Karen “Mother” Pence has been keeping busy these days. She got an evangelical baddie makeover, did some women-centric outreach for the Trump re-election campaign, and is now lying for her husband, Vice President Mike Pence, on national television. According to Karen, Mike simply didn’t know about Mayo Clinic’s mandatory mask policy! That’s it!
Pence was widely condemned for opting not to wear a protective mask during a tour of the Mayo Clinic on Tuesday. After the visit, Pence told reporters that he was simply following Center for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and insisted he didn’t have covid-19.
He told pool reporters, “As vice president of the United States, I’m tested for the coronavirus on a regular basis, and everyone who is around me is tested for the coronavirus.”
However, the CDC has included face masks as a part of their covid-19 prevention guidelines since April 3.
He dug the hole even further, suggesting that because he was mask-free, he was better able to speak to the researchers and health care personnel and “look them in the eye and say ‘thank you.’”
Of course, all of that can be done wearing a protective mask.
This was an unsatisfactory answer to anyone with a working brain, but Mother came to the rescue and attempted to do some damage control.
During an interview with Fox and Friends co-host, Ainsley Earhardt, Karen Pence was asked about her husband’s decision not to wear a mask.
“As our medical experts have told us, wearing a mask prevents you from spreading the disease and knowing that he doesn’t have COVID-19, he didn’t wear one,” Karen said, parroting her husband’s assurance of a clean bill of health.
Then, she played the ignorance card.
“It was actually after he left Mayo Clinic that he found out that they had a policy of asking everyone to wear a mask,” she said. “Someone has worked on this whole task force for over two months is not someone who would have done anything to offend anyone or scare anyone. I’m glad that you gave me the opportunity to talk about that.”
But Mayo Clinic instituted a mandatory mask policy for all patients and visitors on April 13. And if Pence somehow wasn’t informed before his visit, standing between seas of people wearing masks would have been an ample hint.
Pence’s excuse deflates further upon taking a cursory look at the Mayo Clinic’s announcement of the mask policy. It reads, “Patients and visitors are asked to bring their own face covering or mask to wear. If a patient or visitor does not have a mask, Mayo Clinic will provide one.”
No distinction is made between those who have already been tested for covid-19 already or not, and it’s doubtful that Mayo Clinic was out of extra masks that day.
It’s obvious: Mike Pence was likely fully aware of the Mayo Clinic’s mandatory mask policy either before or—at the latest—during his visit. He just chose not to wear one because he either felt emasculated by it or thinks the power of Christ alone is enough to get him through any pandemic. Nothing Mother says can change that.