Pence revealed his ‘new and disturbing’ self at VP debate as he spewed lies about the Democratic platform: op-ed

Writing in the New Yorker this Thursday, Susan B. Glasser contends that during the first vice presidential debate last night, Mike Pence revealed himself to be a man fashioning himself in the image of Donald Trump.

According to Glasser, Pence avoided more of moderator Susan Page’s questions than he answered.

"The Vice-President began the debate by refusing to say why the United States has had so many more deaths from the coronavirus than other leading nations. He ended it by refusing to say whether he would accept the peaceful transfer of power after the election," Glasser writes. "In between, Pence managed to avoid numerous other questions, from whether he believes climate change is an 'existential threat' to what the Administration’s plan is for providing health care to Americans with preëxisting conditions. For much of the debate, in fact, Pence seemed more eager to deliver pre-planned attack lines against his Democratic opponent, Senator Kamala Harris, than he was to defend the Trump-Pence Administration’s record."

Glasser acknowledged that Wednesday's debate was much more civilized than the first presidential debate between Trump and Biden, but the longer she watched, she realized that Pence "is no longer the deeply conventional, if fervently right-wing, evangelical of four years ago." Pence has changed, Glasser says, thanks to his association with Trump. On Wednesday night, he manifested something "new and disturbing."

"Pence has come to resemble a lower-decibel Trump, lying with a fluency and brazenness that might have shocked his former moralistic self."

Read the full op-ed over at The New Yorker.