"What are we going to do Mike?? We don't have any money! Who's going to pay for my inaugural gown??"

[pangaia]

What are we going to do Mike?': Trump's victory posed problems for Pence and his wife, new book says
Maureen Groppe, USA TODAY

OH, THIS IS TOOO GOOD !!!!! Just TOO GOOD !!!

WASHINGTON – Donald Trump’s unexpected 2016 victory was a bit awkward for his running mate’s political future and for his homelife, according to a new book about the vice president.

Instead of getting to run himself for the GOP nomination in 2020, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence would have to spend the next four years cleaning up after Trump, journalist Tom LoBianco writes in his book “Piety & Power: Mike Pence and the Taking of the White House” that publishes this month.

And then there was his angry wife.

Karen Pence had twice rebuffed her husband’s celebratory kiss on election night before exploding, during a briefing the next day with Secret Service agents, over concerns about how the financially-strapped couple would pay for their new life.

“What are we going to do Mike?? We don’t have any money! Who’s going to pay for my inaugural gown??” LoBianco quotes Karen Pence as saying.

SNIP

The Pences may not have needed the financial help if the couple, years before, hadn’t lost nearly $1 million Pence had inherited from his father. He invested in a pair of privately held companies which failed, according to LoBianco. Pence, whom the author describes as being in awe of those who make money, later lost close to $700,000 more in stock he’d held in the family’s gas station and convenience store business, which went bankrupt in 2001.

Those are some of the many details that LoBianco includes in the latest book that tries to answer the question of who is Mike Pence – and why the devout Christian has entwined himself with Trump.

LoBianco describes Pence as indecisive, but great at executing others' decisions. A "pleaser," Pence is kept on track by his “bulldog” wife and is easily manipulated by staff, according to the book.

SNIP

Still, he concludes that Pence is in the White House, serving someone like Trump, because “in the end, ambition and the hunger for power outweighed anything else.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/going-mike-trumps-victory-posed-111403620.html

[CurtEastPoint]

1. Pieces of crap. Tots and pears, Mother.

[liberal N proud]

2. Pence is as big a failure as trump

[pangaia]

3. In many ways worse because he can act as if he is sane. But he's a poor actor.

[DENVERPOPS]

51. Maybe more of a failure in sooo many ways

“What are we going to do Mike?? We don’t have any money! Who’s going to pay for my inaugural gown??”

It's okay honey, you can wear the one I wore when I accepted the Nomination as Trump's VP..........LOL

[vlyons]

4. Well so much for prosperity Christianity

I guess the damn fool thought that praying to Jesus would make Publishers Clearing House come knock on his door, or at least win a big lottery. His greed and desire for money tells the whole story. Grifters attract one another just like gravity.

[sharedvalues]

13. And it's always the dumb ones that get suckered by the pastors

[usaf-vet]

32. Or they only pay attention to the parts of the religion that benefits them. The holier than thou!

Maybe God's real message to them is they are meant to be poor.

Or maybe their Christian faith is not completely real and it serves as a good cover for greed.

[vlyons]

43. Prosperity churches don't preach many sermons on Jesus teaching to the rich man

The other of the rich men said to him "Master, what good thing shall I do and live?" He said to him "Man, perform the law and the prophets." He answered him "I have performed them." He said to him "Go, sell all that thou hast and divide it to the poor, and come, follow me." But the rich man began to scratch his head, and it pleased him not. And the Lord said to him "How can you say 'I have performed the law and the prophets'? seeing that it is written in the law 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,' and look, many of your brothers, sons of Abraham, are clad with dung, dying for hunger, and your house is full of much goods, and there goes out therefrom nought at all unto them." And he turned and said to Simon his disciple, sitting by him, "Simon, son of John, it is easier for a camel to enter through the eye of a needle than a rich man into the kingdom of the heavens.

I'm not even a Christian, I'm a Buddhist, and know that prosperity Christianity is a degenerate belief system.

[CrispyQ]

53. The love of money . . .

Our culture is infected with it. Everything for profit. We are the Ferengi.

[Farmer-Rick]

5. It's about time someone wrote a book on the sad little suck up

Pence is in Traitor Trump's illegal activities deep. He knows Trump and his Slovenian sex worker are treating the white house like a big fat cash cow. And of course Pence the sniveling coward just goes along to get along.

Maybe Traitor Trump should fire him? Yeah it's against the law but since when did that ever stop the orange bafoon or his sex worker from the money they so love to grub for.

