Home Politics The One and Only VP Debate was a Trainwreck, Here’s Why

The One and Only VP Debate was a Trainwreck, Here’s Why

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Chloe Sommers
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The first and only Vice Presidential debate for the 2016 race to the White House took place on Tuesday evening at Longwood University, in Virginia. Although Tim Kaine is a Senator from the ‘state for lovers’, the debate wasn’t showing him much love as he was ridiculed for interrupting the GOP nominee, and his over-rehearsed answers. On the other side of the debate table sat Mike Pence, the Governor of Indiana and the VP pick for the Republican nominee Donald Trump. Pence was nailed on Twitter for dodging questions and smirking – at one point, laughing at Clinton’s right-hand man.

The evening was full of non-answers and smear tactics. It left Americans on social media wanting more thoughtful debates on hot-button domestic issues like abortion, cannabis, and LGBTQ rights. Marijuana, for example, is prime for discussion on the main stage. With nine states voting on either medical or recreational cannabis, and more than half the U.S. with some form of medical marijuana program – it’s no longer a fringe movement.

Voters will choose their candidate for President this November, and in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, and North Dakota – they are also voting on cannabis.

Activists, business people, and patients are going to be disappointed with this Vice Presidential debate as there was no mention of the hot topic that’s been steadily gaining momentum across the nation. Instead, the media focused on the bloopers, like Pence’s welcoming statement.

The GOP VP pick didn’t have a great start as he butchered the name of the hosting university. Not to miss a beat, the media was all over it with their fact-checking. On Twitter, it was even trending at one point – and of course, it wasn’t long before someone created a fake ‘Norwood University’ Twitter account.

The word of the evening: TRUST.

Trust that the VPs were defending their respective presidential candidates and trust that they poorly played offense; often talking over one another and attacking each other’s candidate’s trustworthiness.

To be fair, it’s recently surfaced that Trump may not have paid years’ worth of income taxes due to his nearly one billion dollar loss years ago.

Most of the evening consisted of Kaine’s interruptions, the moderator was constantly telling them to allow one another to finish their answers before chiming in. Trump fans took to Twitter about it:

Except there was that one time…

On the other hand, Clinton fans on Twitter complained that Pence wasn’t answering any of the moderator’s’ questions.

Some of the biggest burns of the debate were mostly one-liners directed at the presidential nominees.

The problem with this VP debate is that it just came off very rehearsed, on all accounts.

Despite their political affiliations, everyone put down their arms when they mentioned their sons were honorably fighting for America.

Some viewers didn’t even stay tuned-in after a question on North Korea took an extremely unbecoming turn. The question was about the dangers of their possible development of a nuclear missile, alas, they went on tangents slamming their opponent’s foundations.

Apparently, the actor from Modern Family was more forgiving.

There were criticisms for both the GOP and Democratic side, but c’mon, could they BE more narrow-minded? They spent over half of the debate attacking emails and tax returns.

Finally, some domestic issues were discussed, and it didn’t go very well for Trump when Kaine drudged up what he has said on women’s rights.

Pence did take the religious road and stood up for his anti-abortion political views. Then the actress from the hit series Orange is the New Black really nailed it when she pointed out Kaine’s rebuttal against Pence’s religious political views.

Let’s face it, they are still two white men debating a female reproductive rights issue.

Which brings us back to the word of the evening, TRUST. And you can trust that I’ll be ready to bring you the highlights of the second presidential debate which takes place on Sunday, October 9 at 8 PM CT at Washington University in St. Louis and will be moderated by CNN anchor Anderson Cooper.

There are two remaining presidential debates that could finally see candidates address the burning question that Americans really want to know – what about marijuana legalization?

It’s more than a question of legalizing medicine and adult-use. The country is $19.3 trillion dollars in debt and, with the potential to make billions of dollars from one of the fastest growing industries in the U.S., the budding marijuana market could hold some answers to America’s money woes. It’s hard to imagine a better topic to discuss at a political debate, especially when it’s been proven that 420-legal states are collecting millions in taxes from their state-run medical and recreational marijuana programs.

The VP debate touched upon the debt and failing entitlement programs in flippant, talking-point-generated answers. Americans deserve to hear how the next president plans to fix America’s crippling debt. They also deserve to hear the candidates address cannabis, which can be life-saving medicine to patients and veterans.   

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