It really is the dumbest timeline when “Mike Pence endangers Mayo Clinic staff and patients by refusing to wear a mask” is a week-long story. It should have been a one-day story about this stupid man doing a stupid thing. He should have apologized in the same newscycle and promised to do better and taken the sh-tload of criticism. But instead of doing that, apparently we have to argue about whether anyone told the Vice President of the United States to wear a mask in the middle of a pandemic. The infantalizing of white men, my God. So, after Pence’s visit the Mayo Clinic, Mother Pence went to Fox News to claim that her husband had no idea he was supposed to wear a mask. And when journalists called out the Pences for this very obvious lie, Pence’s office threatened to “retaliate.” I just…
Vice President Pence’s office has threatened to retaliate against a reporter who revealed that Pence’s office had told journalists they would need masks for Pence’s visit to the Mayo Clinic — a requirement Pence himself did not follow. Pence’s trip to the clinic Tuesday generated criticism after he was photographed without a surgical mask — the only person in the room not wearing one. The Minnesota clinic requires visitors to wear masks as a precaution against spreading the coronavirus.
Pence’s wife, Karen Pence, said in an interview with Fox News on Thursday that he was unaware of the mask policy until his visit was over. But Steve Herman, who covers the White House for Voice of America, suggested that there was more to the story after Karen Pence’s interview.
“All of us who traveled with [Pence] were notified by the office of @VP the day before the trip that wearing of masks was required by the @MayoClinic and to prepare accordingly,” tweeted Herman, who covered the trip as part of his rotation as one of the pool reporters, who share information with other reporters in limited-space situations.
The tweet apparently enraged Pence’s staff, which told Herman that he had violated the off-the-record terms of a planning memo that had been sent to him and other reporters in advance of Pence’s trip. Herman said he was notified by the White House Correspondents’ Association that Pence’s office had banned him from further travel on Air Force Two, although a spokesperson in Pence’s office later told VOA managers than any punishment was still under discussion, pending an apology from Herman or VOA.
The issue, according to people involved, is whether Herman’s tweet violated the off-the-record terms of a planning document sent via email Monday evening by the vice president’s office to reporters who planned to travel with Pence to the clinic.
Mother’s Husband hopes to make the issue about whether Steve Herman or any reporter has the right to publish anything from the vice president’s office which has been marked “off the record and for planning purposes only,” which is what the mask-requirement email was marked. Press corps journalists have long assumed that those documents are only off-the-record around the actual visit or event, because once the event is over, the need for secrecy is no longer a security issue. All of which to say, of f–king course Mike Pence knew the Mayo Clinic’s mask policy. He’s not a child. He could see that every single person he encountered was wearing a mask. He saw the press corps wearing masks, directed by his office. He knew he should wear a mask. He chose to minimize mask-wearing in public in the middle of a pandemic. A–hole.
Vice President Mike Pence flouted the Mayo Clinic’s policy that asks all visitors to wear face masks while touring the facility on Tuesday.
He appeared to be the only person not wearing one while meeting staff and patients.https://t.co/hNWfS4p6O7 pic.twitter.com/6q0TqXtsw7
— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 28, 2020
Mike Pence wore a face mask today as he toured a ventilator production facility. This comes days after he came under fire for failing to wear one during his visit to the Mayo Clinic https://t.co/1N81UWMhrF pic.twitter.com/rn8Y53EuLN
— TIME (@TIME) April 30, 2020
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
The sh^tshow just never, ever ends. That’s all I’ve got.
As if anyone wants to see his dumb face.
Once again, the Trump admin kills everything it touches. Mayo Clinic let Pence f— up their reputation. If they can’t/won’t enforce safety protocols in a pandemic, how can they be trusted? And keeping people isolated from family members, but letting in the VP and his entourage, who’ve had massive amounts of exposure? Not smart.
Absolutely F’ing this. I don’t care if you are Petty Betty the Queen herself. Follow protocol and wear the mask or you don’t get in. Have some ovaries people.
“Have some ovaries people.”
