I’d been hearing about the way the veep prostrated himself before Trump in the Cabinet meeting Wednesday, lavishing treacly praise upon him, slathering it shamelessly.
I just watched it, and I’m sorry I did. It’s bad enough having this man who demeans our country every moment that he holds the presidency. It’s even more depressing to see the man who would replace him, if we could rid ourselves of him, abase himself in such a orgy of sycophancy.
He lowers himself so, I hear overtones of something that doesn’t belong in America, or anywhere else in the West. I hear an Eastern potentate being addressed as the “Flower of Courtesy, Nutmeg of Consolation, Rose of Delight,” by a 19th-century supplicant begging forgiveness for imposing his miserable self upon the time of such a glorious personage.
Not to cast aspersions on other cultures or anything, but we just don’t talk to anyone this way in this country. At least, not before now.
The fact that we can’t see Pence’s face offers me a sliver of hope: Perhaps his eyes are blinking Morse Code: “T-O-R-T-U-R-E”…
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Someone might want to remind Mr. Pence that the words, “I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other gods before me” were not said by and do not apply to Trump.
Mattis looks really freakin’ bored sitting there.
He’s trying to avoid exhibiting the Thousand-Yard-Stare…
We are going to have to get used to many such examples of those “overtones of something that doesn’t belong in America” in the months and years ahead, I fear.
Phillip, that’s a great Cohen column…
Well. I’m not sure “un-American” is really accurate. Creepy. Disgusting. Perplexing. Unnerving. Bizarre. Scary. But un-American has a more sinister, unconstitutional tone that somehow misses the mark. I see Americanism as a big tent concept that is all encompassing. Pence’s approach can be viewed as American in that he’s supporting the nations leader. Sure this has a sort of North Korean air to it but he may sincerely believe he can do the country’s bidding more effectively as a brown noser. So yes Pence’s overly generous show of support makes us uncomfortable but it could also fit into the broad definition of American.
My point is: This is not the way free men address other men.
This kind of behavior would have been unseemly even in the days of the Roman Republic. It is so very much more inappropriate in America. I can’t think of a time when we’ve seen this kind of behavior in our history…
As opposed to the bromance between Biden and Obama? That inspired hundreds of memes it was so “chummy”.
In public, the VP’s primary job is to make his boss look like an infallible leader.
Biden never acted like that. Joe can be a cornball, but he could never act like this. He’d have busted a gut laughing first. And his boss wouldn’t have expected him to. Or set him up to do so, by painfully obvious pre-arrangement.
Mumbling to Obama that passing the ACA is “a big f___ing deal” is the opposite of this. That’s Joe being Joe, celebrating with a buddy. (And it WAS a BFD. Just ask the Republicans. It’s had them in a seriously messed-up state, tied in knots, ever since.) If that had been Pence, he’d have said something like, “This is the most magnificent, stupendous thing that any American leader has ever done, and only you could have done it, sir. Mother and I get down on our knees every morning to thank the Good Lord for giving us all someone as incomparably wonderful as you.”
And Obama would have said, “Mike, you’re kinda creeping me out here.” Anyone would have. Anyone on the planet but Donald J. Trump, who says “thanks,” believing that everyone will be more impressed with him because of the bizarre things Pence just said.
These people come from a very strange place, and I don’t know where it is. But they are seriously, profoundly uncool. And they have no idea how badly that shows…
They kind of remind me of the Coneheads — thinking they’re blending in on Earth, and having no idea how weird they are. Or the Addams family…
Again, Brad associates real life with television and Hollywood. I’m starting to think that he thinks we’re all just on stage repeating scripts.
Well I see the liberals on the blog have all spoken their peace, they must have taken a break from commenting on USA Today.
Now you know how conservatives felt when they heard liberals speaking about Obama.
Richard, I don’t know who you’re talking about with that stuff about “liberals” and “conservatives,” but I have some news for you: I’m considerably more conservative than you are.
Conservatives believe in this country and its fundamental principals and institutions. They are careful and deliberate in their actions, and they aim to CONSERVE these institutions and the ideals that they uphold.
And a conservative would never, ever consider for a moment voting for a belligerent, self-centered ignoramus like Trump, a person startlingly disconnected from reality, with the self-control of a toddler, to be president of the United States. A conservative would care too much for this country, for what it has always meant and stood for.
This is the truth. And if anyone thinks otherwise, then he doesn’t really know what “conservative” means….
🙂
“And a conservative would never, ever consider for a moment voting for a belligerent, self-centered ignoramus like Trump, a person startlingly disconnected from reality, with the self-control of a toddler, to be president of the United States. A conservative would care too much for this country, for what it has always meant and stood for.” – Brad W.
The ignoramus upon whom you habitually shower such outrageous disdain happens to be an accomplished leader of a world-class country. His accomplishments are in sync with what legal voters (a silent majority?) have long desired, despite the collective best efforts of corrupt “public servants” who have long sold out to K-street lobbyists (lawyers) for foreign interests.
Calling yourself a true supporter of pure conservatism hypocritically discounts all the water you carry for left-wing politicos. Any politician (D, I, R, etc) who sells out our national sovereignty for $$$$ is a traitor. Trump is the first U.S. politician in quite a while to have put working taxpayers, the press, the U.N. and the DPRK in their proper places.
Trump is a buffoon. That is th best that can be said about him.
Doug is right that any VP does come across as a yes man. But Pence took it to a new and sickening level the other day.
this is hot/like watching over and over
I’m sorry, but I couldn’t finish watching the video. Pence is definitely a suck-up. Other than the tax reform to give billionaires and corporations a massive tax break, Trump hasn’t accomplished a damned thing.
I use to work for a state Senator, the new employees in our office would all gush over him when he came in each morning. I once remember him telling them that they just had to do their jobs to please him. He didn’t like the praise. He said the voters would show him gratitude If they reflected him. He didn’t need it from his staff.
Something else that’s unAmerican? Trump is attacking Robert Mueller and the FBI on a daily basis via Twitter. And since he became Trump’s new golfing buddy, Lindsey “Rule of Law” Graham has been virtually silent on these attacks. He hasn’t spoken out against Trump’s attacks on Mueller and the FBI in nearly a month.