Covid-hit Trump refuses to take part in virtual presidential debate
PRESIDENT Donald Trump has vowed not to participate in next week’s debate with Democratic nominee Joe Biden after organisers announced it will take place virtually because of the President’s diagnosis of Covid-19.
“I’m not going to do a virtual debate” with Mr Biden, Mr Trump told Fox News, moments after the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates announced the changes.
The shake-up comes a week before Mr Trump and Mr Biden were set to square off for the second presidential debate in Miami.
Mr Biden’s campaign insisted its candidate was ready to move forward, but the future of the event is now in serious doubt.
“Vice President Biden looks forward to speaking directly to the American people,” deputy Biden campaign manager Kate Bedingfield said in a statement.
Earlier, Mike Pence defended the Trump administration’s handling of a pandemic that has killed more than 210,000 Americans as Kamala Harris condemned “the greatest failure of any presidential administration” in the vice presidential debate.
Because of the virus, the candidates were separated by plexiglass barriers in their sole vice-presidential debate, a far more civil affair than last week’s chaotic presidential face-off in which President Donald Trump constantly interrupted challenger Joe Biden.
With the virus sweeping through the highest levels of government and Mr Trump just days out of hospital, his deputy Mr Pence acknowledged “our nation’s gone through a very challenging time this year”.
But he added: “I want the American people to know, from the very first day, President Trump has put the health of America first.”
He also promised millions of doses of a yet-to-be-announced treatment before the end of the year.
Speaking directly to the camera, as Mr Biden did in last week’s debate, Ms Harris condemned what she termed the government’s historic “failure” in reacting to the pandemic and said: “They knew what was happening, and they didn’t tell you.”
In response, Mr Pence commended Mr Trump’s decision to shut off travel from China, saying the decision “bought us invaluable time” to co-ordinate the country’s response to the pandemic, although Mr Trump’s move only cut off some travel from China, and tens of thousands of people were still allowed to pour into the country.
Ms Harris assailed Mr Trump’s consistent downplaying of the pandemic’s threat, insisting she would not take a vaccine if the Republican President endorsed it without the backing of medical professionals.
“Frankly this administration has forfeited their right to re-election based on this,” she said.
Less than four weeks before election day, Republicans hoped the debate might give the Trump-pence ticket a final opportunity to help reset a contest that could be slipping away.
His poll numbers sagging, the President, with Mr Pence at his side, is struggling to stabilise the nation in the midst of multiple crises as more than a dozen senior officials across the White
House, the Pentagon and inside his campaign have been infected by the virus he claimed would “magically disappear”.
There were heated exchanges over the environment, the Supreme Court and racism, but overall the debate was far more respectful than Mr Trump and Mr Biden’s first bout.
Mr Pence interrupted at times, but with far less frequency than Mr Trump had.
The prime-time meeting in Salt Lake City elevated two candidates with presidential aspirations of their own who may be asked to step into the presidency even before the end of the next term.
When the debate turned to race, Mr Pence, 61, pushed back against the existence of systemic racism in police departments.
Ms Harris, 55, condemned the killings of Breonna Taylor in Kentucky and George Floyd in Minnesota and spoke about the protests against racial injustice in policing that followed, which Mr Trump has portrayed as “riots”as he called for law-and-order.
Vice President Biden looks forward to speaking directly to the American people