"and Pence was in charge". That statement almost made me fall off my chair !!! Oh, how I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in that room. My imagination runs wild though. I can picture it perfectly.
I am so glad you decided to write about Pence. I like to think of him like a wet dishrag, limp.
I have never watched the Sopranos, I guess it's time I made popcorn and gave it a go. Thanks, Greg this was a FUN read.
“Pence in charge” doesn’t mean that he would do anything differently, remember he is on the Trump team of crooks. Manafort likely chose him because of his reputation as a “religious born again” that got the Trump campaign team past that barrier with the extreme right religious Republicans. I read once that the evangelicals thought Pence would or could be their chance at bringing their religious ideology into the White House and as a basis for turning America into their religious ideal. This could be an entirely different article for Greg to write about...
Pence’s reputation for not dealing with the HIV crisis should be seen as the reason he didn’t do anything about corona virus, he’s inept in every way. It was likely “Mother’s” religious ties that got him the governorship in Indiana.
I hear Pompeo has his sights on the White House and that could use some scrutiny, in regards to religious ideology come home home to roost, at the detriment of church/state separation.
you all need bigger hearts. this one knocks it out of the park Mr. Olear. I never thought Pence was anything other than your accounting of him. His cruelty, his repressed self, his insertion by Paulie Ostrich Coat . . . He's a very dirty boy and I live long enough to see it all come out.
I never thought about all the chances Pence and the GOP had to rescue the nation from Trump, and the only reasonable conclusion to draw is that they are all in on Trump's crimes because they are all piece of property at this point. That transition team is bursting with crimers. I want all the dirt. I still think that the hacked but never released RNC emails are the fire source and I really don't understand why that factoid has just died and everyone on the bus is OK with that. Why did Lady G roll over? Why did Flake and Corker get the phuck out of dodge--that smells like intentional distancing. Mittens is covered by "i wasn't around" for all that. Liza and Ben Sasse are the biggest puzzles for me. Susan Collins husband does business in Russia. It's all about the dirty dirty money. i want all the dirt on the table. why is that so tough?
The GOPers who used to hate Trump and then suddenly love him...those are the ones he owns. Very easy to spot. Liz and Ben are the future of the GOP, probably, when the Trump stain has been washed off. So, you know, 2040 or so...
i don't want to "live forever" like my spouse, but i want to live long enough to see this stuff play out. the corruption runs deep in Donald's circle of hell.
The fact Pence is barely 60 and acts like he is 80 is another bizarre characteristic of this man made of wood. When is the reckoning with the religious right going to happen?
"Mark my words, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them."
- Barry Goldwater, 1964 Republican candidate for President, very far to the right of the party in those days.
As ever, a painfully cogent report on the criminals at the top of our “democracy.” Yet will any of these mobsters get their due under Biden, if under “God?” Doubtful. Soul crushing shit, Greg. But thank you. LB
I’m in total agreement with your take on Mike Pence, his role as Vice President, and his more than obvious lies, so telling when he blushes, turns all serious or is indignant at the question.
I’ve always wondered why Paul Manafort would have even known Pence, never mind choosing him as Trumps running mate, after all Manafort spent much of his time in Ukraine, or Russia, handling the oligarch Deripaska campaigns etc. Did Putin or mafya even know who Pence was?
Did Manafort’s partner Gates know about these matters and did he tell the feds when he made the deal?
This goes back to my thoughts on why Republicans support Trump in the first place-way back to the initial hacking of the DNC and the RNC. There would have been plenty of dirt to be had on every Republican by hacking their email, likely there would also been a few that already had ties to Russia or Ukraine for business dealings-ie Devin Nunes and his winery business-possibly loans from those oligarchs in Russia/Ukraine. Certainly it’s said that Rand Paul also had ties there, who knows why, but he’s certainly showing his treason now.
Trumpkins still supporting Trump do so because of his policy to wipe out everything Obama did while president, Trumps deregulation, and tax breaks, gives the 1% more money to play the rising stock market—$$ is their god, making more money for those who have money is sport.
First, I think the GOP is as crooked as the day is long, and the lightly-laundered Russian campaign funds have locked them into obedience to Putin & Co.