[pangaia]

8. John Rain (see Barry Eisler novels) could certainly do a number on hime

or even more fun--- Lisbeth Salandar

[Pachamama]

6. Oh, I do believe the Pences found a way to pay for a lot of things

I do not believe for a minute there isn’t dirty money flowing behind and to them...

[JDC]

7. Useful idiot soon to be dislodged from toady position.

[paleotn]

9. Who's going to pay for my inaugural gown??

Why, the Russians or course, mother. All we have to do is betray our country and we'll have all the money we could ever want.

[crazytown]

15. Not a problem Maureen. You can wear mine.

[paleotn]

19. Bada Boom!

[sharedvalues]

16. Christian Republicans are Putin's useful idiots too

Putin isn’t religious but he has used the church to get support from useful idiots— both in Russia and in America.

Putin tried to corrupt the American Republican right by telling them that Russia was a white Christian country that was better than America because Russia was anti-gay and anti-Muslim.

And many useful idiot Republicans believed Putin. That doesn’t make them any less traitors in my book.

https://www.newsweek.com/how-evangelicals-are-looking-putins-russia-save-christianity-godless-west-1115164

THE CHRISTIAN RIGHT IS LOOKING TO PUTIN'S RUSSIA TO SAVE CHRISTIANITY FROM THE GODLESS WEST

BY TOM PORTER ON 9/15/18 AT 9:25 AM EDT

[paleotn]

21. Yep, their religion is slowly dying, but they won't go out without a fight.

[erronis]

57. You're right. I don't know of a single cult/religion that has gone quickly and peacefully.

Even if their false idolatry is completely debunked.

Once someone, or a family or a community, etc., buys into a credo - they can't let go.

And even when the dying vestiges are smouldering somewhere, a new crop will grow latching onto the visions.

What's wrong with humans? I think the rest of the living kingdoms are much more evidence-based.

[Siwsan]

10. I love this description of Pence, in the comments section. He is 'situationally christian'.

It's actually the perfect way to describe most, if not all, of those so called 'christians' in the GOP. Yea, I'm voting it's all.

[Funtatlaguy]

11. He has conflicted closeted gay written all over him.

His anti gay stances are a cover for his true self.
Come on, Mike, leave your overbearing mother wife and head to Provincetown.
Call Aaron Schock for guidance.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Schock


Your hypocritical stance and fake religion and fawning over Trump needs to end.
You’re gay, Mike, and that’s ok.
Being a total ass clown 🤡 is not.

[pangaia]

12. i think you got it right....

[leftieNanner]

17. I have been saying this for a while

Pence is deeply closeted.

[luvtheGWN]

25. Wondering why Manafort convinced Trump to take on Pence

as his running mate. Could it be that Manafort (via Putin) had some very, very damaging info on Pence, and the threat of exposing it would keep Mikey in line with whatever Dolt45 wanted? Inquiring minds what to know.......

[leftieNanner]

35. Wow!

I had never connected those particular dots! It wouldn't surprise me at all. Look at the way Lindsey Graham turned around after just one golf game.

[sharedvalues]

18. I think he's just too much of an insecure loser to do anything himself

Including coming out of the closet.

Pence is a weak person, a dumb person, who has been elevated to his current position because he is useful to the billionaires that run today’s GOP. Manafort picked Pence as VP because Pence gets fake Christians to vote for billionaires’ tax cuts. And that’s the key dynamic of the GOP coalition for the past 40 years.

[Eyeball_Kid]

30. Putin knew that Pence would be a useful tool in Trumpy's place.

If Trumpy dies or loses his grip, Pence will call Putin for advice. Pence would NEVER rebuff Putin.

[sharedvalues]

48. Do we have evidence?

Do we have evidence relating Putin to Pence? There’s no need to speculate because we know:
- Manafort was in hock to a Russian oligarch close to Putin
- Manafort chose Pence
- Putin courted the religious American white right with lies.

Relationship between Pence himself and Outin is unknown. But there are plenty of links between Republicans and Putin.

Also- watch The Family - describes the modern worldwide theocratic Christian Right and their alliances with strongmen and billionaires.

[smirkymonkey]

49. Would not surprise me one bit.

Along w/ a few others in that party.

[dalton99a]

14. Kick

[Autumn]

20. The lack of proper clothing to wear to balls is so stressful. Had I known I would have started a

Gofuck them account.

