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mike pence

Democracy

On Fox News, Pete Buttigieg posed the 'Mike Pence question' so many of us have wondered about

Frederick Joseph/Twitter

Ever since Donald J. Trump won the Republican primary in 2016, I've had so many questions. Four years later, most of them still remain unanswered.

For example how does a man who has had so many failed businesses convince people he's a great businessman? How does a man who was fined $2 million for using misusing charitable donations for his own political gain convince people he's charitable? How does a man who paid a $25 million settlement to students he defrauded with his fake "university" convince people he'll be trustworthy with the highest office in the land? How does a man who the entire country heard say he "tried to f*ck" a married woman and grabs women "by the p*ssy" get any women to vote for him? How could a man who cheated on all three of his wives, paid hush money to a porn star, spends his Sunday mornings golfing instead of going to church, and dodges questions about the Bible gain the adoration of evangelical Christians?

It's that last question that has perhaps been the most baffling one to me. Especially considering the super devout Christian beliefs of his vice president and running mate, Mike Pence. Like, how does that even work?

Last night, former Democratic candidate Pete Buttigieg, who has become a strong surrogate for the Biden-Harris campaign, actually went there on Fox News. When asked why Kamala Harris seems to have some different stances on certain issues now than she did in the primary, Buttigieg pointed out the "classic parlor game of trying to find a little bit of daylight between running mates." He said if they wanted to do that, they could—then he flipped the script and laid down the big question of why Pence, as an evangelical Christian, would want to be on a ticket with a man who was caught with a porn star.

Yep, he did.

Even the Fox News anchors seemed a bit stunned for a second. Weren't expecting that, were we?

Now, some may say—and rightly so—that it's no one's business what a man does in private, but that doesn't exactly jibe with famously anti-LBGTQ+ Mike Pence's ultra-conservative views on what other people do in the privacy of their bedrooms. And we still don't have an answer as to how Pence looks at himself in the mirror in the morning before going to work for a man who embodies everything Christ taught against.

I mean, it's not like Pence has distanced himself from Trump at all. Every time he opens his mouth, the first words that pop out are some kind of gushing praise for the president. Seeing people's positive qualities is one thing, but this is something else entirely. There are entire videos made about Pence's historically sycophantic butt-kissing, and it's the first thing that stands out the most to me when I see him walk up to a podium and start speaking. It's genuinely weird and creepy under any circumstances, but considering the gaping canyon between what Mike Pence purports to be about and what Donald Trump actually is, it's mind-boggling.

Seriously. It hurts the brain to try to make sense of it. Part of me wishes Kamala Harris had asked him that question last night, but she'd probably get called trashy for it.

Buttigieg is on a roll with his Fox News appearances, calmly and eloquently smashing through the network's standard pro-Trump tropes and laying out the facts matter-of-factly.

The guy really is good at getting to the heart of the matter. Here he is sharing his thoughts on the president backing out of next week's debate because he doesn't want to do it virtually (despite the fact that tens of millions of us are working and learning and communicating with loved ones virtually—and the vast majority of us aren't actively infected with COVID).

So many questions about this president and those who continue clinging to his sinking ship remain unanswered. All I can come up with is that partisanship combined with a cult of personality makes one hell of a cocktail.

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Even gun owners are irked by the NRA’s ‘foolish’ hypocrisy on a Mike Pence event.

Mike Pence is headed to Dallas on May 4 to speak at the National Rifle Association's leadership forum.

But — there’s a catch!

Mike Pence speaking at the 2014 event in Indiana. Photo by John Gress/Getty Images.

Attendees, um... *drops voice to a whisper *... won’t be allowed to bring their guns to the event.

As the NRA website informs attendees:

“Due to the attendance of the Vice President of the United States, the U.S. Secret Service will be responsible for event security at the NRA-ILA Leadership Forum. As a result, firearms and firearm accessories, knives, or weapons of any kind will be prohibited in the forum prior to and during his attendance.”

But doesn’t that contradict the NRA’s theory that more guns in public spaces will keep everyone safer?

The irony wasn’t lost on many. One of those pointing out the group’s contradiction was Stoneman Douglas student Cameron Kasky.

The Florida teen has been one of the more outspoken advocates calling for gun law reform in the wake of the mass shooting at his school in February, speaking at the March for Our Lives rally and using his large social media platform to promote change.

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

Kasky shared a screengrab of the NRA’s policy on Twitter, noting the near-comedic level of hypocrisy: “The NRA has evolved into such a hilarious parody of itself.”

His post clearly struck a chord with many followers, amassing over 11,000 retweets and almost 32,000 likes as of this writing.

Fellow Stoneman Douglas classmate Matt Deitsch chimed in, mocking the NRA’s hypocrisy in Kasky’s replies.

“You’re telling me to make the V.P. safe there aren’t any weapons around, but when it comes to children they want guns everywhere?” Deitsch wrote, referring to the NRA’s push to get more guns in schools.

Some pointed out it was the Secret Service’s mandate to prohibit firearms at the event — not the NRA’s. But even then: The fact the NRA was “yielding” to the Secret Service gave off a bad look, according to many Second Amendment supporters.

“Obviously even Republicans and so-called leaders don’t trust the ‘good guys,’” someone wrote on a message board for gun owners, The Washington Post spotted. “I realize it’s the VP, but still makes our whole argument look foolish.”

