DES MOINES, Iowa — The choice facing voters in November is not just about freedom but about the values passed down to future generations, according to Vice President Mike Pence — even down to protecting the great American cheeseburger.
In a speech to farmers and ranchers at the Iowa State Fairground, he ridiculed Sen. Kamala Harris for demanding people to change their eating habits to protect the environment.
“In her short campaign for president, the senator said Americans needed to be, and I quote, ‘educated of the effect of our eating habits on our environment,’” he said as the audience of about 150 people guffawed.
“Sen. Kamala Harris said she would change the dietary guidelines of this country to reduce the amount of red meat Americans could eat.”
By this time, the audience was booing.
“Well, I’ve got some red meat for you,” he continued as the soundtrack changed to cheers. “We’re not going to let Joe Biden and Kamala Harris cut America’s meat,” he declared.
“Joe Biden and Kamala Harris even have a $2 trillion plan to abolish fossil fuels. He wants to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord and implement his own version of the Green New Deal,” Pence charged. “I don’t have to tell all of you these radical left policies would devastate America’s farmers and ranchers.”
At a Democratic town hall last year, Harris admitted her fondness for burgers. “To be very honest with you, I love cheeseburgers from time to time. I just do,” Harris said. But when asked if she wanted to cut red meat consumption, she said that she did.
President Trump won Iowa by 9 percentage points in 2016 but is now ahead only by a whisker.
Pence arrived in Des Moines to launch the Farmers and Ranchers for Trump coalition.
He said that Trump had created more than 7 million jobs before the coronavirus struck and that his USMCA trade deal was responsible for generating $2.2 billion more in agricultural exports to Canada and Mexico.
