Wednesday night, Americans around the country tuned in for the vice presidential debate between Sen. Kamala Harris and Vice President Mike Pence. Following last week’s presidential debate, one truly unlike any other, Harris and Pence went head to head on some of the most prominent issues facing our nation today, comparing and contrasting Democratic and Republican ideals along the way. They both presented themselves as strong, confident picks for vice president; however, therein lies a major problem.

Modern politics has warped Americans’ mind into expecting drama, excitement and explosive responses from politicians. We go into debates expecting some blowout bomb to drop that will be the only thing spoken about in the news the next day, until the next bomb drops. Wednesday night, however, was not explosive or fiery. Pence is a masterful politician whose specialty is to lie through his teeth and spew the party line while keeping a straight face. Due to the world of misinformation today and the culture of lies and fake news President Donald Trump’s administration has propagated, the majority of lies Pence said at the debate will go unchecked and unquestioned by the American public.

Politics today has moved so far away from maintaining democracy. Every move politicians make is calculated and intentional for reelection purposes and controlling the next news cycle. The most concerning aspect of this behavior is that the public does not take the necessary action to put a check on the misinformation constantly being released by the Trump administration. The biggest issue is that this behavior goes unchecked by the public.

Our nation has become so accustomed to a new form of politics where entertainment is at the forefront. Don’t be too sad about the end of “Keeping Up with The Kardashians”: politics is America’s next hit reality TV show. Instead of viewers focusing on prominent policy issues, they become engulfed in the political figures and how their rhetoric and personal opinions guide their political views. American’s attention spans are increasingly shorter, requiring politicians to resort to extreme tactics to get a bold reaction from the public.

Compared to the first debate, Wednesday night was dull. The debate lacked the excitement and chaos that Joe Biden and Trump brought to the stage last week. The commentary made by the president and former vice president stretched far beyond basic political concerns. Wednesday night should have been spent discussing COVID-19, the Supreme Court, systemic racism, health care and political division.

The biggest takeaway from the debate was the fly on Pence’s head. Immediately after the fly landed on Pence’s head, Americans took to Twitter. Social media spiraled into an endless pit of jokes and memes about the fly. Within seconds, an account dedicated to the fly gained over 100,000 followers. It’s clear that Americans are looking for digestible, comedic humor they can talk about with their family and friends over substantial information about our nation from their politicians.

There were numerous controversial topics brought up that both Americans and the media completely dismissed. Where were all the tweets when Pence continuously interrupted Harris? What about the responsibility Harris had to present herself as a strong, confident and approachable pick for vice president? As the first Black woman nominated to be the vice president, she was faced with a substantial amount of pressure upon taking the stage to keep a smile on her face.

Pence may not have been as brazen with his interruptions as Trump was in the first debate, but he still successfully cut off Harris and continued lying and defending the Trump administration. His continuous deception of the public takes away from the significant policy topics the moderator brought up throughout the night.

After viewing last night’s debate, I now know more than ever that politics has reached an irreversible turning point in its perception by the American public and media. The post-debate discussion should be about how the politicians were successfully able to defend their policy proposals; however, it is clear that the media is underreporting on the major policy topics that could shape our nation’s future in the coming years.

News outlets are more focused on maintaining high viewership, resulting in stories about Harris’s facial expressions and the fly on Pence’s head. With the election looming, news coverage should be focused on educating voters about the policy differences between the candidates. For many young voters like myself, this is the first presidential election we will be participating in. The culture of misinformation has made it increasingly difficult for new voters to get the necessary information to make an informed decision about who the right candidate is for them.

Young voters have a more important role in this election than ever before, so it is vital that they are taking away policy substance rather than a 24-hour social media trend. The overwhelming response I heard from my friends, both during and after the debate, was that they were bored. However, as a liberal political science student at Syracuse University, I was scared. I could see past the misinformation and the lack of real responses to the questions being asked to see the reality that politics has become a reality TV show. As the second presidential debate approaches, I hope that my peers and fellow Americans reevaluate how they absorb information during the debate and move beyond the desire for unpredictable entertainment to remain engaged.

Bria Donohue

Political Science, ‘21

Published on October 9, 2020 at 6:07 pm