 LOOKING AT THE VP DEBATEBy MICHAEL REAGANOctober 11, 2020
It showed us two important things we already knew. It showed us that Vice President Pence is a smart, sober and able defender of Donald Trump and his record at home and overseas. And it showed us that Sen. Harris is an empty pants suit who likes to laugh and smirk, play the race and gender cards, hide her own leftwing politics and blame the Trump administration for everything that’s wrong with the world. The moderator, Susan Page of USA Today, didn’t help things with her loaded questions, strict time-keeping and unerring ability to cut off any real back-and-forth on any issue just as it got interesting. She was like one of those basketball referees whose constant whistle-blowing ruins the game for everyone. To be fair, her main job was to enforce the debate commission’s rigid rules and out-of-date format and prevent the VP debate from becoming another free-for-all like the Trump-Biden match. But Page overdid it so much she made Mike Wallace look like a neutral moderator. Her loaded questions, as usual, were tougher on Team Trump than Team Biden. And she was in such a hurry she rarely if ever forced Harris or Pence to actually answer the questions she asked them. If Page had been truly interested in fairness and balance, Pence would not have had to be the one who asked Harris the Dodged Question of the Week: What is her ticket’s position on the Democrat idea for a Biden administration to pack the U.S. Supreme Court with liberals if conservative nominee Amy Coney Barrett becomes a justice before the election. You’d like to believe the 50 million people who watched the VP debate were looking at the issues, but none of what either candidate said really matters. No one votes for vice president. No one votes for the VP hoping the president dies. Anyway, the Pence-Harris debate already is old-old news. Another hurricane is bearing down on Louisiana. The FBI has foiled a plot by some rightwing militia jerks to kidnap Michigan’s Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. And the next Trump-Biden presidential debate is up in the air because the president says he will not take part in a virtual debate with Biden. Though it exposed Harris’ sneaky political radicalism and personal weaknesses, the Pence-Harris match didn’t change the dynamics of the 2020 election. For that to happen, it’s up to Donald Trump. It’s not Mike Pence’s job to win this election for Donald Trump. As I said on Newsmax, it’s Donald Trump’s job to win the election for Donald Trump. If he loses, it’s on him. It’s not on the media or anyone else. Trump and Biden can argue and debate issues like the economy, the Green New Deal and the Supreme Court until dinnertime on Nov. 3, but who wins the election will come down to who’s the most likeable candidate. When it comes to electing presidents, many people simply vote on how much they like the candidate’s persona. In these last four weeks, if Trump wants to win reelection he has to be more likable, less bombastic, more presidential. We know that’s not who Donald Trump is. But he’s got to realize that running for president is different from running as president. What was cute and refreshing and disruptive when he was an underdog and outsider running against “The Swamp” doesn’t work when you’re the president of the swamp. Mike Pence did help his boss in one important way on Wednesday night. He showed the president how to behave during a debate and still get the job done. President Trump needs to debate again, Biden doesn’t. The next debate or two, if there will be two, are much more important to Trump. But Trump doesn’t need to win the next debate, he just needs to make sure he lets Biden lose it.
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