senator Harris finally went to finish her answer by saying Joe Biden has a plan. They have a national strategy for things like “contact testing, for testing, for the administration of the vaccine, and making sure that it will be free for all.”
Susan Page brought the attention to Vice President Pence by asking why the United States’ death roll is higher than almost every other wealthy country. He committed Begging the Question, which means going in circles that left the audience unsatisfied, as well as Irrelevant Reason which means not addressing the topic. His specific topic was about the death toll in the United States. Instead, he responded by blaming China for the spread in the United States.
He stated that Trump “suspended all travel from China. … Joe Biden opposed that decision. He called it xenophobic and hysterical.” This quote was deemed misleading by PolitiFact. Exemptions were placed on the travel ban which included U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. PolitiFact points out that in the two months after this was placed, 40,000 people traveled from China, and 60% of those travelers were not U.S. citizens. For the “xenophobic and hysterical” part of that statement, Biden pointed out Trump’s history of xenophobia, hysteria, and fear-mongering. According to PolitiFact, Biden also used the word “xenophobic” when responding to Trump’s term for coronavirus: “the Chinese virus”.
The vice president also stated that he believed the travel ban “saved hundreds of thousands of American lives”. This is a Hasty Conclusion, is basically evidence by circumstance and there isn’t enough evidence to support it, as well as a Questionable Premise which is assuming the truth of something without exploring that premise’s authenticity.
He then went on to say that “the reality is, when you look at the Biden plan, it reads an awful lot like what President Trump and I, and our task force has been doing every step of the way.” This is misleading, according to PolitiFact, because yes, while at first glance, Biden’s plan is similar to Trump’s, looking at it more in-depth shows that Biden proposes other priorities that the Trump administration is ignorant to pursue. Another thing is that Biden followed CDC recommendations such as wearing a mask and social distancing which the Trump administration did not.
Pence ended off by using Ad Hominem which was an irrelevant attack to the former vice president, Joe Biden about the COVID-19 relief plan: “it looks a little bit like plagiarism, which is something Joe Biden knows a little bit about.” This statement was an attack on Joe Biden that had nothing to do with the topic at hand. He said it to be nasty for no reason.
Harris responded with “Whatever the vice president is claiming the administration has done, clearly, it hasn’t worked.” It all went back to the statistics she stated earlier in the debate that backed her statement up. She went 20 seconds over time. Pence responded with more misleading statements about the Trump administration helping Americans during COVID-19 when facts are already out there and proving him otherwise.
Susan Page then asked Pence how he and the Trump administration can expect U.S. citizens to follow safety guidelines when the administration hasn’t been doing so, even mentioning that the Rose Garden event is now being considered a Super Spreader Event. Pence didn’t outright respond. He did say he believed that the American people will follow guidelines given the facts, but current events go against him. When provided the facts, several Americans, specifically on the Trump-supporting side, claimed it to be a hoax or just believed it was a way to control us. There were even riots in state capitol buildings that got extremely violent. Even to this day, several people refuse to wear masks and social distance.
So he didn’t directly say how he can expect them to follow guidelines when they already aren’t being followed. He went on to finally address that the Rose Garden event “was an outdoor event which all of our scientists regularly and routinely advised.” This was deemed wrong by PolitiFact. Public health officials do say outdoor activities are okay as long as you wear masks and social distance which the attendees at the event did not. He states that the Trump administration respects the people because they give them freedom, but mandates that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris want to put into place would get rid of freedom which is an Appeal to Ignorance. There is no proof of that and because there is no proof against it at the present moment, he believes himself to be right.
Senator Harris responded with “You respect the American people when you tell them the truth. You respect the American people when you have the courage to be a leader.”
Susan Page asked whether or not Kamala Harris would take the vaccine if the Trump administration approved it to which she responded: “If the public health professionals, if Dr. Fauci, if the doctors tell us that we should take it, I’ll be the first in line to take it, absolutely. But if Donald Trump tells us that we should take it, I’m not taking it.”
Finally, Susan Page decided to move on from the topic of COVID-19 and dives into the question about the presidential candidate’s seniority: Trump’s age of 74, and Biden’s age of almost 78 and if the vice-presidential candidates have talked to them about it.