I love you for this. 🙂
Well, he just like his POTASS dumping mate: They themselves don’t believe in social distancing nor personal boundaries and Orange Thing has made comments relating to this crises–> Not wanting to wear a mask himself, shaking hands instead of giving people he speaks to/introduces at press conferences “The Elbow”, talking about plus encouraging folks to protest against Stay-At-Home/Shelter-In mandates (“Free Minneapolis”, for example) mainly, the piece de resistance: Taking Detergents (bleach and ammonia) to cure COVID-19! #PENCEISDENSE, just like Take-A-💩 Drump is! GO FIGURE!
AHAHAH! Too funny… good one 🙂
The journalist who revealed Pence’s hypocrisy will be punished. How can this be allowed to happen?
The bullies are running the show right now. It’s heartbreaking. They do not care who dies. They just don’t.
Oh and I don’t understand the anti-mask propaganda.
If COVID-19 was a disease that caused people to spontaneously, and uncontrollably, pee on people’s legs, you’d wear pants to protect your legs, right? And you’d want others to wear pants, right? Just in case they get that uncontrollable symptom around you? Would it be 100% effective in preventing you from getting peed on? No. Would it be 100% effective for keeping you from getting pee on others? No. Would there be drawbacks to wearing the pants, like you might have to deal with wet pants sometimes? Probably. Are you gonna do it anyway? If your answer to that is “umm…yeah, cause it’s still better than nothing” then you should wear a mask.
I love this.
When I posted this on FB, i actually had someone reply they’d rather wear shorts and hose their legs down. Ewww. So dumb.
HAHAHA. I mean, I guess nobody wants to wear pee soaked pants haha, but STILL. Have some critical thinking skills, people.
Good lord, though. Even some of the idiots who are protesting closures have enough sense to wear a mask (which seems to counteract their whole point of course, but what can you do).
I live in Minneapolis
My local sports radio station KFAN had a dr from Mayo come in the Mike Barrrero show the day after the visit and dr confirmed that of COURSE the goddamn VP of the United States was briefed on protocol, but Pence decided last minute not to mask up and Mayo clinic didnt want to push it in fear of political retribution because they know this administration is so stupid and petty . Not that the doctor said those words exactly but , bottom line…Pence most definitely was briefed and decided to go rogue last minute and the clinic didnt want the drama so they let it ride
Jaysus.
Literally everything this administration touches turns to shit and always ALWAYS involves some infantile rant and threats.
Visiting the Mayo Clinic should have been the easiest thing in the world – and all it required was the VP wearing a fucking mask while he haunted their halls for his pathetic photo ops. And he couldn’t even do THAT correctly. It just HAD to involve a bunch of needless bravado about “looking people in the eye” and then when they were justifiably called out for flouting rules, a bunch of whining and threats against the press. Like, they couldn’t even say “my bad, I misunderstood” which would have been a nauseating enough lie or even “I disagree on what we were told” , but no – it immediately has to resort to easily disproven lies and threats to retaliate. Like a playground bully.
And we haven’t even hit bottom yet, I fear.
“Literally everything this administration touches turns to shit and always ALWAYS involves some infantile rant and threats.”
I’d like to add “blatant lies as excuses, and excuses that keep changing as each lie is exposed” to the “infantile rant and threats”.
I went to the Mayo Clinic for my sons vaccinations right before he came. They called me 2 times to confirm their mask policy. When I drove into the ramp there was someone guarding to confirm we had a mask or were going to get one. When I went into the building we had two check points where they took our temperatures and asked questions about exposure levels. It’s all locked down. They really are enforcing EVERYONE wears a mask. There’s no way you could think it isn’t a mandatory policy. Even if you’re not a clinician. I feel shame that the clinic rolled over on this one with how many critically sick people they are home to, but I also understand how this administration truly is scary to deal with due to their threats and lack of punishment for being openly retaliatory to anyone who opposes their views.
Confirmed. A member of my extended family and her husband have been in the Mayo clinic almost every day since a kidney transplant in mid February (currently staying at the nearby hotel where Pence reportedly also stayed). The clinic was monitoring function, addressing healing issues, and refining the large amount of anti-rejection drugs required post transplant. (They weren’t going to travel back home anyway until the pandemic is under control.)
And, they’ve kept a daily online diary for family and friends from the beginning – so I’ve followed day by day as the Mayo was shutting down for all but very significant needs like hers. So I already knew what the Mayo has required for weeks for anyone entering the facility, as Derppuccino talks about above.
