//How Mike Pence enabled Donald Trump’s botched Covid-19 response

How Mike Pence enabled Donald Trump’s botched Covid-19 response

President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence arrive for a rally in Newport News, Virginia, on September 25. | Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

Time and time again, Pence dutifully implemented Trump’s disastrous coronavirus agenda.

Vice President Mike Pence will go into Wednesday’s vice presidential debate versus Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) with a big stain on his record: his prominent leadership role in the White House’s failed response to Covid-19.

Starting in February, Pence was made the head of the White House’s coronavirus task force, which was charged with coordinating the federal response to the pandemic on a day-to-day basis. This put Pence in a leadership position for everything dealing with the coronavirus: testing, scaling up production and distribution of protective equipment, creating public health guidelines, spurring production of a vaccine, and so on — none of which, save the potential future success of