SALT CITY: Democratic vice presidential hopeful Kamala Harris on Wednesday called Donald Trump’s Covid-19 response a historic failure that disqualified him from a second term, in a pointed but mostly civil debate with incumbent, Mike Pence, who sought to portray her as extreme.

With Trump’s weekend hospitalisation for Covid-19 throwing a new importance on the role of the vice president, Pence and Harris spoke separated by plexiglass as a safety precaution 27 days before the election.

Harris, who would be the highest-ranking woman in US history if she enters the White House under a president Joe Biden, immediately attacked Trump’s record on Covid-19, which has killed more than 210,000 people in the United States, more than in any other country.

“The American people have witnessed what is the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country,” said Harris, a US senator from California and former prosecutor.

“And frankly, this administration has forfeited their right to re-election based on this,” Harris said before a masked and limited audience at the University of Utah.

Saying Trump treated front-line health personnel as “sacrificial workers,” Harris -- pointing to Trump’s own statements to journalist Bob Woodward -- accused the White House of not moving quickly despite knowing the risks of Covid-19.

“The president said it was a hoax. They minimised the seriousness of it,” Harris said.

After a raucous debate eight days ago between Trump and Biden, Pence and Harris took a more civil tone with no name-calling, but sharply disagreed on the reaction to the pandemic.

“I want the American people to know, from the very first day, President Donald Trump has put the health of America first,” Pence said, pointing to his ban on travel from China on Jan 31, a month after cases first emerged in Wuhan.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2020