OKay, so now Trump is waiting until Monday, but we know it’s Pence. And the only good thing I can say about this guy is that he’s doing the people of Indiana a big honkin’ favor by leaving.
He’s one of those assholes who campaigned for the Indiana governor’s mansion by hiding his hard-right beliefs on social issues and pretending to be reasonable and mainstream. But he’s about as right-wing a true believer as you can find, and Indiana voters found that out rather quickly. (In a 2011 interview, he bragged, “I was Tea Party before it was cool.”)
He’s the kind of guy who left the Catholic Church — because it wasn’t punitive enough for him.
His previous congressional career was a big clue. He opposed George W. Bush’s proposal to privatize Social Security — because it didn’t go far enough. He opposed campaign finance reform as “unconstitutional” and Medicare Part D as an “unfunded entitlement program.” But he also learned to suck up to the press (the New York Times called him “The Perfect Conservative”) and as the GOP turned ever rightward, he was already leading the parade.
That’s because Mike Pence has had his eye on the White House for a very long time. Being Donald’s running mate would be a good way to raise his national profile for his own eventual candidacy.
Mike Pence is a man who thinks religious “rights” mean employers should get to fire workers over their sexual orientation. Remember, this is the same governor who signed a “Religious Rights Restoration Act” that inspired a pizza shop to deny service to a gay wedding reception, and faced a huge backlash from the Indiana business community.
Pence sees values — his values — as the cure for almost everything, including AIDS. In 2003, this was what he said in response to President George W. Bush’s proposal to send $15 billion to Africa to fight the AIDS epidemic there: “The timeless values of abstinence and marital faithfulness before condom distribution are the cure for what ails the families of Africa.”
What a guy.
Here’s Mike Pence’s “values” in action. When Democrat Glenda Ritz was elected as Superintendent of Public Instruction (she ran on a platform of stopping the Republicans from the mindboggling things they were doing to destroy the state’s public education system, and she had bipartisan support — she won with a larger percentage of the vote than Pence), the first thing Pence did was … sign a Republican bill stripping this duly elected Democrat of any power or authority to do that job.
So you can see what he has in common with Donald: His real “values” are expediency, and power.
Political writer Ed Kilgore notes that Pence’s advisers include people from the Koch brothers network, and that the anti-tax Club for Growth likes him a lot. The Christian right also sees him as a martyr for taking so many hits for the right to discriminate against LGBT folk.
Here are some other things to know about Mike Pense:
- Pence wasn’t favored to win reelection this year, so taking the VP offer was a no-brainer.
- He tried to block Syrian refugees from settling in Indiana.
- Pence voted for every single trade agreement while he was in Congress. Will his usefulness to Donald as a culture warrior override his trade record?
In any event, Pence is a choice aimed at consolidating Donald’s support in the GOP’s Christian fundamentalist base. He will get that particular job done.
Trumppence sounds like a very quaint Brittishism. Like a cocky little tuppence.
I’m in Indianapolis, so the bright side of this is that there is now 0% chance of Pence getting re-elected as governor.