The anger towards Donald Trump for his fascism, authoritarianism and white supremacist BS has continued past his incitement of an insurrection on January 6th. If anything, the anger has grown. But something I don’t enjoy is the new “let’s give Mike Pence a cookie for showing a bare minimum of competence” thing. Before the insurrection, Pence held firm, consulted legal scholars and constitutional experts and he was able to successfully push back on Trump’s scheme to reject the Electoral College electors. That’s why Trump sent his MAGA terrorist army to kill Pence. But Pence rejecting Trump’s unconstitutional, undemocratic, fascist scheme doesn’t make him a hero. He literally followed the law, and if he hadn’t… well. Now people are insisting that Pence needs a cookie for calling Kamala Harris to congratulate her on the win. He called her on the 14th, last Thursday, more than two full months since Biden-Harris won the election:
Vice President Mike Pence has called his soon-to-be successor Kamala Harris to offer his congratulations, according to two people familiar with the conversation.
It’s the first known contact between the elected members of the outgoing and incoming administrations. President Donald Trump has not reached out to President-elect Joe Biden or invited him to the White House, and has instead spent the weeks since he lost the Nov. 3 election holed up at the White House, trying to undermine the legitimacy of Biden’s win with baseless claims of mass voter fraud that culminated in last week’s violent storming of the Capitol building.
Pence, who didn’t speak with Trump for days after the siege, has become an unexpected — albeit late — defender of Biden’s win. The vice president resisted enormous pressure from Trump to try to interfere in Congress’ certification of the Electoral College vote count last week — even though he has no such power. And he has announced that he will attend Biden’s Jan. 20 inauguration, which Trump is refusing to do — making him just the fourth president in the nation’s history to skip the symbolic passing of the torch.
Pence and Harris spoke Thursday afternoon and had a “good call,” according to one of the people familiar with the conversation, with Pence congratulating Harris and offering his assistance. The people spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the private exchange.
It is unlikely that Pence’s newfound diplomacy extended beyond a phone call which was two months too late. He was traveling this weekend, so the Pences probably didn’t have Kamala and Doug over to the Naval Observatory to show them around. VP Harris still hasn’t received any briefings from the outgoing administration (neither has President Biden). Just for historical context, when Obama-Biden won in 2008, both George W. Bush AND Dick Cheney contacted their successors on that night, and Cheney invited the Bidens to the Naval Observatory. Same in 2016 – Joe Biden called Mike Pence and the two families met at the Naval Observatory. Pence wouldn’t do the same for the Harris-Emhoffs. So no cookies for Mother or Mother’s Husband.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
I’m sorry, Pence can go die in a ditch for all I care. Way too little, way too late.
Did you notice that Pence only called Kamala Harris only after it was clear that the election results could not be overturned?
He called after months of her and Biden winning, he called after all the lies of the elections, he called more than a week after the terrorist attack on the capitol. He could have called a lot sooner. Screw him.
Hey everyone, this may be the first time I feel something towards sensitivity to him. This guy made his bed, but he’s dealing with quite a lot, I’m sure. All I can say is thanks for your call. How are things going? And prepare for the deluge. He has aged incredibly! Life’s hard when you’re a coward.
@Lauren – “Pence can go die in a ditch” – vicious. And I’m totally here for it!!
2 Republicans die and go to heaven.
They ask God if he’d answer one question.
“Of course,” God says.
They ask how the Democrats rigged the election in 2020.
“It wasn’t rigged,” God replied.
Republicans look at one another and say, “This conspiracy goes higher than we thought!”
This is the republiTHUG mentality. And yes… a BIG ditch is gonna be needed!
I was gonna say, is it wrong of me for thinking I need to borrow that expression?
I said this before—this prick is angling for a presidential run. He deigned to congratulate KH when the tide was turning against Trump and his own VP duties were over.
He has always been. Him calling the national guard was him trying to look responsible and presidential. Responsible and presidential would have been him stopping a lot of the orange nazi’s actions since 2016, but nope. He had too much to benefit from trying to turn the US into a fascist country.
The lack of respect and integrity that Trump and Pence and their administration have shown is staggering. Not to mention the incompetence. It’s just as well that they don’t go through the motions of the transition niceties. Clean slate, back to business (cleaning up the giant mess they left of our country) and relegate their predecessors to the trash heap of history where they belong.