“In my opinion, the very people that claim to protect the [Second Amendment] should never host an event that requires disarming the good guys,” the post continued. “Sad. No excuses for this… it makes us look stupid.”

The problem isn’t that the NRA is bowing to pressure from the Secret Service.

It’s that the entire notion that a “good guy with a gun” makes everyone safer is a fallacy propped up by fear-mongering.

It’s an idea that’s certainly not backed by hard data. And, in fact, research suggests just the opposite is true: The U.S. has many more guns than the rest of the developed world, looser gun control laws — and the rates of gun violence to show for it.

If only the NRA cared about everyday Americans’ safety as much as it does the vice president’s.

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John Oliver is selling a kids book about Mike Pence's rabbit. But there's ... a twist.

Believe it or not, two kids books about Mike Pence's family pet rabbit, Marlon Bundo, were just released.

But they tell wildly different tales.

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

One of them, "Marlon Bundo’s Day in the Life of the Vice President," is a story created by the Pence family about their furry creature's experiences living in Washington.

Perfectly innocent. Right? Eh, not quite.

On a new episode of "Last Week Tonight With John Oliver," the TV host spotted something discouraging about Marlon Bundo's book tour.

It stops by Focus on the Family — a vehemently anti-LGBTQ group that opposes a number of basic human rights for queer people and has a history of supporting gay conversion therapy (a harmful practice that attempts to change a person's sexual orientation).

The vice president, who is one of the most anti-LGBTQ legislators in the country, is a big fan of the organization. Naturally.

With that in mind, the "Last Week Tonight" team decided to make their own rabbit-inspired book too: "A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo."

"You’ll notice right away that our rabbit has a bow tie, so there’s that," Oliver pointed out about the differences between the two publications on the March 18, 2018, show. But there's an even more striking contrast: In "A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo," Marlon is gay. He falls in love with another boy rabbit in the garden.

Yes, the book is for kids. Yes, it's real. And yes, it's actually for sale.

[rebelmouse-image 19475957 dam="1" original_size="548x264" caption="GIF via "Last Week Tonight."" expand=1]GIF via "Last Week Tonight."

The best part? All of the proceeds from the "Last Week Tonight" book benefit two terrific groups helping LGBTQ people.

One is The Trevor Project, a crisis intervention nonprofit that helps struggling LGBTQ youth, and the other is AIDS United, an organization aimed at ending HIV/AIDS in the U.S.  

"Those are two great reasons to buy this book," Oliver said. "Another is that selling more books than Pence will probably really piss him off."

"Last Week Tonight" has a page where you can find out how to get your own copy of "A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo," and you can watch Oliver's segment on the book below:

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Maybe Joy Behar should apologize for this joke — but not to Mike Pence.

Mike Pence and conservative activists want Joy Behar to apologize on behalf of "offended" Christians everywhere, but it turns out that outrage is manufactured purely to score political points.

It all began back in February when "The View" co-host took part in a segment on whether the vice president's religious views are good for the country.

After two of her co-hosts mocked the VP for reportedly claiming to speak directly with Jesus Christ, Behar quipped, "It's one thing to talk to Jesus. It’s another thing when Jesus talks to you. That's called mental illness, if I'm not correct — hearing voices."

Pence said that Behar and ABC should apologize to all Christians for using "The View" as "a forum for invective against religion like that." Behar apologized to Pence in a private phone call after poking fun at him.

Behar's manager claims Pence told her he wasn't personally offended. "The vice president was very gracious and very understanding. He understood that Joy wasn’t attacking anybody and that there was some miscommunication."

​Photos by Nick Step/Flickr and Gage Skidmore/Flickr.

The apology demand appears to have been a manufactured campaign from a right-wing interest group.

Why did Pence allegedly strike such a different tone in private versus his harsher public comments?

It might have something to do with the Media Research Center, a conservative advocacy group whose function seems to be to attack people and institutions in the media it feels reflect a bias against conservative views. Since Behar's comments last month, the group has been organizing a petition campaign among its members and has reportedly made 30,000 complaint calls to ABC.

All of which seems a little odd, given that Pence accepted Behar's apology weeks ago.

Nonetheless, it's possible Behar still owes an apology — but it's not to the conservative media activists now trying to create a controversy around a perceived persecution.

If Behar owes anyone an apology, it's to those affected by mental illness.

Behar's joke did lack good taste, but not because she supposedly offended Christians. After all, no faith leaders or organizations have publicly complained about her comments. Behar's joke did lack good taste, but not because she supposedly offended Christians. After all, no faith leaders or organizations have publicly complained about her comments. Instead, Behar was insensitive to those with mental illness. These sorts of jokes and offhand comments create stigma and prop up an culture that inflicts suffering and even death upon people with mental illnesses.

Whether she was right or wrong, it was a decent move on Behar's behalf to offer Pence a public apology. And if the reports are accurate, it sounds like Pence also was gracious during their call.

But let's not lose sight of the fact that her joke was absolutely not an attack of Christians or any of faith for that matter. Generating false outrage to score political points doesn't seem like the good samaritan thing to do.

Instead, the next positive step could be for Behar and Pence to agree that jokes referencing mental illness should remain off-limits, and they can take their political disagreements elsewhere.

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