The Veep Debate Is Tonight

[Content Note: Bigotry.]

So naturally I've got a primer on the abject horror show of policy that is Republican vice-presidential candidate Mike Pence, who could conceivably be an even worse president than Donald Trump:

Pence is not only said to be "nice," but often said to be the more "reasonable" or "measured" member of the Trump-Pence ticket — which misses a fundamental thing about Pence. He is not less extreme than his running mate; he is merely more disciplined.

Voters will not see clips of Pence on the news mocking Clinton's illness, nor will they discover tweets in his timeline slut-shaming a woman who criticized him. They will, however, find in Pence's record legislation with his signature slashing Indiana's budget for public health programs, leaving the state with one of the lowest per capita investments in the nation: $12.40.

And they will find in Pence's record a host of anti-abortion measures, which has made Indiana one of the most unsafe places to be pregnant in the country.

Trump talks the horrible talk about health and women's agency; Pence has walked the horrible walk.

He has not only turned Indiana into a conservative legislation lab, where all manner of retrograde social policy is run through the Republican-controlled legislature, but also a place where 1 out of 6 Hoosiers (over a million people) now have to rely on food pantries and/or meal service programs to get enough to eat.

There is no way to argue that Pence is "nicer" or "more moderate" than Trump without ignoring his actual record of cruelty and pretending that it matters if a politician uses less overtly hostile rhetoric while making people's lives worse.

There is, regrettably, oh so much more at the link, and even with everything I covered, that's not the half of it. This guy is horrendous. If there was anyone in the country who could have made the Trump ticket even more terrifying, it's Mike Pence.