If anyone gets a chance, check out this lovely video of Doug Emhoff geeking out at the Library of Congress. It brought a tear to my eye, to see respect and reverence for history again.
https://twitter.com/DouglasEmhoff/status/1350462742457688066?s=20
Pence is like the rest of them – they wanted this, GOP have always wanted to destroy the constitution and recreate it in their own ‘toxic white male christian’ vision where women and anyone who is not white has no rights. They want to go back to the days of the confederacy. As a Brit I don’t know much about the civil war but it was about 300 years ago, has the south really failed to move beyond losing the war?!
DU- small correction, the US Civil War was 1861-65. That’s 160- 156 years ago. Not 300; that was the American Revolution.
155 years ago. The Civil War ended in 1865. And you are right, many have not moved beyond losing the war.
Ah thanks ladies, apols.
Deleted
The GOP hasn’t always wanted that. The parties have evolved over decades. The GOP needed more of a following so they adopted values to appeal to a group others didn’t want to pander to. The racist south.
Let’s not forget President Lincoln was the countries 1st R president.
And yes, the south is like it’s own nation in areas. They haven’t moved on.
DU, I hear you, that was definitely their agenda. But I was thinking about the OTHER messes that Biden inherited: a raging pandemic that has been grossly mismanaged from he start, economic devastation, the flourishing of right wing extremists. Not to mention an outgoing administration that’s trying to cripple the transition as much as possible on their way out the door.
Did the South ever accept losing? Short answer NO. Long answer, they sought to rewrite history, went out of their way to teach their alternative version of it in textbooks in school, erected confederate statues and monuments all over lionizing their loser military leaders and established Jim Crow laws. Pushed in large part by the Daughters of the Confederacy.
https://youtu.be/dOkFXPblLpU
They convinced themselves it wasn’t about slavery but really about states rights and taxes. Many still believe it to this day.
I had the the most surreal encounter with one such person a few years ago. I had went to
Charleston, South Carolina with my parents for Christmas and booked a a tour of southern gardens hosted by this SUPER old fashioned aging southern debutant type. First of all, Charleston is a beautiful city and the garden tour was actually quite lovely but this woman would regale the group of her version of southern history. Mind you, this group included my black family, a pair of Indian sisters and a Jewish family. This bitch went on and on about how the civil war wasn’t really about slavery but about taxes. She even talked about some laws and Supreme Court justices back in the day. Which was her mistake because my father is a judge and a member of the US Supreme Court Bar and he politely fact checked her. Which she clearly wasn’t pleased about.
Don’t even get me started about the black mammy she trotted out during our antiquated “ southern tea”. It was as if the woman was stuck in the 1950s. It was WEIRD and deeply off putting because I was genuinely shocked that there were people still alive who believed that crap.
@Snuffles – I’m glad you brought up the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC). They’ve been instrumental since the beginning in keeping a covert connection with the Ku Klux Klan. In fact, the UDC was basically the women’s auxiliary of the KKK at the turn of the century. It’s a connection the UDC downplays now, but evidence of it is easily found, and they continue to exert political and social influence to keep the Confederacy alive.
Let me add to this historical discussion: not only did they want a return to the confederacy, they de facto achieved it. The Confederate political elites and military leaders were pardoned, and those men slowly made their way back to congress.
Meanwhile, as we all know, Reconstruction failed and you could say never ended. Many formerly enslaved Black Americans were forced to return to their former plantations/households/Southern families as indentured workers (sharecropping). This “work” often approximated slavery in that the property-owners would beat, kill, oppress, and give mere pennies as wages.
Many Trumpers are Neo-Confederates, and while Trump is not coherent enough politically to have a platform, he knows they are his base and that he has some ties to the Klan (his father).
Wow, thanks ladies this has been a very informative thread for me (and why I love this site – you are all so intelligent and informed 🙂 ).
As for the United Daughters of the Confederacy – they were def a bunch of well connected Karens. @Snuffles, I watched that video, OMG I cannot believe they were actually able to influence the school curriculum with their lies and racism – it just blows my mind. AND they still exist!!!!
I need to make another wine order for everyone!
@Digital Unicorn – Malbec for me please! 🙂
My parents grew up in the Jim Crow South. North Carolina wasn’t quite as toxic as states in the so-called “Deep South” (Mississippi, Alabama, etc.) but it was still segregated and racist. They were taught in school to call it “The War Between The States.” They both left at around age 20 and never went back, so my siblings and I grew up outside of NYC and only went to NC and SC to see relatives, maybe once or twice a year. It was markedly different then and still is in many ways. I am not saying the rest of the country doesn’t have problems with racism. Of course it does. I also lived in Boston for a few years and there was a lot of strife and ongoing resentment over desegregation and bussing. But it’s true, the South just tried to hang onto the old system and succeeded in many ways for well over a century.
Esmon, thank you for posting this! I watched it with a huge smile, and a lump in my throat. I’m feeling such gratitude and pride that our country is back in the hands of people who RESPECT its history and will try and right as many of the wrongs put in place the past 5 yrs.
*Side note: I LOVE the fact that DE is embracing the term *and* the role of “Second Gentleman”. I LOVE the fact that he is so excited, and SO happy for his wife. The love, respect, and pride they show in each other, and in the blended family they created just fills *me* with joy to watch.
On Inauguration Day, I will lift a mimosa to us all (well, it WILL only be 9 am on the West Coast lol…too early for straight champagne!), and we will drink a toast to Doug, Kamala, Joe, and Jill…and a wish for the beginning of a better future for us all! L’Chaim!
I have a little crush on Doug – he is such a sweet loving guy, the kind of guy that our mothers all want us to marry. He and Kamala are such a great couple – they are great role models.
He is very much like an excited school boy in that video – its very endearing and I want to know where that door went to? He has to tell us.
@Esmom I loved watching that video! Thanks for posting it.
I really enjoyed that video. Not only does he love and appreciate history, but he’s so eager to learn about the women who came before him in that position. No stupid jokes about being the first man to do it and following all women, no toxic masculinity insecurities, none of that – he’s just truly honored and excited.
He’s still a POS.
Exactly. The only reason Pence called Kamala is because he thinks he still going to have a political career after January 20. Pence is almost as radioactively as Trump himself.
Pence can’t let Harris and Emhoff over to the Naval Observatory because he’s still hosting the fly.
*snort* At least Biden can show her around.
@Esmom That video of Doug Emhoff is amazing. What a neat guy…I can’t wait to see what he does with the role!
Pence is a piece of 💩 just like his boss, the soon to be ex president. Instead of the media praising him for calling Kamala TWO MONTHS after the fact, the media should be vilifying him for waiting so long and his role in this whole mess.
He doesn’t deserve any praise for calling her. Pence, Trump & company are still going scorched earth and trying to handicap the incoming Biden administration.
Also has anyone noticed how the news media seems to be adrift now that the insanity and constant drama Trump created has died down. It’s like a junkie coming down off a high. The news media and social media both had a hand in ramping up and amplifying the craziness of the past four years. And the media doesn’t seem to be handling the return to “ normalcy” very well. Seems like they want to manufacture drama to create headlines. OMG…just realized the mainstream media is behaving just like tabloids.
@Eden, I always said that around 2008 when you had the Obama vs Clinton, and then the nosense with Palin and Edwards having an outside baby during that campaign, that’s when politics turned into a soap opera, and the media has been chasing the dragon ever since. But even they must realise that there needs to be a little more sobriety now.
That’s an excellent point @duchess.
They got lazy, then. The only thing that’s changed is trump’s not tweeting anymore. They need to back to being real journalists.
Does he want a cookie for doing the right thing for once? He’s still a POS and luckily Biden already knows the VP job and I’m sure will assist Harris better than Pence ever could. I cannot wait for the purge of Trump and all of his team!
Pence & Mother are nasty creeps. He gets 0 points for waiting until 1 week before inauguration to call his successor, which doesn’t come close to compensating for the 1000 point deficit for his reprehensible post-election behavior. I think petty Pence figured trump would eat himself to death or rage-blow a cork before the next 4 years is up, thus getting himself a bump into pres from veep, paving the way for his own re-election in 2028.
“Mother” is well-known for teaching at a school that discriminates against any LGBQTs and plenty of other stuff as well. I’ve heard from a friend who works in D.C. that both Pences are rude & egotistical. They are disliked outside their own little circle of bigots.
I hope she just said “hello, yeah thanks and goodbye” because that’s all he deserves.
He’s gone out of his way to enable maga and he had a chance to invoke the 25th amendment after what Trump’s followers did but refused. He’s a stain.
