The Vice Presidential Debate

The Vice Presidential debate between incumbent VP Mike Pence of Indiana and VP hopeful Senator Kamala Harris of California ended a few hours ago.  Having just come straight from the Presidential debate last week, the loudest, most annoying, and most shameless televised political debate since Trump debated Hillary Clinton in 2016, it seemed like two lungfuls of fresh political air. Both candidates were composed, broke the rules rarely, answered some questions and skillfully dodged others. There were also few times either candidate accused the other of dishonesty, which was especially refreshing, since every word said by the current President is either blatantly untrue, or debated for days in the American press. Neither candidate said anything too controversial (despite the fact that Pence spent most of his time regurgitating the lies and thinly-veiled half-truths that the entire Republican party has had to conform to since Trump took office, but this has become normal behaviour for Republican politicians), neither raised their voice, and neither did the moderator. It reminded me of before American politics had become as sensationalised as it is today, when George Bush Jr. and Al Gore or Barack Obama and Mitt Romney could have at most a heated discussion about American policy, where no personal insults were flung, no one was told to “shut up”, and at the conclusion, the American public were more informed about their choices, and more engaged in the political process, not completely turned off by it.

The Donald Trump Blame Game

Blame is something Donald Trump has consistently sought to avoid. He takes maximum credit for any event or outcome that favours him, and completely denies involvement, or even knowledge of events or outcomes that are damaging to him. While every politician distances themselves from embarrassing moments or scandalous stories, and exaggerates their own good deeds to an extent, Donald Trump has taken that to the extreme. He blames himself for none of America’s current misfortune, and places himself and his leadership skills at the centre of every triumph the US has experienced since his election. This is a view his grassroots supporters have as well, which only emboldens him to lie even more, as his grassroots support will not change, no matter what he does or says and no matter what state the country is in. This makes him especially difficult to debate as a politician, because he isn’t one. His skills at oratory were honed on reality TV and in interviews with TV News and papers, where exaggerating everything gained more publicity, which something Trump cares about very deeply.

It is very difficult to have a sensible debate with someone who will try to convince you that exaggerated facts, or even straight up lies, are what you should believe. This is why American politics has become as sensational as it is today, because Trump (and by extension, the majority of the Republican Party) has made politics about who has the most buzz around them to validate their points. He even boasted to Joe Biden about the number of people he could pack into an arena to listen to him speak, and claimed that Joe Biden doesn’t fill arenas not because he wants to maintain social distancing, but because he can’t fill a stadium like Trump can. That was the kind of zinger I would expect to find in a diss rap, not a Presidential debate. And it was precisely that bravado and rambunctiousness that we have all become accustomed to over the past four years that was missing from the Vice Presidential debate. It also reminded me that Trump’s behaviour is not normal behaviour for a politician. Lies have always been rampant in politics, it is something that I have come to expect from every politician, no matter their party. While Trump lies flamboyantly, seeming genuinely convinced by the reality he has created for his voters, Pence lies like politicians used to lie before Trump; without trying to evoke public outcry and stir the pot of sensationalism to draw attention to himself like Trump does, and it was refreshing to experience that from a Republican again. I certainly yelled at my screen a lot less.

A New Style of Politics

It is also this sensationalism that has divided American politics (and consequently, the American public itself), because the problem with always being right, and never being wrong, is that your opponents must therefore be always wrong, and never right. This viewpoint eliminates the potential for compromise, which leads to the parties working together on legislation far less likely, leading to both parties leaning more towards their extremes. Therefore, the voting public has become more extreme in their views, which has led to the most amount of social division in the USA since the 1960s. Trump is, by historical standards, an extreme candidate. His views and words place him firmly on the extreme right of the Republican party, as is Mike Pence. Joe Biden is by no means an extreme candidate; for some of the more progressive Democrats, he is considered to be on the right wing of his party. He was recommended for the 2008 Obama ticket to act as a counterweight to Obama’s more radically progressive ideas. He is at the very centre of traditional Democratic values, and while his party might be leaning more towards the left than it has historically, Biden has very rarely changed his views on anything. He has been working in Washington DC for almost 50 years, as a Senator from Delaware. He is a politician first and last.

The difference in how Joe Biden and Donald Trump debate is as clear as night and day. With Harris and Pence, the styles are incredibly similar; both seek to undermine the word of their opponent and promote their own agenda and the adenda of their respective Presidential candidates. It just so happens that one of the candidates’ entire re-election platform is built mainly on untruths and hyperbole, which would naturally give the respective VP candidate a disadvantage. It seemed as if these two politicians could work together on a piece of legislation and not tear each other’s throats out whilst doing so. That is because both are established leaders and lawmakers in their own right. They have both needed to compromise with the opposite party, and have accepted mistakes made in their careers with dignity. While I do not agree with Mike Pence on the majority of his views and values, I cannot help but imagine him as President instead of Trump, and how much better he would be at the job. He is a man I would never vote for, and never advise anyone else to vote for, but at least he wouldn’t shame his country as Trump has.

A Muted Debate of Polar Opposites

In the end, the Vice Presidential debate was interesting, but not enthralling. I could look away from my screen and feel like I wouldn’t miss anything important. I came away feeling like both candidates performed well, but Harris took the edge for me, simply because I agree with what she had to say. If I had been a conservative and agreed with Pence’s policies (and overlooked everything he said that wasn’t true), I would have said he won. This is in stark contrast with the Presidential debate, where even if I disagreed with Biden, I could not have been more shocked at how the President conducted himself. Whilst he did spend most of the debate attempting to defend his and Trump’s disastrous administration with misleading statements and half-truths, Mike Pence had the most poignant ending statement for me; in response to the question of how can Americans get along if their elected leaders can’t, he said “In America, we believe in a free and open exchange of debate, and we celebrate that. It’s how we have created the freest and most prosperous nation in the history of the world…Here in America we can disagree, we can debate vigorously like Senator Harris and I have done on this stage tonight, but when the debate is over, we come together as Americans…and we’re going to work every day to have a government as good as our people.” He also cited the relationship between late Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg as an example, stating that while the two might have been on the polar opposites of the political spectrum, they, and their families, were very close.

That is a sentiment that I believe should be shared by every American, because it flies in the face of Donald Trump’s political style. Being able to have a normal conversation with a political rival outside the context of politics is extremely important, especially today, and it is something Trump is unable to do. After watching this debate, I believe Harris and Pence could go and talk sensibly to each other afterwards. I could not say the same for Trump and Biden. Trump could never compromise with a political rival, that is why he has refused to give up his power after the election, win or lose. The Republican party has had to switch it’s focus away from traditional conservative values because the party has to spend most of its time justifying everything Trump says and does due to Trump’s attention-grabbing skills. This has dragged the party rightwards, which is why the more moderate Republicans are now abandoning their party altogether, until Trumpism is defeated. The only way American politics can return to how it was, where compromise and measured debate were common, is if Trump either loses the election, or steps down as President.

stay safe

/e