The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer has put together a very telling profile of our current Vice President Mike Pence and the terrifying prospect of his proximity to the top executive spot in our government. Forget the fact that the “Christian zealotry” of Mr. Pence seems to condone lying and had only months before becoming vice president, made Pence an obvious political pariah. Everyone seems to forget that Trump picked Pence because there wasn’t anyone else willing to take the job at the time. Watching Pence over the past few months grin and shake his head and defend Trump has just reminded everyone with any working senses what a raging pile of burning dirty socks Mike Pence is. It’s also reminded us of what a terrible person Donald Trump is. One of the more telling passages in the article is this one about Trump’s relationship to Pence’s religious zealotry.
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“Trump thinks Pence is great,” Bannon told me. But, according to a longtime associate, Trump also likes to “let Pence know who’s boss.” A staff member from Trump’s campaign recalls him mocking Pence’s religiosity. He said that, when people met with Trump after stopping by Pence’s office, Trump would ask them, “Did Mike make you pray?” Two sources also recalled Trump needling Pence about his views on abortion and homosexuality. During a meeting with a legal scholar, Trump belittled Pence’s determination to overturn Roe v. Wade. The legal scholar had said that, if the Supreme Court did so, many states would likely legalize abortion on their own. “You see?” Trump asked Pence. “You’ve wasted all this time and energy on it, and it’s not going to end abortion anyway.” When the conversation turned to gay rights, Trump motioned toward Pence and joked, “Don’t ask that guy—he wants to hang them all!”
So. Hilarious. The union of these two men is perfect. One simply wants power but has little care for God or Democracy, while the other wants power so badly that he has thrown himself headlong into a religiosity that will cover up his craven and sinful ambitions. In both cases our country loses to the special interests of two grotesquely flawed men.