Second, the Tea Party proved that assholes could take ahold of the primary process, for which the majority of the party were simply uninterested. Thus, all the GOP crooks and their crimes would be exposed after their defeat in the rabid base-controlled primaries.
Third, with MangoWanker at the top, and the BarrWanker as AG, they knew (and still know) they will never be prosecuted as long as they keep MangoWanker in the White House. This is why so many signed onto the various "overthrow the election" gambits. They are desperate.
Fourth, they are all packed and ready to move to Moscow in 2021. Just look at the Republican camping trip to Moscow in 2018. They were scoping out dachas north of Moscow to flee for retirement.
Fifth, all the GOP traitors think they are buying loyalty from Trump by their treasonous actions against the Constitution, when the reality is that Trump is Only Loyal to Himself. (And Putin)
Oh, and one more thing. The COVID catastrophe has played out EXACTLY as MangoWanker wished (with Pence's help), MAXIMISING CHAOS, always to the advantage of would-be dictators.
Suburban mom here. Hotter than Pence: a clogged toilet. A toddler having a meltdown. Driving lacrosse carpool. A napping husband. Cat puke. Cooking dinner for 3 teenage male people.
Let's just say he has "teeth." We don't know where they came from or whose they are, but they're there. Actually, come to think of it, I have no memory of ever seeing his teeth, i.e. smiling THAT much, so I can't swear to it at all.
I hope, Greg, when you're not working on columns and the blog that you ARE working on a book. Or books. If LBJ was worthy of five volumes, Trump is at least eight or ten.
I'm old enough to remember a time when a Republican president didn't mean what it seems to mean now: a healthy dose of corruption with their conservatism. But, as we've learned, the conservatism is all fake, and all that's left is the corruption. Stuart Stevens' book is called "It Was All a Lie," and we're discovering just how true that is. Everything they say and do seems forced, insincere, and only designed to help themselves. They use their "conservatism" to be crooks behind the scenes. Trump, however, was never told that it was supposed to be "behind the scenes," not out in everyone's face. And now here we are. Trump AND the Trumplicans are trying desperately to make lies into the truth to, once again, cover their own asses, and hold onto power they neither deserve nor are able to manage.
Pence tries to seem different, but he gave me the creeps from the first moment I saw him. There is something deeply nefarious about him, but he knows how to keep things hidden. His problem is, like the song says, "you can't hide your lyin' eyes." Shortly after Trump's inauguration 100 years ago, Pence started being seen, in public, looking at Trump like they'd spent several summers on Brokeback Mountain. At first I thought, "well, what's that about?" Then I realized that Pence was making the mistake we've probably all made at one time or another: overcompensating. I'd imagine that as much as his piousness will allow, Pences HATES Trump and everything he stands for. But, like any good Republican, who has never even bothered to look up what "integrity" means, he's been eating shit for four years, and I'm sure assumes that will serve him in the future.
It's disgusting. All of it. I am STILL struggling with the fact that after four years of Trump, 74 million people said, "yeah, give me some more of that!" I'd have guessed that up to 35-40 million would vote for Trump to continue to "make the libs cry," but 74 million is a serious problem, without a solution.
What I'm still wondering is: in 21 days, Pence and Mother vacate the Naval Observatory, and then? What will he do? Where will he go? I remember him starting a PAC in 2017 shortly after the inauguration, and could NOT figure out why he would do that, but it's stuck with me all this time, so maybe there's something there. Pence, for all of his quirks, is still an enigma, and I want to see him, along with everyone else, exposed before we jettison the Trump administration to the dustbin of history. He's got skeletons, and clearly, a big closet to keep them in.
That pac was started by Lara Trump and others to skim cash from campaign donations, coming in. As long as Trump continues to yammer in about the election fraud he is receiving cash from those who still want America to burn..the 74 million is a lie there aren’t that many in his base they cheated on the number of Trump votes for sure... probably to appease him that he didn’t “lose that badly”
I think MOST of the election was a fraud, but now that Trump has turned "election fraud" into a joke, Dems would be stupid to try to follow up on it. Kentucky, for example, in no way had Mitch at an 18% approval rating, then a win of several points over McGrath. Same happened in SC and ME. Trump lost because the "riggers" didn't count on the white-hot hate for Trump that there is. It was just too much to overcome.
