2020 White House race: Mike Pence’s win delivers break for Donald Trump

Mike Pence did his boss, Donald Trump, a great favour in what I scored as a clear vice-presidential debate win against Joe Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris.

US Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris, left, and vice-president Mike Pence at the end of the vice-presidential debate in Salt Lake City on Thursday. Picture: AFP

Mike Pence did his boss, Donald Trump, a great favour in what I scored as a clear vice-presidential debate win against Joe Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris.

Pence made an infinitely more convincing case for the Trump administration than Trump himself has at any time this year and he also held up to the light serious weak points of the Biden-Harris policy cocktail. And he did all this, mirabile dictu, with grace, charm, respect and even, very occasionally, a little wit.

Harris for her part was effective in her attack lines, never lost her cool, and is much more agile and mentally alive than Biden.

The conventional wisdom is that because Biden is so far ahead in the polls, merely avoiding any mistakes was a clear win for their campaign. There’s some truth in that, but Pence did several vital things for Trump.

The polls have been disastrous for Trump following his splenetic, over-the-top performance in the first debate. Some polls have shown Trump for the first time losing part of his base.

In the four weeks left of the campaign therefore, Trump has to do two things — reassure and re-energise his base, and get some new voters by heightening doubts about Biden and his policies.

Pence’s polished, reasoned and compelling performance would certainly reassure any viewer remotely inclined to support Trump that this is a substantial administration on the right policy track.

Pence also made the debate more about Biden and his sometimes extreme policies. A million times more effectively than Trump did with Biden, Pence pressed Harris over whether Biden would pack the Supreme Court. The court has had nine members for 150 years. Presidents get to nominate a judge when a vacancy arises and the Senate has to confirm the nomination. In effect, that means most nominations are carried when the president and the Senate are of the same party.

This is the case now and Trump has nominated the brilliant Amy Coney Barrett. The Democrats apparently plan, if they gain the White House and the Senate, to increase the size of the court and appoint a slew of their own judges. This would be a catastrophic precedent, making the court even more politicised and ensuring each side of politics repeated the process endlessly.

All those rabid Trump haters profoundly concerned about democratic conventions and institutions ought to be outraged. If the media were not so dedicated to a Trump defeat, Biden and Harris’s refusal to say what he will do should be one of the campaign’s biggest issues.

Pence scored heavily on the economy — Biden says he will repeal the whole Trump tax cut but not increase taxes on the middle class; that’s a contradiction. Biden says he is opposed to the Green New Deal but supports almost all its proposals; this will cripple the economy. Harris has promised to end fracking and Biden vowed to end fossil fuels, now they say they won’t; how can you believe them?

Harris scored her own substantial points on COVID-19 mismanagement, Trump’s often egregious personality and the dangers of removing health insurance for Americans with pre-existing conditions if Trump is successful in ending Obamacare.

Both candidates frequently ignored questions. Most TV commentators said this showed the need for the moderator to be able to interrupt to ask follow-up questions. I couldn’t disagree more.

If the candidates dodge questions, let viewers judge them accordingly. TV moderators’ desire to put themselves at the centre of attention if indulged will make any debate unruly.

If the debate commission insists on Trump and Biden not interrupting each other, but each having two-minute sequences, uninterrupted, to make their case, Trump would hate this but it would benefit him enormously. For there is no guarantee at all that Biden can consistently hold his line of thought for two minutes.

As ever, Trump is his own worst enemy. In this debate, Pence was certainly his best friend.