The Republican and Democratic vice presidential candidates, Mike Pence and Tim Kaine, faced off in their only debate on Tuesday, Oct. 4, at Longwood University in Farmville, Va. Punctuated by a fiery back-and-forth, Kaine repeatedly tried to put Pence on the defensive, but the governor of Ohio stuck to his America-first message and held his own.
By John Friend
Tuesday evening’s Vice Presidential debate—the only such debate prior to the Nov. 8 election—proved to be a rowdy and contentious affair driven primarily by insults and interruptions throughout, with each candidate attempting to tear down and discredit their opponent’s presidential running mate.
Tim Kaine and Mike Pence, the respective Democrat and Republican vice presidential nominees, traded insults and verbal blows throughout the debate, which was hosted at Longwood University in Farmville, Va. and moderated by Elaine Quijano of CBS News.
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Kaine was particularly aggressive, interrupting his opponent repeatedly throughout the debate in an attempt to tarnish Trump’s image and reputation, a strategy pursued by the Clinton campaign for months now.
Kaine portrayed Trump as a dangerous, irrational potential commander in chief who is motivated primarily by selfish, pecuniary interests.
“Donald Trump always puts himself first,” Kaine, a former city councilman, mayor, governor and senator in the state of Virginia, stated. “He built a business career . . . on the backs of the little guy. . . .”
He also focused much attention on Trump’s taxes, repeatedly demanding the GOP nominee release his full tax returns.
This past weekend, The New York Times published a hit piece highlighting a reported $916 million loss on Trump’s income tax returns in 1995, which has sparked even more debate and controversy surrounding the billionaire GOP nominee’s personal finances.
Trump has repeatedly stated he will release all of his tax documents following the conclusion of an IRS audit despite the fact he is under no obligations to do so.
Democrats and the hostile elite media have seized on the opportunity to smear Trump as an unscrupulous, greedy businessman.
It’s worth mentioning that, in 2015, Hillary Clinton used the same method on her tax returns to avoid paying taxes. According to Mrs. Clinton’s tax returns, in 2015, she filed a $699,540 loss to reduce her tax liability.
Unsurprisingly, Kaine also insinuated Trump is a racist and a sexist, a talking point his running mate invokes in virtually every speech she gives.
“Donald Trump during this campaign has called Mexicans rapists and criminals,” Kaine declared. “He’s called women slobs, pigs, dogs, disgusting—I don’t like saying that in front of my wife and daughter.”
Kaine went on to portray Trump as an offensive, ill-mannered bully who insults and disrespects his political opponents and minorities, egregiously misrepresenting Trump’s actual statements.
Pence did well not taking Kaine’s bait, displaying rare dignity and grace in the face of Kaine’s insults.
For his part, Pence portrayed Mrs. Clinton as a corrupt, incompetent political insider whose foreign policy agenda while secretary of state under President Barack Obama resulted in one disaster after another while in charge of directing and implementing American foreign policy. He also stated Mrs. Clinton and her running mate aim to grant amnesty to millions of illegal aliens residing in the U.S. and accused Mrs. Clinton of falsely portraying American law enforcement officials as irrationally biased against minorities.
Pence was particularly critical of the economic and foreign policy legacy of the Obama administration, an administration Mrs. Clinton played a major role in.
“The truth of the matter is the policies of this administration which Hillary Clinton and Senator Kaine want to continue have run this economy into the ditch,” Pence declared during the debate. “We’re in the slowest economic recovery since the Great Depression. There are millions more people living in poverty today than the day that Barack Obama, with Hillary Clinton at his side, stepped into the Oval Office.”
Watch the full debate below:
