Mike Pence - former Member of Congress.... Evangelical.... Governor of Indiana ... and all around... well.... someone who will do or say anything to get away from his home state. At least, that is what it appears to be. You see, in addition to being a total loon, Donald Trump apparently is a master magician as well. With one wave of the Vice-Presidential magic wand, the Donald has transformed Mike Pence from the solid and principled conservative he has been for 20 years and more to the ultimate yes man for almost-nominated Trump. A simple comparison of the record and policy positions of Pence and Trump tells the story of how substantial a transformation Pence's recent visit to NYC really was.
Mike Pence has a policy record in the Congress and as Governor of Indiana that is sharply at odds with the Trump positions. Like Hillary Clinton, Pence voted for and supported the Iraq war. Trump delights in attacking Hillary as having "very poor judgment" for that vote, but spins a rationalization for Pence, with the very same vote. In one MSNBC interview, Trump appeared to be caught like a deer in the headlights of a speeding car when asked about this apparent gross inconsistency. The Donald said that Pence's vote was OK... after all, "he is entitled to a mistake and information was misrepresented." Hillary, evidently, isn't entitled to the very same courtesy.
And, then there is the issue same-sex marriage - Trump says it's OK and Pence is opposed. On the issue of transgender use of particular bathrooms, Trump says that in his hotels, who cares what bathroom an individual uses while Pence signed an Indiana bill into law to limit bathroom use to the birth gender of the individual. Pence is opposed to women right to choose and have control of their own body as upheld in Roe v. Wade. In fact, as a Member of Congress, he announced that his greatest day would be the day that a future Supreme Court (with Judges evidently appointed by Trump) reverses Roe v. Wade thereby destroying a woman's right to choose. Pence said, "I long for the day that Roe v. Wade is sent to the trash heap of history." He also sponsored a bill in congress that would have allowed hospitals to refuse to perform abortions even in those cases where the life of the mother was at risk. Trump, on the other hand, says that he is anti-abortion but fudges on several exceptions... and stated in another interview that a woman who violates the law and gets an abortion outside any applicable limitations "should get some form of punishment." Pence voted for legislation that would give "personhood" rights to embryos. What a team! Scary, right?
Pence has said that tobacco doesn't kill, supports the NRA position that guns don't kill either... so, guns-for-all is the answer, denies the impact of human activity on global warming (must be cow releases of methane), supported the shut-down of the federal government to prevent the funding of (pick one) Obamacare, Planned Parenthood, Food Stamps, Medicaid, School Lunch Program, and/or PBS. He threatened to block funding for hurricane Katrina relief unless cuts were made to Medicare , and the National School Lunch Program. If all of this sounds vaguely familiar or that you may have heard those positions or demands before, you are right. These positions have been the issues of the Tea Party, the Evangelical Movement, and the Far Right for decades. And, in fact, you can find the very same positions in the Speaker Ryan Budget and in the Republican Platform just adopted this week. That's right - Mike Pence is a darling of these groups.... and that is why Donald Trump selected him instead of Newt Gingrich or Chris Christie as his running mate. The Trump plan is to secure his right flank with the Pence candidacy and go for the middle ground with a dash of Law and Order, attacks on minorities and immigrants - especially Muslims - and a new round of isolationism seasoned with heavy doses of fear-mongering, finger-pointing, scapegoating, and blaming others for the challenges that we face as a nation.
The result is Trump's long-held positions of building a wall to keep Latin American immigrants out of the United States, exporting 11 million or more current illegal immigrants who are living in our communities, preventing any further Muslim immigration, and vigorously interrogating current Muslims living here in peace to make sure that they do not harbor any ill will toward the USA, are all still on the table. When Pence endorsed Ted Cruz for the Nomination during the primary cycle, he opposed the wall, questioned the strategy of rounding up all of the illegals already here by special squads of INS Agents and busing them out of the country by the millions, and commented that discrimination against all Muslims was just plain wrong. When asked about these inconsistencies last week - after Trump announced his selection as his Vice Presidential running mate, Pence dodged the questions and, instead, described Trump as " a good man" who would become a "great president." Huh? Does Pence support Trump and his policies? Or, does Trump support Pence's policies - the man who is one heartbeat away from the Presidency and who's positions are largely opposite Trump's positions? Or, maybe this political marriage isn't about governance and policy after all but, simply raw, rough and tumble politics? Do Trump and Pence actually stand for nothing at all and would they say or do virtually anything to get to the White House and the power that comes with the office? What do you think? The only thing that seems to be missing are the brown shirts, the burning books, and the street thugs in uniform. We do, however, have the Trump salute and loyalty oath as witnessed during the primary at several Trump "rallies." The question is, did Mike Pence do the Trump salute, drink the Trump cool-aid, and swear the Trump loyalty oath before or after he had a Trump steak with some Trump wine? What other price did Pence pay to get his ticket punched as a Vice-Presidential candidate on the 2016 Trump ticket? Only time will tell. Perhaps we will get the answer to that question about the time that we see the Trump tax returns. Don't hold your breath.....
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