Here’s the thing about Donald Trump’s choice for vice president Gov. Mike Pence - the more you learn about him the more he comes across as a monster.
Pence is perhaps best known as the guy who cost his state $60 million during an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to make it legal to discriminate against gay people. However, his political history is littered with equally repugnant behavior. He’s a staunch climate denier, hates gay people, doesn’t understand evolution, loves restricting the rights of women, and gives tax handouts to corporations like Halloween candy. All of that is red meat for conservatives, which is probably why Trump (reluctantly) picked him.
However, Pence is so conservative and such an asshole, that he once did something that most Republicans probably won’t enjoy: He accused Nancy Reagan of “desecrating” her husband’s legacy by supporting stem cell research.
As The Progressive notes, in 2004 then-U.S. Representative Pence was joined by professional conservative whackjob Phyllis Schlafly at an event that would very quickly get completely out of hand. In the audience, a woman asked the pair how conservatives can best ensure that Ronald Reagan’s legacy lives on for future generations. By all measures, it was a softball question lobbed right over the plate. Pence botched it.
Then, with index finger wagging, Pence strangely pivoted and attacked none other than Ronald Reagan’s newly minted widow, Nancy Reagan, for invoking the president’s name in her support of using fetal tissue in stem cell research to find cures for many diseases, including Alzheimers.
“I pray for the family. I’ve buried parents. I’ve buried people I love, but those that would erode the sanctity of human life in the law, by advancing embryonic stem cell research in the name of Ronald Reagan, would do more than desecrate his memory than I can possibly imagine. He was devoted to the sanctity of human life and we need to continue within our party and within our country to courageously advance those same ideals that he advanced. And that’s the greatest tribute we can make.
Pence is so “pro-life” that he would rather one of his personal heroes suffer and succumb to a horrific disease than encourage the groundbreaking medical advancements made with the help of stem cells. He’s so “pro-life” that he doesn’t mind telling former First Lady, Nancy Reagan, that she’s being too emotional after the death of her husband to think clearly.
Whether you agree with Ronald and Nancy Reagan politically, it should be obvious that nobody deserves to suffer from a disease as awful as Alzheimers. For Pence, he didn’t even hesitate before accusing Nancy of “desecrating” her husband’s memory by seeking a cure. That’s astonishing.
In selecting Pence to be his VP, Trump is signalling to the country that his priorities are in winning whatever the cost. Even if it means standing next to a guy who is so “socially conservative” that he would attack a grieving widow to prove it.
Featured image via Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images and Hulton Archive/Getty Images
