Mike Pence has a whole new ugly scandal
As Donald Trump’s scandals come to a full boil, his vice president (and sometimes fixer) hasn’t been having much of a picnic either. In just one week, he managed to make news with not one but two scandals – one involving a drug dealer and the other involving a county sheriff. What he just pulled recently may not quite amount to a scandal – but that may depend largely on how Donald Trump will see it.
Over a week ago, Trump met in the Oval Office with the CEOs of several major U.S. airlines – it was intended to be a private meeting with representatives from American Airlines, United and Delta, among others – but we know about it because of a leak from Mike Pence’s office, where it was listed on his public schedule by accident, a story picked up by NBC News.
The airline execs are unhappy about Qatar Airways and two Emirati airlines that they compete with, as these airlines are subsidized by their respective governments. Knowing that Donald Trump spends most of his days watching Fox News, they bought air time on the network to get his attention and set up their meeting – one that didn’t go so well for the execs, as Trump ultimately said no.
The story confirms a few things that aren’t all that surprising – but could point to more. Namely, it reveals that more than one CEO has figured out a way to play to Trump even without staying at his hotels (and we may soon find out who else has been pulling this stunt) and that the administration is a chaotic clown show, where there isn’t a whole lot of interaction between Trump and Pence’s inner circles. There is the possibility that Pence’s office could fire the leaker – but doing so would only manage to spell that fact out more. Whatever happens, expect a whole lot more tension and infighting between their camps.
James Sullivan is the assistant editor of Brain World Magazine and an advocate of science-based policy making