Great quote from Fr. Merrin, and fitting too. The White House, in addition to the sanitizing that's going to have to happen before Joe's team moves in, could also probably do with a couple of, "THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU!!"s too.
What the HELL is with Rasmussen? I knew they were right of center, but I didn't think they'd toss away whatever credibility they had for Trump. I've had that thought A LOT since 2015: "for Trump? FOR TRUMP?" The mind boggles.
(by Greg Olear, article) After the election, Pence chaired the Trump Transition Team, which members included Mike Flynn, Rudy Giuliani, Jeff Sessions, K.T. McFarland, Steve Bannon, Devin Nunes, Steve Mnuchin, Newt Gingrich, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Rebekah Mercer, Kellyanne Conway, Chris Christie, Chris Collins, Pam Bondi, Reince Priebus, Jared Kushner, and Ivanka, Eric, and Donald Trump, Jr.—the Legion of Doom, basically.
"and Pence was in charge". That statement almost made me fall off my chair !!! Oh, how I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in that room. My imagination runs wild though. I can picture it perfectly.
I am so glad you decided to write about Pence. I like to think of him like a wet dishrag, limp.
I have never watched the Sopranos, I guess it's time I made popcorn and gave it a go. Thanks, Greg this was a FUN read.
“Pence in charge” doesn’t mean that he would do anything differently, remember he is on the Trump team of crooks. Manafort likely chose him because of his reputation as a “religious born again” that got the Trump campaign team past that barrier with the extreme right religious Republicans. I read once that the evangelicals thought Pence would or could be their chance at bringing their religious ideology into the White House and as a basis for turning America into their religious ideal. This could be an entirely different article for Greg to write about...
Pence’s reputation for not dealing with the HIV crisis should be seen as the reason he didn’t do anything about corona virus, he’s inept in every way. It was likely “Mother’s” religious ties that got him the governorship in Indiana.
I hear Pompeo has his sights on the White House and that could use some scrutiny, in regards to religious ideology come home home to roost, at the detriment of church/state separation.
He's never really been in charge of anything, is the irony...
Exactly, and it made me laugh hard!
I mean I knew exactly what you were saying there. ;)
you all need bigger hearts. this one knocks it out of the park Mr. Olear. I never thought Pence was anything other than your accounting of him. His cruelty, his repressed self, his insertion by Paulie Ostrich Coat . . . He's a very dirty boy and I live long enough to see it all come out.
I never thought about all the chances Pence and the GOP had to rescue the nation from Trump, and the only reasonable conclusion to draw is that they are all in on Trump's crimes because they are all piece of property at this point. That transition team is bursting with crimers. I want all the dirt. I still think that the hacked but never released RNC emails are the fire source and I really don't understand why that factoid has just died and everyone on the bus is OK with that. Why did Lady G roll over? Why did Flake and Corker get the phuck out of dodge--that smells like intentional distancing. Mittens is covered by "i wasn't around" for all that. Liza and Ben Sasse are the biggest puzzles for me. Susan Collins husband does business in Russia. It's all about the dirty dirty money. i want all the dirt on the table. why is that so tough?
I meant larger heart emojis--the regular "heart" isn't enough for this piece. sorry for that oops in the opening of my fan-girl offering.
The GOPers who used to hate Trump and then suddenly love him...those are the ones he owns. Very easy to spot. Liz and Ben are the future of the GOP, probably, when the Trump stain has been washed off. So, you know, 2040 or so...
i don't want to "live forever" like my spouse, but i want to live long enough to see this stuff play out. the corruption runs deep in Donald's circle of hell.
The fact Pence is barely 60 and acts like he is 80 is another bizarre characteristic of this man made of wood. When is the reckoning with the religious right going to happen?
Ha! "Reckoning with the religious right"? NEVER. Not as long as they think they have your vote.
"Mark my words, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them."
- Barry Goldwater, 1964 Republican candidate for President, very far to the right of the party in those days.
I assume he does that to slow it down, so he doesn't lose his mind and break the fourth wall.
As ever, a painfully cogent report on the criminals at the top of our “democracy.” Yet will any of these mobsters get their due under Biden, if under “God?” Doubtful. Soul crushing shit, Greg. But thank you. LB
I have to believe that yes, they will.