I hope she asked him if he had any flies on his head.
Wednesday is going to be a crazy day that will be spoken about for a long time to come – this ‘farewell parade’ for Dump is going to be another inauguration ceremony where his lackeys swear him in as the real President at the same time Joe is being sworn in and then you will have half of GOP refusing to serve under President Biden and doing whatever they can to stop the wheels of gov turning.
Well, the ones that don’t get expelled from Congress for sedition (and it looks like a number of them actively participated in supporting the coup attempt), will eventually fall in line because they are already losing money and being blacklisted by big corporations who don’t want to be associated with Trump and the horrors of January 6th.
Yup – Hawley had a hotel in Florida pull the plug on a big fund-raiser scheduled for early February. The ones who have been “tainted by association” are going to find life difficult post-Trump.
DU- I read the Pentagon said “nope” to Trump’s military style send off. Hopefully, there will be zero fanfare.
Digital Unicorn, the military has refused to give him a farewell. I believe this is to make it clear to this country that they protect the Constitution and not the President. They took a big hit by not getting the National Guard to the Capitol until things were so out of control. I’ve also read that they’re doing some checking of the individual members of the Guard to make sure they don’t have seditionists in their ranks. Trump really is another Hitler. Pence, IMO, is also.
He is so useless, but the only adult in that Administration,
Does anyone else think Dr and President Biden are probably relieved AF that they don’t have to make nice with the outgoing folks? I’m sure they’d do it graciously but hey one less thing to schedule in a hectic transition right? I’m reminded of Michelle Obama in that moment realizing she’s no longer First Lady and not required to smile.
Melanoma never surrendered to her requirement to smile as First Lady. I’ll never forget how gracious the Obamas were to the Trumps and how Trump left his wife behind to gather her gift. It was so cringeworthy and offensive. And how gracious Michelle and Barack were to Melanoma when they saw how she was being treated.
I remember that. He stomped right up the stairs ignoring his wife. Michelle was clearly shaken by it. Her husband treats her with such love and respect, what a contrast.
Ann –
So much this. I’m sure Barak is a truly great husband, but I can’t imagine Michelle settling for anything less. He’s probably grateful every day she chose him.
Oops! Double post.
After all this ugliness, yes, I would imagine they are both quite happy they don’t have to deal with the trumps. trump is completely incapable of any sort of graciousness, so it would have been a shitshow. Best to sidestep all that, fumigate, and let the grownups take over again.
Whoever follows Biden (please be Kamala!) to the presidency someday, they will of course be gracious and welcoming, and return to all the traditions.
He’s absolutely pathetic, disgusting, lacks all morals, and is such a bootlicker. May his career be dead forever more.
His wife and daughter were there on the 6th. They were with him when his life (and quite likely theirs too) was literally threatened by Trump’s mob, and he still didn’t move to get rid of him.
I think Pence is the most pathetic of them all. Mike, HE TRIED TO HAVE YOU KILLED. (With your wife and daughter there too!) Trump is not your friend. He does not care about you.
If he can’t be in a room alone with a woman, did he l’ai have to wait until Mother was free to join the phone call so he wouldn’t be talking one on one with a woman?
Ah! Exactly what my comment was going to be! Perhaps this was the first time Mother was free to moderate his phone call.
He is the stand out as the biggest coward in all of this. He knows and has always know the right thing to do and refused to do it because it would upset dear leader. Mr. Religious has his own false idol.
Figures like Pence are the most dangerous because they pose a continuous threat to democracy. They are a conventional politician who sees the opportunity to push the system, they go along but they are also savvy enough to know when to refrain and just wait out for a next opportunity. Frog mummy Mitch is another one.
It doesn’t mean that at this moment I do not enjoy the thought of orange idiot all ragging in the WH, asking aids to come up with a way to fire Pence.
Yep, someone is going to figure out the right combo of Trump bombast and slick politicking, and I do not want to be here for that day.
To me at least, it looks Boris Johnson is trying to pull this off
This is irrelevant. It’s not even the bare minimum, it’s nothing. Go f*ck yourself, Mike Pence.
Maybe Mother’s Boy wasn’t allowed to call another woman without Mother being present to supervise and maybe she was very busy the last couple of weeks with bigoting.
However, he might have deserved a cookie, if he had envoked the 25th years ago. maybe.
No, half a cookie max.