By Michael Stone
Mike Pence believes that God has called him to be president of the U.S., according to a new biography, “The Shadow President: The Truth About Mike Pence.”
While Trump may be a crass and ignorant buffoon, Vice President Pence is much worse – a cold, cruel, religious extremist with dreams of a Christian theocracy.
Pence, who is fond of saying he is “a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican, in that order,” is Sarah Palin without the charisma, a conservative Christian nightmare who rejects the separation of church and state, and places his Christian faith above the U.S. Constitution.
USA Today reports on the new Pence biography:
In “The Shadow President: The Truth About Mike Pence,” on sale Tuesday, authors Michael D’Antonio and Peter Eisner cast Pence’s background – congressman, Indiana governor, Trump VP – in a harsh light, arguing that “the most successful Christian supremacist in American history” is already functioning as a “kind of replacement president” and is preparing to “fashion a nation more pleasing to his god and corporate sponsors.”
Commenting on Pence, D’Antonio told CNN:
Absolutely everything Mike Pence does is oriented toward him becoming president. His decision to accept Donald Trump’s offer to be his running mate — it even goes back much further. By the time he had left high school, he had decided that he was going to be president of the United States… He thought God was calling him to, now, be vice president and function as a president-in-waiting.
Indeed, it is no secret that Pence is a radical religious extremist – a cold, cruel, Christian supremacist. In fact, Pence is anti-science, anti-women, and anti-LGBT.
Anti-Science
Pence believes that creationism should be taught in public schools.
When serving as a congressman, Pence made it clear that he opposes evolution, and believes that only creationism (intelligent design) provides a “rational explanation for the known universe.”
In 2002, Pence delivered a passionate speech on the floor of the House of Representatives arguing that evolution is “only a theory” and that public schools should teach the theory of intelligent design as well as the theory of evolution.
Pence told his colleagues:
I believe that God created the known universe, the earth and everything in it, including man. And I also believe that someday scientists will come to see that only the theory of intelligent design provides even a remotely rational explanation for the known universe.
In other words, for Pence, the only rational explanation is “God did it.”
In his speech, Pence also made the false and misleading claim that creationism is a valid scientific alternative to the theory of evolution, arguing that creationism should be taught alongside evolution in the public school science classroom.
Pence is also a climate science denier. Media Matters reports:
On the February 21, 2014, edition of MSNBC’s The Daily Rundown, host Chuck Todd asked Pence if he is “convinced that climate change is man-made.” Pence responded: “I don’t know that that is a resolved issue in science today.” Moments later, Pence added: “Just a few years ago, we were talking about global warming. We haven’t seen a lot of warming lately. I remember back in the ‘70s we were talking about the coming ice age.” Pence similarly stated on the May 5, 2009, edition of MSNBC’s Hardball that “I think the science is very mixed on the subject of global warming,” as ThinkProgress noted. However, according to NASA: “Multiple studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals show that 97 percent or more of actively publishing climate scientists agree: Climate-warming trends over the past century are extremely likely due to human activities.”
Anti-Gay
Pence thinks the government should pay for gay conversion therapy.
Pence is a rabid homophobe who wants to deny civil civil rights to LGBT people, and wants taxpayer money to pay for gay conversion therapy, the despicable attempt to force a child or young adult to reverse their sexual orientation or gender identity, often to satisfy the religious superstition and bigotry of ignorant parents.
As reported by PolitiFact, during his first successful run for Congress in 2000, Pence advocated for government funding of gay conversion therapy on his campaign website, under a section called Strengthening the American Family:
Resources should be directed toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior.
In other words, Pence wants taxpayers to pay for what many rational observers believe is child abuse.
HIV Outbreak
In addition to believing taxpayers should fund the cruel and immoral practice of gay conversion therapy, in 2015, as Governor of Indiana, Pence allowed an HIV outbreak to spread, choosing prayer over a clean needle exchange.
As an HIV outbreak exploded in a rural county of Indiana, for several months Governor Pence refused to allow a clean needle exchange, despite desperate pleas from local, state and federal health officials urging the governor to allow clean needles to be distributed to slow the outbreak.
Pence could have easily prevented or mitigated a great deal of human suffering; instead, he failed to act in a timely fashion, and citizens suffered.
Anti-Women
Pence is anti-women. Pence supports so-called personhood bills that would criminalize abortion nationwide. In addition, Right Wing Watch reports Pence has spearheaded congressional efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, even if it meant shutting down the government; signed anti-abortion measures into law in Indiana; and rallied opposition to President Obama’s effort to roll back prohibitions on stem-cell research.
In addition, Pence promises an end to safe and legal abortion if Trump is elected. Pence claims Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion, will be overturned if Donald Trump is elected president. And he might be right, if Trump is elected he will be appointing the next Supreme Court justices.
Condoms
But perhaps one of the most dangerous and idiotic claims made by Pence concerns the use of condoms. In an interview with CNN, while advocating for abstinence-only sex education, Pence said that condoms are too “modern,” too “liberal,” and offer a poor defense against sexually transmitted infections and diseases.
By disseminating false and misleading information about condoms, Pence demonstrates that he is willing to endanger the health and welfare of young people in order to promote his demented, right-wing, conservative Christian, puritanical agenda.
Bottom line
President Trump may be a buffoon, but a President Pence would bring ruin upon the nation and turn the U.S. into a Christian theocracy. –Patheos
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