Vice President Pence didn’t answer the question at all, which is Begging the Question. Instead, he went back to talking about COVID. This is something that concerns me because we completely moved on, and it has me questioning: if the president’s seniority and health are that much of a concern that you don’t even answer a question, is the president still fit to be president? It raises a huge red flag for me.
Senator Harris was given the same question to which she kind of answered the question but not really. She gave a long list of her accomplishments and career highlights to prove credibility that she is fit to be president if something were to happen to potential president-elect Joe Biden. However, she didn’t directly answer the question: “have you had a conversation or reached an agreement with Vice President Biden about safeguards or procedures when it comes to the issue of presidential disability? And if not, and if you win the election next month, do you think you should?”
Then Susan Page asked if voters deserve to know the health information of the presidential candidates to determine whether they are fit or not to be president. Pence answered the question but not without talking about President Trump’s time in the hospital due to his recent diagnosis of COVID-19. He claims that “the transparency that [the White House doctors] practiced all along the way will continue”, which is a bit inconsistent with his next statement due to the shady responses and reports those doctors gave to the American people. He did answer by saying that yes, the American people do have the right to know about the president’s health.
Senator Harris answered the same question about transparency. She gives a straight answer to the question: “Absolutely”, to which she followed with a comparison between Trump and Biden’s transparency. Biden had been incredibly transparent, according to Harris, but if we look at Trump’s track record, like his alleged federal income tax fraud that recently was exposed, she states, “Donald Trump… has been about covering up everything”, which was deemed accurate by PolitiFact.
Pence’s only response was about the tax issue which is a Straw Man fallacy where he zeroed in on one topic of the statement. This segued into the next topic which was the economy.
Senator Harris was asked if raising taxes would ruin the economic recovery. She didn’t necessarily answer the question and responded by explaining that Biden plans on getting rid of Trump’s current tax bill: “Joe Biden will repeal that tax bill, he’ll get rid of it.” This needs a little context because Biden’s plan doesn’t call for a full repeal of the 2017 tax law Trump put into place, which means her statement is a bit inconsistent with their plan.
The Vice President was asked a similar question about the economic recovery that could take a year or two after the pandemic. He didn’t answer the question outright. He stated what the Trump administration did after the Obama administration: “When President Trump and I took office, America had gone through the slowest economic recovery since the Great Depression.” this is misleading according to PolitiFact, who stated it was “a glass-half-empty, glass-half-full scenario”. Though, yes the recovery was slow, the Obama administration also went through a similar slow economic recovery rate. He also ignored what Harris had stated which I’m sure was him pointing out the inconsistency, but he pointed out the wrong parts of inconsistency.
The bickering started for a minute or two, but Harris brings it back down to explain how the Vice President wasn’t being truthful. Then they got into another bickering about Obama Care which concerns me as well because it has nothing to do with the economy. At this point, the debate started losing a little bit of the integrity it had in the beginning.
Susan Page decided to move on to climate change to which she asked Vice President Pence if the scientific community has concluded that man-made climate change has caused the inflation of wildfires, floods, storms, and so on. He never responded to the question. Instead, he boasted about all that the Trump administration has done for the environment.
Both Susan Page and Vice President Pence mentioned the Green New Deal is on the Biden, Harris website even though Biden claimed not to support it. It was a bit misleading. Even though it is, it is actually because it’s claimed to be a crucial framework and uses “two basic truths” from the Green New Deal. Though there is that similarity, it has a lot of differences.
Senator Harris responded with Joe Biden’s plan. She even mentioned later on: “I served when I first got to the Senate on the committee that’s responsible for the environment. Do you know, this administration took the word science off the website, and then took the phrase climate change off the website? We have seen a pattern with this administration, which is they don’t believe in science.” Which rebutted Pence’s claim in the Trump administration trusting the science.
Again more bickering started, and it was about the trade war with China this time, which I didn’t really see the relevance to climate change. Pence committed another Ad Hominem on Biden by calling him a “cheerleader for communist China”. The integrity of the debate dropped once again.
But somehow, it still led to an actual question from Susan Page which was basically how would each candidate describe our relationship with China. Pence responded first with nothing to do with China until he had about a minute left, and even then, he didn’t even mention the relationship. He just boasted about Trump’s strength against China during COVID-19. Harris didn’t even really answer the question either, and to be quite honest, I could tell that they were both trying to stall from the question because I don’t think they had a proper answer for such a question.
