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‘Nation of miracles’: Pence pledges coronavirus vaccine by year’s end

In his headliner address at the Republican National Convention, the vice president hailed the administration’s pandemic response.

By QUINT FORGEY

Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday called the United States a “nation of miracles” and said Americans would see the development of a successful coronavirus vaccine before the end of the year.

In his headliner address on the third night of the Republican National Convention, Pence hailed the Trump administration’s management of the pandemic and repeatedly sought to paint Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, as a pessimist who could not realize the country’s potential.

“Last week, Joe Biden said that no miracle is coming,” Pence told supporters in his speech at the historic Fort McHenry in Baltimore.

“Well, what Joe doesn’t seem to understand is that America is a nation of miracles,” he said. “And I’m proud to report that we’re on track to have the world’s first safe, effective coronavirus vaccine by the end of this year.”

Pence’s timeline comes as President Donald Trump continues to push the Food and Drug Administration to speed up its approval of a Covid-19 vaccine — a pressure campaign that public health experts warn could have dangerous consequences.

But Pence, who has overseen the federal government’s coronavirus response, appeared intent on Wednesday on emphasizing only the positive when it came to the pandemic.

“After all the sacrifice in this year like no other, all the hardship, we’re finding our way forward again,” he said.

Pence mourned for “all the families who have lost loved ones“ to Covid-19 and praised the “heroic teachers and faculty and staff” who are helping the administration “open up America again.”

He also appealed to Americans not on the front lines of the pandemic, saying that they would “have a role to play” and a “choice to make” as the country works to claw its way out of a cratered economy and active public health crisis.

“On November 3, you need to ask yourself: Who do you trust to rebuild this economy?” Pence said. “A career politician who presided over the slowest economic recovery since the Great Depression? Or a proven leader who created the greatest economy in the world?”

Pence went on to level more incendiary attacks at his predecessor, calling the former vice president a “cheerleader for communist China” and a “Trojan horse for a radical left.”

“The hard truth is, you won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America,” he said.

But at the heart of Pence’s critique of Biden was an attempt to recast the Democratic nominee as the candidate of doom and gloom.

Pence referenced Biden’s dire assessments of the pandemic, his comments about the country’s systemic racism, and his reported opposition to the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

“At the root of [Democrats’] agenda is the belief that America is driven by envy, not aspiration,” Pence said, adding that Biden would “set America on a path of socialism and decline.”

“Where Joe Biden sees American darkness,” Pence said, “we see American greatness.”

Of course, Pence also spent ample time in his address discussing the top of the Republican ticket, seeking to provide voters a first-hand account of Trump’s performance in office.

Pence said he has been able to “work closely” with the president “when the cameras are off,” and dismissed Trump’s abrasive language as a sign of deeply held conviction.

“If you want a president who falls silent when our heritage is demeaned or insulted, he’s not your man,” Pence said, making an implicit mention of Trump’s controversial comments about Confederate imagery.

Pence, who often serves as a bridge between Trump’s coalition and the more traditional elements of the Republican Party, even nodded to the odd-couple nature of his political pairing with the president.

“We came by very different routes to this partnership, and some people think we’re a little bit different,” he said.

Throughout it all, Pence remained unfailingly deferential to the president on the penultimate night of a convention that has put on vivid display Trump’s dominance of the modern GOP.

Introducing his 87-year-old mother, Nancy, early in his address, the vice president remarked that “sometimes, I think I’m actually her second-favorite candidate on the Trump-Pence ticket.”