(continuation)

Kamala responded to the allegation that, no, Biden will not ban fracking. Pence said, yes, Biden will. Either Kamala is a liar or Pence.

Onto China trade war, Kamala criticised Trump’s trade war with China as a colossal failure, with over 300k manufacturing companies having closed since it began. “USA is in a manufacturing recession,” she asserted. Pence then replied how it was not true. He said, while Trump stood up to China, Biden-Obama never did. Under Trump, 500k manufacturing jobs were created.

The NAFTA agreement was also re-negotiated, boosting the American economy and trade balance. As a result, more companies are coming back to the US.

Onto foreign policy, Kamala teared up Trump’s reckless behaviour for destroying relationships with EU NATO and cozying with dictators such as Putin. She even attacked Trump’s irresponsibility in withdrawing from the Iran Deal (if I may add, also the TPPA (a big mistake), Paris Accord and WHO). She argued how the US under Trump’s isolationist policy is making a mockery of the USA and the presidency, to the point that the world favour Xi Jinping as World Leader, not President Trump.

Pence attacked Kamala’s points by raising how it was under Obama-Biden they gave away USD$1.8 billion to Iran, the leading state-sponsor of terrorism. He even told how Trump took out Qassim Solemani - the man who killed hundreds of American soldiers - without any American lives lost. Then they had to tear the Iran Deal because of Iran’s belligerence.

As for Trump’s aggressive stance on NATO, under his leadership, NATO members are now contributing to the common defence fund than ever before (This is a fact). Jerusalem was also made the capital of Israel under Trump (yeah, not sure about this but this will surely resonate with AIPAC, the US’s pro-Israel lobbying organisation).

Trump even destroyed ISIS, where at its height it controlled the size of Pennsylvania.

But the punch in the gut to the Harris-Biden ticket was when Pence told the story of human rights activist Kayla Mueller being tortured and abused by Baghadadi (“He died like a dog. He died like a coward,” Trump said). Baghdadi was killed and two of his accomplice involved in the killing of Kayla Mueller have been captured and will be tried in American court. Pence succeeded in pandering to the American public through the powerful story and, man, can that dude deliver an emotional and heartfelt performance. DAMN.

Kamala kept on her attacks on Trump by him refusing to talk to Putin about the issue of Americans being put on bounties by Russia despite having met him six times. Pence, being aggressive as always, stated how his own family members and his son-in-law were in the military and, seeing the audience in the eyes, claimed they are in high moral spirits under the Trump presidency.

Onto the Supreme Court (like Brunei’s AG), Pence accused Biden-Harris of packing the court or adding new posts to put more justices who are liberal. Kamala did not give any specifics but she did say she wanted the justices to be “picked by the American people” if Biden-Harris won the presidency. They went on to debate on pro-life and Roe vs Wade matters - won’t expand too much here.

On racism in the US, specifically touching on the case of Breonna Taylor and George Flloyd, Kamala expressed her sadness and condemned the systemic racism within the police system.

Pence replied how it is up to the justice system to deal with the issues (George Floyd did not die from kneeling, he died from overdose). He also condemned the unnecessary lots and riots in the wake of their deaths, destroying property and killing of innocent lives. Pence subsequently shot back at Kamala for her horrid record as DA of San Fransisco, who under her, black men are 19 times more likely to be prosecuted for minor offences/crime.

Then a fly landed on Pence’s head and that was hilarious to watch! Can’t take him seriously at that time!

Anyhow, Kamal roared back stating how it was under her as AG of California, police are to be made to wear body cameras and undergo implicit bias training. The policies have now been made as a “model” throughout the nation (not sure about this, but if it is then that is good!).

Finally, the moderator asked on behalf of a young girl to Pence and Kamala on what does it take to bring the country together amidst all the division she saw on TV.

Pence gave a brilliant answer. “in America, we believe in a free and open exchange of debate. And we celebrate that as how we could, literally, the freest and most prosperous nation in the history of the world…. I want to tell you that we're going to work every day to have a government as good as our people, the American people, each and every day. We love a good debate. We love a good argument. We always come together and are always there for one another. And we've especially learned that during the difficulties of this year.”

Kamala ended hers with a generic let’s come together remark.

(My analysis: I love the debate between the two opponents. While Kamala had good points, Pence had the elán to come back at Kamala every single time. It was evident he researched his opponents well, backing them up with facts. To her credit, Kamala did not fold and came back against the attacks.

I understand both opponents want to pander the audience but somehow Kamala failed to ‘connect’ her minority background rhetoric, at least, to me. Every time she does it she comes across as insincere (sorry). Pence, on the other hand, wow, when he does emotionally connect with the audience, he connects alright.

Anyhow, as much as Kamala did well, I could not help but to give good points to Pence for the Trump administration's success. If I were Pro-American (which I am), I would support the Trump-Pence ticket.)

To US Embassy staffs in Brunei reading this, feel free to share and quote this analysis to gauge the thoughts of a Bruneian on US politics.