The next question was for Harris which was what she would define American leadership in 2020. Harris gave examples regarding foreign policy and how Trump lacked in keeping relationships and avoiding them with other leaders. One of those examples was something Biden brought up as well: the attack on American soldiers commissioned by Russia to which Trump knew and said nothing and the fact that he didn’t give a response to it. Basically, she said the American leadership in 2020 is dishonest.
Pence responded with giving examples that were against the Obama, Biden administration which was similar to what Harris did, but he committed Straw Man by zoning in on a particular case with Kayla Mueller, which in all honesty, didn’t answer the question about American leadership in 2020. Harris brings up the number of times Trump has insulted war heroes, veterans and the military, as well as the issue with Russia again.
Susan Page then brought up the issue with Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court as well as what that could mean to Roe v. Wade and abortion rights.
Pence used his time to respond to the previous issue before rushing through the rights without really addressing the rights but the nomination. Harris responded by saying that the nomination should have the people’s say and how this nomination can negatively affect the American people.
Susan Page asked about what would happen if the Affordable Care Act is struck down to which Pence responded with finally answering the abortion rights question, but he somehow turns it into Biden and Harris wanting to pack the court if Barrett takes the seat in the Supreme Court. He asks her a question about it to which she starts by explaining what Abraham Lincoln did when a similar situation arose: “Abraham Lincoln was up for reelection and it was 27 days before the election. And a seat became open on the United States Supreme Court. Abraham Lincoln’s party was in charge, not only of the White House but the Senate. But Honest Abe said, ‘It’s not the right thing to do. The American people deserve to make the decision about who will be the next president of the United States. And then that person can select who will serve for a lifetime on the highest court of our land.’” This needs a little more context because it’s hard to tell that Lincoln’s reasoning behind that is as intended as Harris is suggesting.
Going back to when Pence asked her the question about packing the court, I noticed something a bit concerning. He interrupted her by demanding her answer, which I thought a bit hypocritical since he dodged all of his questions and didn’t give outright answers. Not to mention, he barely respected Susan Page when she kept telling him his time was up. I felt like it showed a little bit of misogyny because it felt like I won’t respect the rules nor answer the questions but I demand you answer mine. It felt off-putting to me.
The next question was about Breonna Taylor and whether or not she received justice. Harris said no and explained what the potential Biden administration would do to prevent police brutality. Pence also condemned the murder, but he refused to see a problem with injustice and systemic racism.
Harris doubled down on this and reminded him of her career as a prosecutor, as well as pointing Trump not being able to condemn white supremacy. Pence’s response was basically, “President Trump has Jewish grandchildren”, which sounds a lot like “I’m not racist because I have a black friend.” So that was a bit concerning for me as well.
The part about the section that concerned me regarding Senator Harris is that she spoke about wanting to free those who have been incarcerated for unnecessarily lengthy times for minor marijuana charges. During her time as a prosecutor, she directly contributed to and even supported mass incarcerations for said issue, and I don’t believe she has ever addressed that inconsistency in her views.
The next question was what would happen if there is a transition of power, and Trump refuses to make it peaceful. Both candidates avoided answering the question. Harris spoke about voting and Pence spoke about how he believes Trump will win again so there will be no transition of power.
The last question is a question from an eighth-grader by the name of Brecklin Brown: “When I watch the news, all I see is arguing between Democrats and Republicans. When I watch the news, all I see is citizen fighting against citizen. When I watch the news, all I see are two candidates from opposing parties trying to tear each other down. If our leaders can’t get along, how are the citizens supposed to get along? Your examples could make all the difference to bring us together.”
Both candidates seemed very delighted that a young person was so interested in politics at this time, which made me happy. I didn’t want them to make her feel any less because she is young, which happens a lot to young people. Pence’s response was very odd to me. It felt like he was saying “We’re always going to fight, so don’t worry about it.” Harris basically said she hoped and believed that the potential Biden administration will do everything they can to unite the country once more.
My overall thoughts are quite similar to my overall thoughts on the first presidential debate. Though this debate had a lot more integrity, the bar was still very low, which is concerning because this is the future leadership of the country. We all need to choose carefully in regards to whether or not we will be getting the lesser evil when we vote. I hope that our country will one day be better, no matter the administration, but for now, all we can do is hope.
For the full video, you can find it here. For fact-checking resources, you can look at PolitiFact or The New York Times.