After another week of cruelty towards immigrant children and barely sidestepping John Bolton and Mike Pompeo's Iran War erotic dreams, the Trump administration sent out one of its most shameless liars: X-Men villain and current Vice President Michael Richard Pence. (Trump also made a full episode appearance on NBC's "Meet The Press" ably covered by Five Dollar Feminist here.)
Mike Dick Pence practicing for his current treatment of immigrants.Marvel Comics
Pence made dual appearances on CNN's "State of the Union" and CBS's "Face The Nation." While most of the lies were identical, it was Jake Tapper who fact-checked Pence on the spot. Here are some of the highlights.
Iran:
TAPPER: Would the United States sit down with Iran with no preconditions to talk about continuing diplomatic relations and ending the Iranian nuclear weapons program?
PENCE: I think the president has made it very clear that he is more than prepared.
TAPPER: With no preconditions?
PENCE: Discussions with no preconditions ... but the one precondition is ...
TAPPER: That's a precondition.
PENCE: …t hey need to give up their nuclear weapons.
TAPPER: Well, that is a precondition, though.
Pence announced more sanctions on Iran, then went on to lament that Iran would soon enrich uranium past the limit of the JCPOA or Iran Nuclear Deal ... you remember, the deal that the United States pulled out of under Trump.
Immigrant Children:
Pence was pressed about the unsafe and unsanitary conditions of immigrant
concentration camps detention centers. After throwing the DOJ lawyer they sent to argue it's fine to not have soap or toothbrushes, Pence proceeded to blame Democrats for failing to fund "humanitarian aid" (that is how they say "more jails" in Republican). Then Pence claimed that "90% of the people never show up to their hearings" when talking about asylum claims. Tapper immediately told him he believed that stat was incorrect and later corrected it for him. The stat is actually:
TAPPER: You said a second ago that "90 percent of the people who get detained don't show up for their hearings." According to the Justice Department data, 60-70 percent that do.
According to the DOJ statistics we found, it's actually 89 percent that DO show up to all their asylum hearings. Either way, it's a blatant lie and reversal of the statistics that Pence would have easily gotten through if not fact-checked. He should try going on Chuck Todd instead next time.
Here is Pence doing his best "1941 Germany" impersonation for three and a half minutes:
Climate Change:
Finally Pence was asked about climate change. He tried to sound rational before it inevitably broke down:
TAPPER: Do you think man-made climate emergency is a threat?
PENCE: I think the answer to that is based upon the science ...
TAPPER: The science says "YES."
PENCE: Well, there's many in the science that ...
TAPPER: The science community in YOUR OWN administration say at NOAA, at the DNI, they all say it's a threat. But you won't for some reason.
After trying to obfuscate, Pence tries to tout an environmental achievement before being corrected one last time (with Jake Tapper literally laughing in his face) and sheepishly claiming a minor victory:
TAPPER: Do you think climate change is a threat?
PENCE: America has the cleanest air and water in the world.
TAPPER: That's not true.
PENCE: Ahh, but we're making progress on reducing carbon emissions
Watch the video embedded below for Pence's sputtering about climate change:
Until we see you, have a week!
Let's face it: This whole presidency is the ultimate overcompensation
Wonkette is ad-free and funded ENTIRELY by YOU! Help us pay the people, if you are able!
