Mike Pence just made it even worse for himself
After Donald Trump was impeached, the Senate should have voted to remove him from office. The fact they did not means we were spared unknown misery under a second uniquely dreadful president within only a few years. Mike Pence does not share Trump’s penchant for posting insulting tweets and wanting to take all the credit for everything good in the world. However, a Pence presidency would have been a horror show in its own right.
The mask fiasco that occurred when Pence visited the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota on Tuesday has managed to get even worse, and it is more proof that a President Pence would be a disaster for America. What started with a stupid decision to flout the Mayo Clinic’s rules and send the wrong message to the public during a pandemic, has now turned into a fascist attack on the press for reporting the unflattering truth.
After Karen Pence told Fox News on Thursday that her husband was not made aware of the Mayo Clinic’s policy requiring masks, Fox News correspondent John Roberts tweeted that her statement contradicts the Mayo Clinic’s tweet that Pence was indeed informed about the policy before the visit began. Voice of America reporter Steve Herman replied to Roberts’ tweet to add his personal observation: “All of us who traveled with him were notified by the office of @VP the day before the trip that wearing of masks was required @MayoClinic and to prepare accordingly.”
So, not only was Pence aware of the mask policy, but it appears Pence’s own office reached out to reporters who would be accompanying him to make sure they all wore masks to the Mayo Clinic. Pence is now trying to retaliate against Herman for speaking out against the kingdom. According to the Washington Post, Pence’s office has accused Herman of violating off-the-record terms of the trip’s planning memo and is considering banning him from future travel aboard Air Force Two, possibly pending an apology.
Brett Bruen, who served as President Obama’s Director of Global Engagement, defended Herman, tweeting that he “did not leak sensitive information” and that he “tweeted publicly available information.” Also, the Washington Post’s Gordon Lubold tweeted a similar reply to the same Roberts tweet on Thursday, backing up Herman’s claim: “also, everyone in the entire Mayo Clinic had a mask on, everyone, and we were all told the day before we had to wear a mask if we entered the clinic.” However, Pence’s office has, curiously, not bothered to threaten any retaliatory action against him.
An Irish proverb tells us, “Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t know.” Donald Trump is the devil we know all too well, and his final day in office can’t come soon enough. While we don’t know exactly what a President Pence would do, we know for sure that, like Trump, Mike Pence has no business running a democracy.
Ron Leshnower is a lawyer and the author of several books, including President Trump’s Month