You’ll have to forgive me when I say that this week’s Vice Presidential Debate is not something that I’m paying particular attention to. Sure, I’ll watch, and, sure, I may even send a tweet or two, but one only has so much fuel in the tank for political controversy, and we’re all running near empty these days.
Consider the avalanche of news only in the last week, news that, in an ordinary world, would upend the race, end a candidacy, or at very least cause one or two voters to pause, to at least consider changing their minds. It seems like only yesterday that we were worried about Election Day violence, massive voter suppression, disqualified ballots, and a president who is refusing to accept the results of the election if he loses. It turns out that those were the Golden Times! What could have prepared us for the events of last week (except, of course, the fact that events like these have happened EVERY SINGLE WEEK since at least Inauguration Day 2017)?
Last Tuesday, we were treated to what can generously be described as a spectacle, and what might better be described as a “shitshow,” as we watched Trump execute on debate coach Chris Christie’s genius plan to... (*checks notes*) make Joe Biden appear to have Alzheimer’s by constantly interrupting him in an effort to take advantage of the fact that Biden stutters. I know that sounds crazy, but trust me, there’s a lot more crazy that I’m not even mentioning, including the part about telling a group of armed white supremacists to “stand by” in case they were needed to fight the second civil war on election day.
On Wednesday, we learned from the NYT what we had always suspected -- that Trump isn’t nearly as rich and successful as he says he is, that he has built his net worth on mountains of debt, that his financial entanglements around the world open the door to corruption, and even to national security threats, and that, of course, he has for years been avoiding taxes in the US by methods that give even the most aggressive accountants pause and indeed might land an ordinary American in jail. Remember that story? I know it seems so long ago, but that story was published on WEDNESDAY.
Late Thursday night, the real bomb hit, and, boy, was it a shocker. The man who has flouted every public health recommendation for months, who has advocated treating Covid with bleach and various other forms of quackery, who has insisted that the virus will just “go away,” who has refused to wear a mask, and who as recently as Tuesday’s shitshow debate mocked Joe Biden for wearing one and for the precautions Biden’s campaign has taken, has himself tested positive for the “China virus” (along with Christie, aide Hope Hicks, wife Melania, former adviser Kellyanne Conway, campaign manager Bill Stepien -- no, not the one in jail; the new one -- RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, GOP Senators Mike Lee and Thom Tillis, the president of Notre Dame, and certainly countless other people whose names we do not know because they are not morally bankrupt enough or corrupt enough to play a large enough role in the Trump administration or the party that enables him).
In any normal year, with any normal president, this would seal the election for Biden. Trump, through his recklessness and zeal to ram through Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s replacement, presumably so that said nominee can weigh in early enough to take away people’s healthcare (no, I am not making this up), and possibly to aid and abet stealing the election in court in case he loses, hosted a SUPER-SPREADER event, in which he, and many leaders of his party, were infected with SARS-Co-V2, after which he attended debate practice, a debate, a rally in Minnesota, and a buffet lunch fund-raiser for wealthy GOP fat cats, where he put many other lives at risk.
As a lifelong Democrat, I now say that ONLY THE DEMOCRATS could squander an opportunity like this. The ads literally write themselves, to which the Democrats responded by immediately announcing a moratorium on all negative campaign advertising. Gotta take the high road.
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So then what to make of the VP debate? Many Democrats have had this date circled since August. On the one hand, we have Kamala Harris, educated at Howard and Hastings, daughter of immigrants, first African-American woman ever to be nominated to a major party ticket, former prosecutor, United States Senator, star member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and who has soared to national prominence on the basis of internationally-renowned debate and cross-examination skills, the exhibition of which has gone viral on multiple occasions in the last 3 years.
On the other hand, we have Mike Pence. Yes, that Mike Pence, the man in charge of the disastrously failed White House COVID-19 Task Force. Mike Pence, who can’t even lie particularly well, which is literally one of the only requirements of his job under Trump. The man whose strategy at this point appears to be to sit closely enough to Harris (7 feet apart? 12 feet apart?) to infect her, or at least put the fear of infection into her, presumably in hopes of disrupting her concentration.
I fully expect Harris to mop the floor with Pence on Tuesday, if Pence manages to avoid testing positive himself and the debate happens after all. From Harris, I expect a Master Class in which she exposes Pence, his administration, his policies (whatever those might be), his hypocrisy, his recklessness, and his sheer inability to govern, as the clusterfucks they truly are.
But, in this era, that 77-0 drubbing, that total evisceration, as well as the tweets and hashtags and viral moments that follow, will matter not a lick. Vice presidential debates have never meant much, even in saner times, and this after all is the “Shitshow Era.” Many voters have already cast their ballots, and almost all voters have already made up their minds. The news of October 8 will certainly crowd out the news of October 7, and we’ll be on to the next “October Surprise” that will, in hindsight, be surprising to no one.
It is through that lens that I will watch Harris’ command performance. I’ll watch with a little bit of sadness, and a little bit of longing, wondering how things might have been if it were SHE who were at the top of the ticket. Harris, educated at Howard and Hastings, daughter of immigrants, first African-American woman ever to be nominated to a major party ticket, former prosecutor, United States Senator, star member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and not to mention sponsor of bills on universal healthcare, immigration, climate change, civil rights, and criminal justice reform, and her support of countless other issues critical to the future of the country and the planet.
I have optimism that the Shitshow Era will one day be behind us. I have no faith that Biden will take us there. Mind you, I believe Biden will win, and rightly so; the nation and the world need stability and a break from the chaos that Trump has unleashed on the country over the last 4 years. Even Trump’s self-reported magical powers over the electorate, the GOP’s advantage in the electoral college, the blizzard of disinformation our parents are inundated with every day, and even the packed courts, they have their limits. But the scars of this era will not heal overnight. When something as simple as wearing a mask in order to avoid infecting your neighbor, or delivering the mail, or counting everyone’s vote, becomes a divisive political issue, you know the system is broken and you have some healing to do.
America is in dire need of a reset, and it will be new, younger leaders that deliver it. If for no other reason than this, tune in to this week’s VP debate. Pour yourself a drink, stay away from Twitter, and turn off the TV before the stuff of the Shitshow Era creeps its way back into the post-debate spin.
Tune all that stuff out, and watch and listen instead to Kamala Harris. If we’re lucky, you’ll see for yourself what this next generation of leaders looks like.
*For the Chinese version please check: 【評論】在一連串的「十月驚奇」後，我這個民主黨員如何看待副總統候選人辯論會？
執行編輯：吳玲臻
核稿編輯：林欣蘋
