Perhaps you’ve wondered how someone as immoral and corrupt as President Trump manages to work with a supposedly religious person like Vice President Mike Pence. And it turns out the answer definitely proves what massive hypocrites both men are.
In a new report from Jane Mayer of the New Yorker, we learn that Trump is fond of making fun of Pence’s beliefs. During a discussion of gay rights, Trump allegedly pointed to Pence and commented:
“Don’t ask that guy—he wants to hang them all!”
Another time, Mayer notes, a legal scholar told Trump and Pence that even if the Supreme Court did overturn the Roe v. Wade decision which legalized a woman’s right to an abortion, many states would legalize the procedure. That led Trump to tell Pence:
“You see? You’ve wasted all this time and energy on it, and it’s not going to end abortion anyway.”
Trump is also known to ask people who have just come out of a meeting with Pence:
“Did Mike make you pray?”
Given that Pence has such extreme views on so many issues, should Democrats and progressives hope that Trump isn’t forced from office? Ron Klain, who was chief of staff to the former Vice-President Joe Biden, commented:
“There is no success for Mike Pence unless Trump works—he cannot run far enough or fast enough to not get hit by the falling tree. But he may think he can.”
Pence is also far from spotless when it comes to the Russia investigation. As chair of the transition team, Pence personally approved the appointment of Michael Flynn as National Security Adviser. Flynn was later fired when it became clear he had taken large sums of money from both Russia and Turkey. If Pence and his team vetted Flynn, how did they ever allow such a shady figure to be given one of the most important jobs in the new administration? Mayer writes:
“But had Pence stopped Flynn’s appointment Trump might not have become the object of a sprawling special investigation. Phil Sharp, the former Indiana representative, said, ‘There’s a leadership test here. There are real issues, and a failure to do something he was legally, ethically, and politically responsible for.’ Sharp added, ‘It also failed the basic Washington litmus test of self-preservation.’
“On February 13th, Trump fired Flynn, ostensibly for deceiving Pence, who looked like either a liar or a chump.”
Either way–liar or chump–Pence is up to his eyebrows in the Russia investigation. And even if he chooses to toss Trump under the bus, it may not be enough to save his own skin or his beloved Republican Party.
This article was originally published by the same author at LiberalAmerica.org