As egregious as Donald Drumpf’s missteps in this election have been, few people have really drawn any real attention to the following fact: Mike Pence is worse. Sure, Drumpf may be the one spouting all of his nonsense, inciting fear and hatred, and generally being a bigoted asshat but Mike Pence is still his Vice Presidential running mate who waves away, justifies, or adopts Drumpf’s harmful rhetoric. It’s one thing to “just be yourself” and be an outwardly awful person but another thing entirely to pretend to be a man of principle while refusing to take a stand and distance yourself from the awful person. You’ve always heard that you’re judged by the company you keep and, in this case, Pence is an awful person.
Pence has had ample opportunity to stand on American values and make what would be an enormously historic statement in American politics by simply saying, “I cannot in good conscience back a man who would undermine American democracy with abandon” and formally remove himself as Drumpf’s running mate. Think of how Pence would be remembered for decades – maybe centuries – just by making a single gesture of patriotism and moral fortitude! He could be one of the most famous politicians of all time!
Instead, Pence has weathered the storm like a good little Republican soldier. His ambition and party loyalty clearly outweigh his love for America, its people, and the American system of government. He’s had blatant, public moments of disparity with Drumpf’s stances (in one case, Drumpf dismissing Pence’s stance by saying, “he and I haven’t spoken but … [we’ll do it my way]”) and when confronted simply waves his hand and implies that these things will just naturally work themselves out when they’re in office. If you believe this, you’re deluded. Pence is running with a man who literally thinks being the President means he’s the king of the country. Pence is either so stupid or so eager to be Vice President that he doesn’t even notice that the only reason he’s on the ticket is because Drumpf was forced to pick someone. If it’s the former, then why would we want a stupid person in the White House? If it’s the latter, then Pence is a dangerous zealot who doesn’t deserve the office.
Pence truly believes Drumpf’s ignorant bullshit about abortion
Pence is a hardline abortion opposer who truly believes Drumpf’s ignorant bullshit about doctors ripping babies out of their mothers’ wombs at the last minute in some kind of ridiculous and non-existent baby holocaust. See the following links for clarification:
- Guttmacher Institute Fact Sheet
- NY Daily News – Rebuttal From Patient
- The Independent – Cecily Kellogg “How Dare You“
- Huffington Post – Dr. Jennifer Gunter
- Romper – Unacceptable
- Politifact – Marco Rubio was wrong too
- Death & Taxes – I Barfed
- NPR – Separating Fact from Spin
Pence believes Christianity is under attack
Pence is a big-time advocate of RFRA (Religious Freedom Restoration Act) which not only allows religious people to openly discriminate against minorities and LGBTQ individuals, but urges it through its language and the defense against a vague “substantial burden to the exercise of religion.” Pence believes Christianity is under attack by the Supreme Court, the media, Muslims, and atheists because he isn’t allowed to lead a public school classroom in a mandatory prayer or deny equal rights to minorities, LGBTQ folk, people of other faiths, and women. He is exactly the kind of Christian who, if he were Muslim instead, would be aligned with ISIS in their crusade to enforce Sharia Law throughout the land. However, we’re not acknowledging this awful truth because Christians don’t blow themselves up with suicide vests – they just oppress people and whine like bitches about their “right” to practice their religion on other people being taken away from them. Poor, persecuted Christians.
When you look at Pence you should never look at him as an innocent bystander or a victim of Drumpf’s stupidity, you should look at him as an enabler and a colluder. He’s where he is now because he purposely put himself there. When you look at Pence look at how he’s placed party loyalty and political ambition ahead of patriotism and decency. Pence is a deplorable member of Drumpf’s authoritarian nightmare.
Talk about a missed opportunity.
