All the Virgin Islands Residents I Begged for Information About 'Homeless' Mike Pence's Luxury St. Croix Vacation

By Esther Wang | January 28, 2021 | 9:18pm

News Politics

All the Virgin Islands Residents I Begged for Information About 'Homeless' Mike Pence's Luxury St. Croix Vacation

If you’ve been keeping up with the life of former Vice President Mike Pence, which is not a hobby that I generally recommend, you might think that Pence and his wife Mother are a little down on their luck—now jobless, they are currently, as Business Insider put it in a recent headline, “homeless and appear to be couch surfing their way through Indiana.” The Pences are technically currently without a home—they haven’t owned a house in a decade, having lived rent-free on the taxpayer dime for years. One might assume that during a pandemic in which we’re told to limit our time indoors with other people, finding a permanent place to live might be on the top of their to-do list.

That’s what I assumed at least, until a tipster emailed Jezebel and let us know that Mike and Mother Pence jetted off to St. Croix on Wednesday, where they are reportedly causing quite the stir at the vacation villa complex where they are staying.

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The pair was accompanied by what she described a “big group” of Secret Service members, and were wearing masks. (I asked.)

Curious to find out if this was true, I did a little googling, and lo and behold, according a local news report, the former Vice President, complete with a Secret Service detail, did in fact land in St. Croix this week. St. Croix Administrator Sammuel Sanes confirmed to the Virgin Islands Daily News that Pence is “getting some rest and relaxation in the territory” and was seen at the Seaside Market & Deli in Christiansted on Wednesday. When I tried to obtain more details of Pence’s vacation from the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands, I was only able to speak with a security guard, who gently told me, “Ma’am, the building is closed today.”

Going on a beach vacation is certainly an interesting and rather revealing decision as the vast majority of the rest of us continue to be gripped with terror in the midst of an ongoing pandemic that has killed more than 400,000 Americans, an emergency that Pence, while in office, simply didn’t care enough about to actually deal with in any manner resembling competence or compassion. In fact, the CDC recommends that people “should avoid all travel to the U.S. Virgin Islands” right now, where, again according to the CDC, the number of covid-19 cases is currently “very high.” But never mind that—Pence got the vaxx, and he needs his daily allowance of precisely one nonalcoholic beer by the pool and Mother demands some beach time!

I was interested in how the Pences were spending their leisure time, so I called the Seaside Market and spoke with a woman who had seen Mike and Mother Pence with her own eyes on Wednesday. The pair was accompanied by what she described as a “big group” of Secret Service members, and were wearing masks. (I asked.)

I asked what she thought about their vacation. “It’s good,” she replied. “Our island, it’s a good place to visit, and I’m glad they’re recognizing that.” She then transferred me to a higher-up who, with an official tone in her voice, also confirmed their visit. She was, unfortunately, unable to share any details of what the Pences purchased, merely agreeing with me when I asked if they bought “what people typically buy when on vacation.”

The tipster who had originally contacted Jezebel had intel that the Pences and their Secret Service agents were staying in the “top row of villas for an entire week” at a villa complex in Teague Bay, each of which comes with a private pool and rents for about $2,000 per week. The vacation villa complex is marketed on its website as an “excellent choice for a romantic couple get away” and offers “perfect privacy for couples traveling together.” Jezebel could not confirm the veracity of the tip, which came from a friend of the tipster who purportedly owns a condo in the complex and is apparently peeved that Pence’s Secret Service agents are taking up all of the parking spots and are, in the words of the tipster, “being a nuisance to all.”

I reached out to members of the Trump/Pence campaign’s now-disbanded staff with some questions, but received no response. Fully committed to the hunt for answers now, I dialed up the phone number for the vacation villas listed on their website, and asked the woman who answered whether she could confirm that the Pences were currently vacationing there. “I’m sorry but I can’t say anything,” she told me, describing it as a “privacy” issue, which is exactly what one would say when the former Vice President of the United States and his wife/Mother are staying at your vacation complex.

Unfortunately, the friend of our tipster declined to speak with Jezebel on the record. We will be sure to update this story if we hear back from campaign officials with more details about the Pences’ luxury beach vacation.