The Pence-Harris vice presidential debate is about to begin. Follow for a video thread.

The optics of the plexiglass dividers aren't great for Pence

These are the first words out of Harris's mouth: "The American people have witnessed what is the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country."

Harris: "They knew and they covered it up. The president said it was a hoax. They minimized the seriousness of it ... in spite of all of that, today they still don't have a plan."

Q: Why is the US coronavirus death toll higher than comparable countries?

PENCE: *doesn't answer the question but instead touts Trump's accomplishments*

[get a look at Harris's face while he says this]

"Mr Vice President, I'm speaking"

Q: How can you expect Americans to follow the administration's safety guidelines for Covid when the administration won't?

PENCE: "President Trump and I have great confidence in the American people."

"The reality is the work of the POTUS goes on. A vacancy on SCOTUS has come upon us, and the POTUS introduced Amy Coney Barrett" -- Pence is talking like the White House superspreader event was something Trump *had* to hold

"Let's talk about respecting the American people. You respect the American people when you tell them the truth." -- Harris

Pence seems to sense that Harris drew blood during the coronavirus section of the debate and tries to circle back to it even as the moderator wants to move on

If pigs had wings they could fly

"Donald Trump is in debt for $400 million. Just so everyone is clear, when we say 'in debt,' it means you owe money to somebody. It would be really good to know who the POTUS, the commander-in-chief, owes money to." -- Harris

Note how Pence does not deny the NYT's reporting about Trump's taxes but instead says "the president denies" it

"I remember hearing about some infrastructure week -- I don't think it ever happened," Harris says, adding: "There was a time our country believed in science."

Harris: "Biden is the one who, during the Great Recession, was responsible for the Recovery Act that brought America back, and now the Trump-Pence administration wants to take credit, when they rode the coattails of Joe Biden's success."

"If you have a preexisting condition -- heart disease, diabetes, breast cancer -- they're coming for you" -- Kamala Harris

"The climate is changing, but the issue is, what's the cause?" -- Mike Pence is out here pretending like climate science is unsettled. It's not.

"President Trump and I believe that forest management has to be front and center" -- Pence

"Joe understands that the West Coast of our country is burning, including my home state of California ... So Joe believes, again, in science" -- Harris

Q: Do you believe that climate change presents an existential threat?

PENCE: "The climate is changing. We'll follow the science. But once again, Sen. Harris is denying the fact that they're going to raise taxes."

"There are estimates that the end of the term of this administration, they will have lost more jobs than almost any other presidential administration, and the American people know what I'm talking about." -- Harris

"China is to blame for the coronavirus, and President Trump is not happy about it" -- Pence

"There was a team of disease experts that President Obama and
VP Biden dispatched to China to monitor what is now predictable, and what might happen. They pulled them out. We now are looking at 210,000 Americans who have lost their lives" -- Harris

"It's about relationships. The thing that has always been part of the strength of our nation, in addition to our great military, has been that we keep our word. Donald Trump doesn't understand that, because he doesn't know what it means to be honest" -- Harris

Pence tries to blame Joe Biden for the death of Kayla Mueller at the hands of ISIS. Pretty gross.

Pence is asked a question about if he supports banning all abortion and immediately pivots to a weird and totally unrelated rant about ISIS

"There is the issue of choice, and I will always fight for a woman's right to make a decision about her own body. It should be her decision, not that of Donald Trump and Mike Pence." -- Harris

Q: How would your administration protect Americans with preexisting conditions if the ACA is struck down?

PENCE: *praises Trump and talks about abortion, doesn't answer question*

"I trust our justice system, a grand jury that refused the evidence" -- Pence says he thinks justice was done in the Breonna Taylor case

Pence has had a fly on his head for about 5 minutes

"We are talking about an election in 27 days where last week, the President of the United States, in front of 70 million Americans, refused to condemn white supremacists" -- Harris

"President Trump has Jewish grandchildren" -- Pence tries to push back on Trump's record of racism

Asked what he'd do if Trump doesn't accept a peaceful transfer of power, Pence admonishes Harris that "your party has spent the last 3.5 years trying to overturn the results of the previous election." He then lies about the FBI "spying" on Trump's campaign.

Karen Pence isn't wearing a mask