From your lips, sir. 👊🏽
I’m in total agreement with your take on Mike Pence, his role as Vice President, and his more than obvious lies, so telling when he blushes, turns all serious or is indignant at the question.
I’ve always wondered why Paul Manafort would have even known Pence, never mind choosing him as Trumps running mate, after all Manafort spent much of his time in Ukraine, or Russia, handling the oligarch Deripaska campaigns etc. Did Putin or mafya even know who Pence was?
Did Manafort’s partner Gates know about these matters and did he tell the feds when he made the deal?
This goes back to my thoughts on why Republicans support Trump in the first place-way back to the initial hacking of the DNC and the RNC. There would have been plenty of dirt to be had on every Republican by hacking their email, likely there would also been a few that already had ties to Russia or Ukraine for business dealings-ie Devin Nunes and his winery business-possibly loans from those oligarchs in Russia/Ukraine. Certainly it’s said that Rand Paul also had ties there, who knows why, but he’s certainly showing his treason now.
Trumpkins still supporting Trump do so because of his policy to wipe out everything Obama did while president, Trumps deregulation, and tax breaks, gives the 1% more money to play the rising stock market—$$ is their god, making more money for those who have money is sport.
Once we view the entire GOP as its very own mob family, everything makes sense...
Well.
First, I think the GOP is as crooked as the day is long, and the lightly-laundered Russian campaign funds have locked them into obedience to Putin & Co.
Second, the Tea Party proved that assholes could take ahold of the primary process, for which the majority of the party were simply uninterested. Thus, all the GOP crooks and their crimes would be exposed after their defeat in the rabid base-controlled primaries.
Third, with MangoWanker at the top, and the BarrWanker as AG, they knew (and still know) they will never be prosecuted as long as they keep MangoWanker in the White House. This is why so many signed onto the various "overthrow the election" gambits. They are desperate.
Fourth, they are all packed and ready to move to Moscow in 2021. Just look at the Republican camping trip to Moscow in 2018. They were scoping out dachas north of Moscow to flee for retirement.
Fifth, all the GOP traitors think they are buying loyalty from Trump by their treasonous actions against the Constitution, when the reality is that Trump is Only Loyal to Himself. (And Putin)
Oh, and one more thing. The COVID catastrophe has played out EXACTLY as MangoWanker wished (with Pence's help), MAXIMISING CHAOS, always to the advantage of would-be dictators.
That is the sad truth. A national tragedy, in every way possible.
For the record, Mike Pence is not handsome
And here on Greg's Substack, you've totally won the internet!
TBH, this was the first time I'd heard or seen anyone make a reference like that. Pence is... well, I don't know what Pence is, but it's not handsome.
Did you click the links? CLick the links!
Goddammit, you made me click the links! Ugh, "laying pipe!" C'mon!!
Someone in a group I'm in posted that she fantasizes about him and I just about 🤮
Bet Pence is a closet queen....bet he wears female panties and “Mother” whips him when he’s bad...or for no reason at all...
In that case... <evil grin> I own a company that makes sissy maid dresses! ;)
This is the best comment thread this site has yet produced... : )
Yikes
Suburban mom here. Hotter than Pence: a clogged toilet. A toddler having a meltdown. Driving lacrosse carpool. A napping husband. Cat puke. Cooking dinner for 3 teenage male people.
I guess it's a matter of degree? He's more handsome than, say, Moscow Mitch, or LOuie Gohmert.
It is true that he appears to have all his own teeth
Are you sure about that?
I did hedge my bets with the verb ‘appears’ 😉
Let's just say he has "teeth." We don't know where they came from or whose they are, but they're there. Actually, come to think of it, I have no memory of ever seeing his teeth, i.e. smiling THAT much, so I can't swear to it at all.
I appreciate the Phoebe Snow reference!
Weird to have *just* finished the Sopranos in time to help understand what is going on here. That show should be required viewing.
Trump is the guy who owned Ramsey Outdoor, in relation to Putin. And Pence is that same guy, in relation to Trump.
I hope, Greg, when you're not working on columns and the blog that you ARE working on a book. Or books. If LBJ was worthy of five volumes, Trump is at least eight or ten.