My relative’s comment that day was, “There are signs outside every Mayo building: “you must wear a mask to enter”. And a few other choice words.
Stupidity and arrogance beyond belief.
Omg, even if her name was not Karen, she is SUCH A KAREN.
Yeah, she’s peak Karen
NOT TO MENTION, any facility, particularly a health care institution, has signs posted prominently advising every person coming through their doors what the safety precautions are, AND his gaggle would have been met at the curb by Mayo officials *wearing masks*. If Pence was so ignorant and obtuse that he didn’t know what his own staff was telling everyone (but him, apparently), he was surrounded by a crowd of people wearing masks and who were the last line of defense before he entered to say, “For the safety of our patients, personnel and YOU, you fool, here is a mask we respectfully require you to wear while on the premises.”
I have a theory on him not wearing a mask. Trump has made a big deal out of himself not wearing a mask so I believe this was a support thing w Trump. Pence I bet thought for sure the Trump supporters would see this as solidarity. Instead it backfired greatly on him.
Absolutely. Pence was required to represent a visual attitude that things are not as bad as everyone says, and Trump and the White House needs to stay on brand. Because the blind are leading the blind in this administration.
And of course, the horses bolted from the open door, the WH slams it shut. Shoots the horses in the pasture, and calmly says we didn’t want them anyway.
They’ll pretend like nothing bad happened, that the media is out to get them, their base buys it and we go on to another day of reckless governing and imbecilic decision-making. 🙄😣
Ivanka has been hosting events at the White House all week and posting pictures of the events on Twitter. She is bringing hundreds of people into that building; there is no social distancing happening; and nobody is wearing a mask. Putting aside the fact that Ivanka shouldn’t be hosting anything in the White House, the Trump administration policy seems to be that the crisis is over and protections aren’t necessary.
I don’t want to be caught out hoping that anyone gets COVID-19, because it is awful and scary. But I have thoughts…
My mother had to be admitted to the hospital. I can’t visit. Not with a mask. Not with a normal temp. Not at all. Hospitals are doing everything in their power to protect their workers and their patients. Pence, Mother Pence and the VP’s office are all a bunch of jerks for downplaying the need/use of masks and for politicizing this. Pence jeopardized everyone he came in contact with. All to score political points with Trump and their idiotic base.
Exactly. My mom is having necessary surgery on Monday, and will be all alone. If they brought the VP to see her, when I can’t, I’d be apoplectic. And if he got her sick, I’d sue the hell out of the hospital.
Frankly, the Mayo better pray this PR stunt of Pence’s doesn’t get their patients sick, or they’re gonna serious trouble.
The hospital compromised the safety of everyone working there and in their care, not to mention their reputation. If it was worth it to them for a photo op…why? Worst marketing decision ever. This just makes them look sloppy and unprofessional.
He should not have been allowed inside without a mask because it compromised the health of other people, but he exposed himself as well. Not buying the martyr angle that he wanted to look the patients in the eye. Is he saying he thinks he’s supposed to wear the mask over his eye like a pirate?
Totally conceivable that Pence could have had covid and recovered without ever disclosing that he was incapacitated, now assumes that he’s immune.
Oo oo. I thought it was Prince Andrew in the header photo! Ah well, they’re both arseholes, so…
Geez, Covid19, you had one job… There’s still time. ⏱
The fact that this TRICK is anywhere saying he is helping people.
Isn’t a stricture against lying one of the Commandments? Talking to you, Mother. Just love how these trump “Christians” can rationalize anything inconvenient to them.
Remember this is the same selfish idiot who visited NASA and touched a piece of fiberglass with a sign the explicitly said do not touch with big caps letters.
And the historic case in Indiana when he was Governor.
He wants people dead that he think is ‘beneath’ him and will use any means within his power to do it like the psychopath that he is.
You’d think that even if we all believed that he hadn’t been briefed about masks, if Pence walked in and EVERYONE is wearing a mask that would make him pause and go “oh, maybe I should wear a mask too”. But even with that fact literally staring him in the face he didn’t come to that conclusion. And his defence was that he didn’t wasn’t explicitly told to wear one (which is a lie)?! Good grief, can’t fix jebus.
So his pearl clutching, homophobic, Christian wife is a liar. Got it.
Yep!