In case you thought that nothing about this year’s presidential election could surprise you, Donald Trump’s running mate is here to prove you wrong.
Mike Pence, who has shown a measured approach to the mudslinging this election season, has stood by while his presidential partner has hurled tired insults at his Democratic opponent and quite a few perceived xenophobic, homophobic, Islamophobic slurs at her supporters. Pence said (contrary to popular belief and video/audio evidence) he’s actually not a fan of trash-talking.
The vice presidential hopeful sat down with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Monday where the two discussed Hillary Clinton’s now famous “basket of deplorables” comment. Blitzer brought up the speech, noting that although Clinton initially labeled half of Trump supporters “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic” she did backtrack, saying she regretted the statement and the assumption that half of Trump’s movement fell into those categories.
Blitzer didn’t let Pence off the hook, though.
“There are some supporters of Donald Trump and Mike Pence who — David Duke, for example, some other white nationalists — who would fit into that category of “deplorables,” right?” Blitzer asked during the segment.
Pence responded first by becoming defensive over the media’s insistence that Duke has any ties to Trump’s campaign. Though in the early days of the race, Trump refused to distance himself from the former KKK leader, something many members viewed as an implied show of support. Pence maintained that the Donald has denounced the white supremacist repeatedly.
“We don’t want his support and we don’t want the support of people who think like him.”
Denouncing him is one thing but name-calling seems to be a bit extreme in Pence’s opinion. When Blitzer asked if the VP would call a man like Duke deplorable, this is how he responded:
Wolf asks Pence if David Duke is a "deplorable" and Pence says he's "not in the name calling business" pic.twitter.com/iXAiONmOvS
— Colin Jones (@colinjones) September 12, 2016
For Pence, it seems acceptable to label Mexican immigrants as drug runners and rapists and Muslims as terrorists, but calling a man who believes the color of his skin somehow makes him better than other people is just going too far.
(Via The Washington Post)
