WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE? — The Weekly Opine

A new Joker has been confirmed. (Photo credit The Weekly Opine)

One is in prison. The other should be.

Consulting the Merriam-Webster app on my iPhone revealed the following definition for the word “creep.” The dictionary says a creep “[Goes] timidly or cautiously so as to escape notice,” and can be described as “an unpleasant or obnoxious person.” Merriam-Webster defines a crook as “a person who engages in fraudulent or criminal activity.”

In 2017, Larry Nassar, former U.S. national women’s gymnastics team doctor, was sentenced to 60 years in prison, convicted of possessing child pornography. A year later, the epic creep Nassar was sentenced to 175 years by the state of Michigan, on charges he committed seven counts of sexual misconduct.

Larry Nassar is exactly where he should be, confined to prison for the remainder of his life. We also learned there are at least two FBI agents who deserve to join Nassar in prison. This became apparent during recent congressional testimony by several gymnasts, who represented the U.S. women’s gymnastics team when Nassar was team doctor.

Inexplicably, the FBI took a casual, lax approach to following-up complaints filed by multiple female gymnasts. Negligence by the FBI helped enable Nassar as he preyed upon girls.

Which brings us to a crook who should be where Nassar is...behind bars.

Back in November 2017, in just the fourth article posted by The Weekly Opine, then-Vice President Mike Pence was labeled America’s #1 fake Christian (theweeklyopine.com/politics/2017/11/23/americas-1-fake-christian).

One of the tools used to prove my argument was to review the Ten Commandments, one-by-one, and see how Pence stood up. On a simple pass/fail scale, self-proclaimed Christian Mike Pence failed 8 of 10 commandments. Pence is hardly living the life of a Christian. Pence’s unfettered subservience to Trump, a man as un-Christlike as any human on the planet, is pathetic and appalling.

Calling Mike Pence a clown is an insult to clowns everywhere. (Photo credit Business-Insider)

An embarrassment

After Pence went to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and fulfilled his duty to open sealed certificates so electoral votes could be counted, Americans credited him with patriotism in the face of death threats from Trump’s angry mob. Pence indeed did the right thing, rejecting Trump’s demand that Pence find a way to undo the already legally proven, legitimate 2020 election results. It wasn’t even close. Biden won big.

When Pence arrived at Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20, as the lone representative of Trump’s inner White House cabal, he was politely greeted as a man respecting American tradition by representing the outgoing administration. Following the failed coup attempted on Jan. 6, it was paramount that sane citizens, and the entire world, witness a peaceful transfer of power in America.

We now know that on Inauguration Day Mike Pence was hiding a dark secret.

As outlined in the new book “Peril,” written by Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, we’ve learned that Pence is not only America’s #1 fake Christian, he is arguably America’s #1 loser. A sad sack of a man. A humbug. Surely, Mike Pence’s behavior shames and humiliates his wife, Karen, his children, and what remains of the “real” Republican Party.

As a fellow alum of Indiana University, in my opinion nobody is a bigger disgrace to IU than Pence. As a fellow born and bred Hoosier I ask; Is there a bigger embarrassment in the state of Indiana than Mike Pence? I doubt it.

In their book Woodward and Costa reveal that, in his desire to please Trump, Pence desperately sought a way to shatter American democracy. Additional reporting this week, from the New York Times, discloses a memo was drawn up by a Trump attorney, with a 6-step approach to overturning election results so Trump would retain power. If it walks like a conspiracy and sounds like a conspiracy, it may in fact be a conspiracy.

A true Christian, or real American, would never follow this evil man. A loser would. (Photo credit The Weekly Opine)

Obviously, there is a gross sickness residing inside Pence that goes beyond greed and power. Did Mike Pence participate in a conspiracy whose goal was/is overturning the election and destroying American democracy?

Thanks to the instincts of Indiana native and former U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle, we were saved from what easily could have been a democracy-extinguishing moment on Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol. “Peril” describes Quayle’s stern admonishment that Pence “[had] no flexibility” and to “forget it” with respect to overturning the election.

Absolute failure

In late February 2020, Mike Pence was named head of the U.S. coronavirus task force. His job was straightforward, yet complex. Prevent the virus from unabated spread in the U.S. This required that Pence trust scientists, leverage U.S. manufacturing capability, coordinate with the healthcare industry, and be bluntly honest with the American people. Oh, and have sense enough to sort out fact (the virus is real) from Trump’s fiction (it’s a hoax and church pews will be filled by Easter).

In one of the most infamous public spectacles in American history, Pence was a categorical failure.

He consistently lied. (I will not use polite cable news words such as “misspoke,” “mislead,” or “downplayed.”) Pence and his cronies, like Peter Navarro, flat out lied about what was happening, as testing equipment and ventilators did not materialize at the rate promised and were not deployed where needed most.

Pence oversaw a logistical nightmare as dozens, then tens of thousands, then hundreds of thousands of Americans died needlessly.

In case you’ve forgotten, the chart below compares the U.S. with South Korea during the early days, and months, of the coronavirus. Clearly, South Korea took the pandemic seriously while Pence was melting under the weight of his own lies and the Trump administration’s “it’s a hoax” platform. Pence’s team proved to be largely useless, a notable exception being Dr. Anthony Fauci.

In spring 2020, when there was no time to waste, Mike Pence’s coronavirus task force wasted precious time. (Photo credit The Weekly Opine)

South Korea’s population is 51 million, or 15% of the USA’s 330 million population. CNN reports South Korea has now suffered 2,427 COVID-19 deaths. The U.S has endured 681,594 coronavirus deaths. If the U.S. had managed the pandemic as well as South Korea, we should have around 16,180 deaths (2,427 is 15% of 16,180).

Pence, as head of the coronavirus task force, should be held accountable for the preventable carnage that is happening here.

Birds of a feather

Mike Pence deserves to be where Larry Nassar is, rotting away in a prison cell. Their crimes are different but what binds them is one is a jailbird and the other should be.

As a result of Pence’s lies and corrupt handling of the pandemic, hundreds of thousands of Americans are dead. His negligence rises to the level of criminal conduct. The immorality he steadfastly supports, with his slavish devotion to the unsavory Trump, should disqualify Pence from ever holding public office again.

No matter which measuring stick you employ, he is not a Christian but a joke. Be gone Mike Pence.