About

Mike Pence is a Republican politician and Vice President-elect of the United States. As a staunch Christian conservative, Pence has opposed legislation in favor of comprehensive sex education, abortion and LGBT rights.

History

Following two unsuccessful Indiana congressional campaigns in 1988 and 1990, Pence became the president of the Indiana Policy Review Foundation free-market think tank. In 1992, Pence began hosting The Mike Pence Show talk radio program. In 2000, Pence defeated Democratic opponent Robert Rock for a congressional seat in Indiana's 2nd district, adopting a campaign slogan describing himself as "A Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order." In 2012, Pence defeated Democratic candidate John R. Gregg and Libertarian nominee Rupert Boneham to become governor of Indiana.

2016 Vice Presidential Campaign

During the 2016 Republican presidential primary, Pence endorsed Ted Cruz as the party's nominee. On May 3rd, 2016, Donald Trump became the presumptive nominee after winning the Indiana primary. On July 15th, Trump announced on Twitter^[1] that Pence had been chosen as his vice presidential running mate. The following day, Trump introduced Pence as his running man during a campaign event at the New York Hilton Midtown hotel (shown below, left). On July 18th, the Super Deluxe YouTube channel uploaded an edited version of the announcement speech (shown below, right).

Vice Presidential Debate

On October 4th, 2016, Pence participated in a vice presidential debate against Democratic rival Tim Kaine (shown below, left). During the debate, Kaine accused Donald Trump of saying “Mexicans are rapists and criminals” to which Pence retorted “Senator, you whipped out that Mexican thing again." That evening, the gaffe was widely mocked on Twitter along with the hashtag "#ThatMexicanThing". The following day, the Schmoyoho YouTube channel posted an auto-tuned version of the debate (shown below, right).

Controversies

Gay Conversion Therapy

In 2000, Pence's campaign website contained a stipulation the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act, arguing that government resources aimed at preventing the spread of the HIV virus should be "directed toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior." The statement was widely interpreted as an endorsement of conversion therapy,^[3] which aims to change a person's sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual. In October 2016, a photo of Pence's head captioned with the accusation that Pence supported electroshock "gay conversation therapy" began circulating on social media (shown below). On October 26th, Snopes^[2] published an article titled "Shock Treatment," listing the claim made in the image as "Mixture."

Religious Freedom Restoration Act

In March 20th, Pence signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which was widely criticized by those who claimed the bill permits discrimination against LGBT individuals.

Abortion Rights

Also in March 2016, Pence signed House Bill 1337 into law, which banned abortion procedures on reasons related to the fetus' race, gender or fetal abnormality. Additionally, the law required abortion providers to bury or cremate all fetal remains. The law was widely criticized by abortion rights activists and a federal court issued a preliminary injunction blocking the bill from taking effect.

Online Presence

Planned Parenthood Donation Prank

On November 11th, 2016, artist Bethany Cosentino posted a message on Instagram^[7] urging readers to donate to Planned Parenthood in Pence's name (shown below). Within five days, the post gained over 13,800 likes and 1,300 comments.

The image was widely circulated across various social media platforms, with reposts by actress Amber Tamblyn and comedian Amy Schumer. Additionally, Twitter users began posting screenshots of their Planned Parenthood donations in Pence's name. On November 16th, the Indianapolis Star^[8] reported that Planned Parenthood had received upwards of 20,000 donations in Pence's name.

Selfie Stick Photo

On November 17th, 2016, Republican congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers tweeted a selfie photograph of the House Republicans taken by Mike Pence with a selfie stick (shown below, left).^[4] Shortly after, the House Republicans Twitter feed posted an alternate angle in which Pence is shown holding the selfie stick (shown below, right).^[5]

On Twitter, the many mocked the photograph for showing only white people (shown below). That day, UpRoxx^[6] highlighted several notable reactions to the photographs.

E-mail Hack Scandal

On March 2nd, 2017, The Indianapolis Star^[11] reported that Pence had routinely used a private AOL email account to conduct official state business, including matters relating to homeland security affairs, while serving as the governor of Indiana. Citing public records that were released by the State of Indiana, the article also revealed that his email account was compromised sometime in 2016 by unknown hackers, who then used his account to send fraudulent emails in an attempt to swindle money from Pence's contacts. Soon, Pence's tweet^[12] praising the reopening of the FBI investigation on Hillary Clinton's private email usage from October 2016 quickly resurfaced as a subject of mockeries on Twitter.^[13]

While Pence's use of private e-mails in official capacity does not violate Indiana's state law, the report was met with critical remarks from cybersecurity experts and the Democrats, as the former U.S. Secretary of State's email controversy played a central role in Trump and Pence's criticisms against the Democratic presidential candidate in the 2016 presidential campaign.

On March 3rd, New York writer Yashar tweeted a photograph of Hillary Clinton glancing at the front page of USA Today, with the top headline reading "Pence used personal email in office," which were taken by Caitlin Quigley, the communications director for a New York-based LGBTQ health care center.

Related Memes

Periods for Pence

Periods for Pence is an online campaign encouraging abortion-rights activists to direct detailed descriptions of their menstrual cycles toward Pence to protest his support of legislation restricting women’s reproductive freedom.

/pol/ Nicknames

On 4chan's /pol/ (politically incorrect) board, posters often create threads dedicated to listing various homophobic nicknames for Pence. On November 10th, 2016, Redditor AustralianShitPoster posted^[9] a screenshot of Pence nicknames. The same day, Redditor SH11TPOSTER submitted^[10] a similar collection of Pence nicknames taken from /pol/, gathering more than 4,400 votes (95% upvoted) and 100 comments over the next week (shown below).

#NameAPenceMusical

#NameAPenceMusical is a hashtag that spread following a performance of the musical Hamilton attended by Mike Pence in which the cast of the show directly addressed Pence and asked him to be a president for all Americans, particularly people of color and members of the LGBTQ community. The hashtag takes the names of musicals and alters their titles to make fun of Mike Pence, particularly his conservative policies.

Mike Pence Is Race Bannon

Mike Pence Is Race Bannon is a series of Fake History-style image macros featuring screenshots of the cartoon character Race Bannon from the 1960s animated television series Jonny Quest with captions falsely identifying him as a violently homophobic version of Mike Pence.

Search Interest

External References