Split-screen campaign: Pence hits the road while Trump works Oval Office

So while Trump made global headlines announcing the normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Pence was dressed down in a checkered shirt, khakis, and a navy blazer to woo an audience in Des Moines, Iowa, by revealing record sales of American corn to China.

It reprises a division of labor rolled out at the start of the year — albeit with face masks, hand sanitizer, and social distancing and without the rallies.

“This is back to what we were doing,” said Pence’s press secretary Katie Miller.

She added that if the Democrats wanted to make the election about the coronavirus, then the president could face them in the briefing room, while Pence was on the road reminding voters of the administration’s record.

“We want to talk about everything else. And that’s a lot,” she said. “I think we have figured out how to do it in a COVID-friendly way in that we follow the codes, the guidance in all of these jurisdictions.”

Next week is Wisconsin. This week was Iowa, where Trump holds the narrowest of leads in a swing state and is now reeling from a devastating storm, the impact of the coronavirus, and the economic impact of the president’s trade war with China.

Pence met with families whose crops were devastated by the derecho that swept through the state on Monday, killing two people and leaving 800,000 people without power in the Midwest, before he addressed farmers at the Iowa State Fairgrounds.

He said the administration’s deal with Beijing had helped farmers export 1.94 million metric tons of corn to China in a single day in July — a record daily sales total.

Charlie Neibergall/AP

“I promise you we will continue to stand firm with China until we level the playing field, not just for American agriculture but for American manufacturing and American workers,” he said. “Under this president and this administration, we are putting America first.”

There were more cheer lines as he promised not to let Democratic vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris have her way in reducing the amount of red meat in the American diet.

But farmers here have also been facing the impact of the coronavirus, which closed restaurants and meat plants, slashing demand for food and feed with knock-on effects in agricultural services industries.

Pence offered assurances that the end of the coronavirus was in sight.

“I’m proud to say, I believe we will have a vaccine for the coronavirus by the end of this year,” he said, flanked by tractors on the podium. “Only in America. Only under this president.”

But there was no escaping the very visible signs of the coronavirus in this corner of the state. The Iowa State Fairgrounds, which should have been thrumming with visitors, was quiet.

Instead, the state fair is being held online this year. Its famous Sky Glider gondola ride stood idle, and livestock trucks were empty.

In another year, Pence would have been expected to be pictured with a corn dog or take the sort of diner stop deployed in May and June when the vice president lunched with governors in Florida and Atlanta to demonstrate that the United States was reopening for business.

He has abandoned the practice since ordering a cheeseburger and fries with a side of mostaccioli at the Engine House in Mount Clemens, Michigan, two months ago.

Although state regulations required restaurants to operate at 50% capacity and groups to be kept 6 feet apart, video from the Michigan event showed a busy dining room, with diners crammed around tables and well-wishers crowding into aisles.

Officials’ unease at the event could not have been helped by someone shouting, “Jello shots all round,” as the vice presidential party departed, according to an onlooker.