Mike Pence’s Wife Trolled For Insisting VP Didn’t Know Hospital Policy When He Refused To Wear Mask

View gallery

Sure, Mother. Karen Pence left voters baffled after swearing in a new interview that her husband, Vice President Mike Pence, didn’t know that the Mayo Clinic required visitors to wear face masks. The VP came under intense scrutiny after visiting COVID-19 patients at the renowned Minnesota hospital without wearing a protective face mask, despite every other person on the premises doing so. The Second Lady told Fox & Friends on April 30 that it was all just a big misunderstanding, and that he husband, who heads the White House’s coronavirus task force, had done nothing wrong when he refused to protect himself and others from the deadly virus.

“As our medical experts have told us, wearing a mask prevents you from spreading the disease and knowing that [Vice President Pence] doesn’t have COVID-19, he didn’t wear one,” Pence said on Fox News. “It was actually after he left Mayo Clinic that he found out that they had a policy of asking everyone to wear a mask. So you know, someone has worked on this whole task force for over two months is not someone who would have done anything to offend anyone or hurt anyone or scare anyone.” There’s few reasons why the Second Lady’s explanation isn’t cutting it. The Mayo Clinic claimed in a since-deleted tweet (that was replaced with one praising the VP) that he was informed of the policy ahead of time.

It’s unclear if the information was relayed to Pence directly, or to his team, but either way, every person with the vice president at the hospital was wearing a mask. His wife’s assertion that one should only wear a mask to prevent spreading the disease is also false. The White House coronavirus task force, of which, again, Pence is chairman, as advised Americans to wear a mask in public, especially when social distancing is not possible. Like, say, in a hospital at the bedside of COVID-19 patients and chatting with vulnerable healthcare personnel. The CDC has also recommended this.

On Fox & Friends, Karen Pence defends her husband for not wearing a mask at the Mayo Clinic, claiming he didn't know they had a mandatory mask policy until after he left. pic.twitter.com/c6IgVhEqng

— Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) April 30, 2020

Her point that the vice president has tested negative for COVID-19 (which he also argued after the controversy) doesn’t matter. And his excuse that he didn’t wear a mask because he “wanted to look [doctors and nurses] in the eye and say thank you,” is absurd. Joy Behar suggested on April 29 that Pence went without a mask because he didn’t want to anger President Donald Trump, who has stated that he’ll never wear one. “If the king doesn’t wear [a mask], the joker doesn’t,” she said on The View.

The negative reactions on Twitter to Pence’s interview were swift and grim. “Mike Pence used to say ‘I’m a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican, in that order.’ Turns out he and his wife, Karen Pence, are just plain old liars,” CNN’s Keith Boykin tweeted. “Karen Pence said her husband didn’t know of Mayo Clinic mask policy until after he left. The fact that EVERYONE ELSE WAS WEARING A MASK might have been a clue. These people think that Americans are as stupid as they are and will fall for this sh*t,” Washington Post writer Holly Figueroa O’Reilly tweeted. “This entire Pence thing is idiotic… you’re the VP… everyone around you is wearing a mask.. put on a f**king mask… it’s not controversial… it’s common sense. He and Karen Pence must literally be two of the worlds most stupid people.. and Trump is still IMPEACHED FOR LIFE,” an enraged voter wrote.

As of press time, 1,075,276 Americans have tested positive for COVID-19; there are a confirmed 62,299 deaths from the virus.