[magicarpet]

26. Is this picking yourself up by the bootstraps,...

Or maybe we should say bra straps,.. Fascist Rethuglican Personal Responsibility approach to life.

Don't ever depend on others to make your way,... get off your ass and cover your own needs,.. don't rely or depend on others.

[Autumn]

27. You know that's not the republican way don't you? Everyone else should do that but

the bootstrap rule doesn't apply to them.

[mahina]

52. He he

[Ilsa]

58. LOL! I likie! nt

[Botany]

22. "... in the family's gas station and convenience store business,.."

Which the Pence family left to the state of Indiana to pay the clean up for all their
U.S.T.s (underground storage tanks). And never forget that Mike Pence was picked
by Vlad Putin to be V.P. and that tells me that Putin might very well have kompromat
on Pence.

[mahina]

54. Ahh of course! Why didn't I think of that? Why else, Vladdy? Good pointvv

Mahalo.

[kairos12]

23. A clueless, greedy meat puppet.

[volstork]

24. No surprises here,

except I would’ve thought he blew all his money on dominatrices.

[magicarpet]

28. Menage a trois...

Stormy Daniels
Tiny mushroom dick Dawn
Mike the dink Pence
.
.
.
Mother (Mrs. Pence) was there to wire brush and disinfect the boys before and after,.. and then pray away the sexually transmitted diseases that inevitably come later.

[Wounded Bear]

42. I'm not sure it succeeded...

Trump has tertiary stage syphilis written all over him, right down to the fused spine difficulty negotiating the stairs on Air Force 1.

[Firestorm49]

29. Well, at least he had $1.7 million to lose!

[Cracklin Charlie]

31. I fear I am enjoying this story too much.

Maybe I should pray about it.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

44. LOL.

Sinner, repent!........

[displacedtexan]

33. Pence used campaign cash to pay for his mortgage & other stuff

Mike Pence was a young lawyer on the rise, challenging a longtime Democratic congressman in a Republican-leaning Indiana district.

And then, scandal.

Campaign finance records from the 1990 effort showed that Pence, then 31, had been using political donations to pay the mortgage on his house, his personal credit card bill, groceries, golf tournament fees and car payments for his wife.

The spending had not been illegal at the time. But it stunned voters — and undermined Pence’s strategy to portray the incumbent, Rep. Philip R. Sharp, as tainted by donations from special-interest political action committees.

“It was a brazen act of hypocrisy,” said Billy Linville, who was Sharp’s campaign manager. “It was a bombshell, for sure. . . . Without question, he may well have won the election if it had not been for that.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mike-pence-used-campaign-funds-to-pay-his-mortgage--and-it-cost-him-an-election/2016/07/15/90858964-49ed-11e6-bdb9-701687974517_story.html

[UCmeNdc]

34. This is why the United States is so F_ed up!

Lack of real leadership!

[Wounded Bear]

36. She could have done this...

[leftieNanner]

39. Thanks for the laugh Bear!

I loved the Carol Burnett show!

[Wounded Bear]

40. Might have been one of the funniest skits on TV...ever...

[leftieNanner]

41. Yes!

That one and Tim Conway as the dentist!

[murielm99]

65. Yes!

And it still makes me laugh, even though I have seen it several times.

[Enoki33]

37. This posting is a personal eye opener. From his sorry performance as

governor of Indiana always thought of him as an incompetent small man who used his religion to promote himself. Had no idea he is such a corrupt hypocritical version of a weasel. Makes perfect sense why he was chosen by Manafort.

[pangaia]

67. I didnt know most of it either. He's a sicker fuck than trump cause he knows what he is doing

[Hortensis]

38. My guess is Pence could and would eat everyone on this thread

for breakfast without a blink. Not because I admire him, but because he's an extremely powerful man with an extremely strong ideology that regards us and our depraved, godless liberal wishes as at most problems to be disposed of.

Btw, the reliability of this book still needs to be established, but one thing that's completely easy to believe, because it's true for so many others in power, is that an extremely religious conservative VP could be an authoritarian follower of others. After all, what is god but the ultimate authority?

A bunch of our nation's conservative so-called leaders, religious or not at all, are actually authoritarian followers elevated to, or kept in, office by those they serve, which explains a lot of the behaviors of the Republican caucuses. Just following the orders it's their nature to need others to give them.

