Politicians are using Twitter like never before these days. This social media is the perfect way to reach out to as many people as possible. So, when it came to making a strong statement, Vice President Mike Pence had to do it on Twitter.
Pence used Twitter to make it clear that he was not aware of certain things going on in the Trump administration. Specifically, Pence was distancing himself from the latest scandal to hit the Trump family. One that involves Trump’s eldest son.
Earlier that same day, before Pence released this statement on Twitter, news hit that Donald Trump Jr. had met with a Kremlin-linked lawyer in 2016. He did so to get damaging information on Hillary Clinton.
Trump Jr. later said that the Russian lawyer’s name was Natalia Veselnitskaya. They were set to meet “on the premise that [Veselnitskaya] would provide damaging information on Clinton.” According to Trump Jr. however, no material was ever presented.
What did happen, Trump Jr. said, was a discussion over the Magnitsky Act. The latter is a “US law blacklisting Russians accused of human rights abuses.” The law had angered Putin and it led to him barring Americans from adopting Russian children.
Trump Jr. also tweeted that he was not the first person to dig up dirt on an opponent. He tweeted: “Obviously I'm the first person on a campaign to ever take a meeting to hear info about an opponent.” He added that it, “Went nowhere but had to listen.”
Pence wanted to distance himself from this news. Marc Lotter, Pence’s press secretary, tweeted on his behalf. It was a strong statement that raised many eyebrows.
The tweet read: “The vice president is working every day to advance the president’s agenda. He was not aware of the meeting. He is also not focused on stories about the campaign ― especially those pertaining to the time before he joined the campaign.”
The tweet makes it clear that Pence couldn’t have been at the meeting. This is because it occurred before he joined the presidential campaign. Huffington Post reports that Donald Trump Jr.’s June 2016 meeting “was also attended by Trump’s then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner.”
Ron Klain, who “who served as chief of staff for Vice Presidents Al Gore and Joe Biden” found the statement quite “unusual.” He tweeted about it, saying, “I worked for two VPs -- one in a WH facing impeachment. I've never seen any @VP statement that so distanced himself from the @POTUS.”
Before this strange statement, Pence never faltered to back up the Trump administration. He has denied ties with Russian officials. He also dismissed fake news and rumors.
In January 2017 for instance, Pence “denied that there were any ties between Trump campaign officials and Russian officials.” During a CBS interview with John Dickerson, Pence said, “Well, of course not. And I think to suggest that is to give credence to some of these bizarre rumors that have swirled around the candidacy.”
People need very little to share their thoughts on Trump, his family, and his entire administration. So, when Pence’s statement came out, the tweets followed. As well as the gifs and the memes.
Some believe there’s another reason for Pence to tweet such a statement. More than distancing himself from the family, this guy plans on taking POTUS’s place. “It's fairly obvious that Pence knows that Trump's impeachment or resignation is inevitable. Thus, he's gearing to become POTUS himself.”
Others thought Pence was clearly taking a page from Mariah Carey. The latter denied ever knowing, well, any singer that threatens her status. So, cue in the Mariah Carey gifs….