I'm old enough to remember a time when a Republican president didn't mean what it seems to mean now: a healthy dose of corruption with their conservatism. But, as we've learned, the conservatism is all fake, and all that's left is the corruption. Stuart Stevens' book is called "It Was All a Lie," and we're discovering just how true that is. Everything they say and do seems forced, insincere, and only designed to help themselves. They use their "conservatism" to be crooks behind the scenes. Trump, however, was never told that it was supposed to be "behind the scenes," not out in everyone's face. And now here we are. Trump AND the Trumplicans are trying desperately to make lies into the truth to, once again, cover their own asses, and hold onto power they neither deserve nor are able to manage.
Pence tries to seem different, but he gave me the creeps from the first moment I saw him. There is something deeply nefarious about him, but he knows how to keep things hidden. His problem is, like the song says, "you can't hide your lyin' eyes." Shortly after Trump's inauguration 100 years ago, Pence started being seen, in public, looking at Trump like they'd spent several summers on Brokeback Mountain. At first I thought, "well, what's that about?" Then I realized that Pence was making the mistake we've probably all made at one time or another: overcompensating. I'd imagine that as much as his piousness will allow, Pences HATES Trump and everything he stands for. But, like any good Republican, who has never even bothered to look up what "integrity" means, he's been eating shit for four years, and I'm sure assumes that will serve him in the future.
It's disgusting. All of it. I am STILL struggling with the fact that after four years of Trump, 74 million people said, "yeah, give me some more of that!" I'd have guessed that up to 35-40 million would vote for Trump to continue to "make the libs cry," but 74 million is a serious problem, without a solution.
What I'm still wondering is: in 21 days, Pence and Mother vacate the Naval Observatory, and then? What will he do? Where will he go? I remember him starting a PAC in 2017 shortly after the inauguration, and could NOT figure out why he would do that, but it's stuck with me all this time, so maybe there's something there. Pence, for all of his quirks, is still an enigma, and I want to see him, along with everyone else, exposed before we jettison the Trump administration to the dustbin of history. He's got skeletons, and clearly, a big closet to keep them in.
I think he's probably been eating shit for a lot longer than 4 years, but I heartily agree with all your other thoughts on the matter.
Ha! That was my favorite line in the piece, BTW.
That pac was started by Lara Trump and others to skim cash from campaign donations, coming in. As long as Trump continues to yammer in about the election fraud he is receiving cash from those who still want America to burn..the 74 million is a lie there aren’t that many in his base they cheated on the number of Trump votes for sure... probably to appease him that he didn’t “lose that badly”
I think MOST of the election was a fraud, but now that Trump has turned "election fraud" into a joke, Dems would be stupid to try to follow up on it. Kentucky, for example, in no way had Mitch at an 18% approval rating, then a win of several points over McGrath. Same happened in SC and ME. Trump lost because the "riggers" didn't count on the white-hot hate for Trump that there is. It was just too much to overcome.
Thanks. I'm sure I'll write another book on all this. But we have to cross the finish line first!
Oh! Two things I missed in my first comment:
Great quote from Fr. Merrin, and fitting too. The White House, in addition to the sanitizing that's going to have to happen before Joe's team moves in, could also probably do with a couple of, "THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU!!"s too.
What the HELL is with Rasmussen? I knew they were right of center, but I didn't think they'd toss away whatever credibility they had for Trump. I've had that thought A LOT since 2015: "for Trump? FOR TRUMP?" The mind boggles.
Anyone who acts like that is either completely brainwashed or in on it.
'...outright sedition in the U.S. Capitol...'(article)
written/published
29 December 2020
Rasmussen quotes Stalin in tweet on US election
BY ZACK BUDRYK - 12/28/20 1:08 PM ET
(Article: Greg Olear, Prevail, ref.)
The Hill
December 28, 2020
Zach Budryk
(by Greg Olear, article) After the election, Pence chaired the Trump Transition Team, which members included Mike Flynn, Rudy Giuliani, Jeff Sessions, K.T. McFarland, Steve Bannon, Devin Nunes, Steve Mnuchin, Newt Gingrich, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Rebekah Mercer, Kellyanne Conway, Chris Christie, Chris Collins, Pam Bondi, Reince Priebus, Jared Kushner, and Ivanka, Eric, and Donald Trump, Jr.—the Legion of Doom, basically.