Trust Us, You Don't Want A Mike Pence Presidency

By Rachel Cromidas in News on Oct 10, 2016 5:03PM

As cracks begin to appear in Republican presidential hopeful Donald "Grab 'em by the pussy" Trump's campaign, some are speculating that, should he win, his running mate Mike Pence could actually become the president.

Since we're from Chicago, where criticizing Indiana is practically a patriotic duty, please let us assure you: You don't want a Mike Pence Presidency. Sure, he can pronounce China correctly and carry on a televised debate without sniffling an estimated 5,000 times, but the Indiana governor could make just as bad, if not worse, a president as Trump.

Pence has served as governor of Indiana, (a state which is not Illinois, Eric Trump) land of homophobic pizza, since January 2013. As governor, Pence has been responsible for such gems as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which essentially told businesses it was OK to discriminate against LGBTQ patrons, and a policy that restricts abortion providers and creepily requires women to have their aborted fetuses buried or cremated.

Here's a breakdown of Pence's abortion policy: In other states, aborted fetuses, which are typically less than a couple inches in size, are disposed of as medical waste. Under Indiana's recently-instated law, they are sent to a funeral home, just like the body of a human who died would be, and to do otherwise is a criminal offense.

Indiana also has Pence to thank for the spread of its recent HIV outbreak among IV drug users, after Indiana made it illegal to possess a needle without a prescription (thus banning controversial but successful needle exchange programs that share clean needles with drug users). Pence's initial leadership response after months went by was to "pray" on it, according to the New York Times, before eventually allowing a limited needle exchange program in Indiana's Scott County.

Pence has struggled to believe in global warming, arguably the biggest issue of our time, and opposed policies that would reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. He's also very anti the Disney movie Mulan.

Our colleague at LAist created a Twitter account to chronicle Pence's follies in one convenient place, where you can fact-check some of Pence's most egregious policy claims. It's a blackout Bingo card's-worth of discrimination and pseudo-science.

In 2012, Pence compared the Supreme Court's decision on Obamacare to the 9/11 attacks. Not making this up. https://t.co/5lKth1gbv1

— Terrible Mike Pence (@TerriblePence) October 10, 2016

Pence LITERALLY wrote an op-ed that said "Smoking doesn't kill"... in the year 2000 when everyone knew smoking kills https://t.co/ojz1K1W09S

— Terrible Mike Pence (@TerriblePence) October 10, 2016

Mike Pence tried to create a "state-run news service" in Indiana. NOT MAKING THIS UP!! https://t.co/kIbUFDGQKQ

— Terrible Mike Pence (@TerriblePence) October 10, 2016

During a failed 1990 congressional run, Mike Pence used $13k in campaign $$ to pay his mortgage & golf tourney fees https://t.co/jlE19WMTZP

— Terrible Mike Pence (@TerriblePence) October 10, 2016