And no one should imagine that Pence couldn't and wouldn't be extremely ruthless in executing what he sees as his duty. Any authority Pence approves would by definition be an agent of God, and thus, by the transitive property of opportunistic zealotry, accumulating great power through serving their wishes would be carrying out God's will. His authorities include the enormously powerful religious right, among which he is also a leader, and the plutocracy he serves; in the opinion of many observers, he conflates his service to them and his self interest with his duty to God. And that's all the authority and justification Pence would need to do almost anything he wanted. Just needs more power. His intense, fake-subservient self discipline as he waits for it gives me the chills.

[Hekate]

46. Hmmmm. Well we do call him Mr Handmaid's Tale

[Hortensis]

50. :) for the abbreviated version that comes to mind.

Extremists don't need great ability to cause enormous harm and even bring down nations; in fact, their serious limitations of judgement and understanding, and honesty, are implicit in extremism. But just give them enough power for long enough and they will do it naturally.

[YOHABLO]

56. "eat everyone on this thread for breakfast" Um I don't think so.

[Hortensis]

59. Yohablo, power is a real thing. Pence is his own power center.

Only while those who give him some of theirs continue to back him, but for now, yes, he could have you stepped on in the middle of Fifth Avenue and nothing would happen to him. If you have a job or career, or a business, the most obvious swat would be to put an end to it. Most people can't afford even a minor legal problem. How about major ones? Not that that's what you have to fear from him, of course.

Pence could become president, and gravely underestimating the very dangerous threat that this religious zealot, who's allied with the same people who power Trump but infinitely more disciplined, could pose to our democracy and individual freedoms is not smart.

[flamingdem]

61. Luckily he has no charisma

No way he gets elected.

[Hortensis]

70. I'm afraid I don't agree in the slightest, Flaming.

Most of the far social and religious right base would transfer their loyalties to him gladly.

Many more who didn't want Trump but voted for him against us are planning to do it again, but it'd just be Pence this time.

And those who more and more are deciding they can't vote for Trump again would be grateful for an alternative they'd see as a comparatively moral and sane replacement. They wouldn't have to like Pence because, again, he'd be someone they could use to keep Democrats out of power.

Our democracy is being ripped apart by a hyperpartisanship that's developed to suicidal levels. They've been trained to ignore what their own leaders are doing and just vote against Democrats.
And they do. In fact, studies show large numbers will support doing away with democracy because they keep losing democratic elections. Itm,...

Oh, btw, remember that Pence used to be a RW radio talk show host? He's actually very good on the stump. This posture he's been putting on with Trump, like some adoring, uber-loyal VPial version of Nancy Reagan, would disappear with Trump, never to be seen again.

[pangaia]

63. right on the money...

[YOHABLO]

71. Well, it's been said Trump is thinking of replacing him as VP in 2020

Obviously, even Trump has doubts about Pence's so-called 'power'.

[MoonRiver]

45. That won't be something Mother has to worry about next year!

[RainCaster]

47. He has no conscience

“You know, Mr. Vice President, more than anything, we need you to find your conscience, the country desperately needs you to find your conscience,” Schenck said he told Pence.

The vice president, no longer smiling, replied: “It’s always easier said than done.”

This POS couldn't find his conscience to save his soul. He just confessed to that impossibility.

[pangaia]

74. And he knows it.. that's the really sick thing..

The guy is pure evil... much worse in many ways than trump...

trump is run by his lowest, automatic base emotions...
pence purely by his head.. what he does is intentional.. he HAS a choice
trump does not...

neither has any true feelings....

[jmowreader]

55. Umm...

Your husband just got a $230,000 job. I think someone would be more than happy to loan you the money to buy a gown.

[OMGWTF]

60. Jailbird Paul Manafort wanted Pence as VP -- Why??

[AllyCat]

62. Boo hoo Pence. You too, are a horrible human being.

[myohmy2]

64. gold digger...

"...but great at executing others' decisions. A "pleaser..."

...trump and the boys will make sure mikey doesn't walk away hungry...

...plenty of gowns in Karen's future (if mikey doesn't piss it away)...

...

[TeamPooka]

66. Gosh is there anything more pathetic than a broke Republican power broker

[NCLefty]

68. He sounds about as successful in business as Trump.

[SoCalDem]

69. Ummmm Karen,

Nobody even cared what you wore.. You could have gone to goodwill for all the attention you created

[Hotler]

72. Didn't pray hard enough, try again. nt

[brooklynite]

73. In fairness, grifting is a learned art, best left to professionals...