Donald Trump loves reminding his underlings who is in charge, and gets a kick out of joking about Mike Pence's bigoted, anti-gay ideologies to his face.
Those are just two examples from an inside look at the pair's relationship, as well as the vice president's rise to the White House, published in a bombshell New Yorker article Monday morning. The report, written by Jane Mayer, suggests the president openly mocks Pence's attitude toward the LGBT community ever since the 2016 presidential campaign and during briefings with legal experts.
Related: Here's How Donald Trump Could Actually Be Impeached
Trump and Pence sat in on a meeting to discuss a range of issues, from abortion to gay rights. When the conversation moved to the latter, the president pointed toward Pence and said: "Don't ask that guy—he wants to hang them all!"
The two were also told of a potential backlash to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, a landmark Supreme Court decision in 1973 ruling a Texas law banning abortion was unconstitutional. If the decision was reversed, as Pence has called for, states would move to legalize abortion. "You see?" Trump said to Pence. "You've wasted all this time and energy on it, and it's not going to end abortion anyway."
Before the presidency, Trump would ask his campaign staffers along the campaign trail, "Did Mike make you pray?" as they left meetings with the former Governor of Indiana, who joined the Republican ticket July 15.
The president hasn't let his vice president forget who the commander in chief is, one source told The New Yorker. Trump likes to "let Pence know who's boss," according to one source, despite ex-White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon saying the president "thinks Pence is great."
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Pence has long been against the expansion of legislation protecting the LGBT community. According to his critics, as governor of Indiana he's supported the controversial—and debunked—conversion therapy treatment that promises to turn gay people straight. He also called for an amendment to the constitution in 2005 that would have permanently made marriage between a male and a woman exclusively, claiming gay marriage would lead to "societal collapse."
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Chris Riotta is a reporter from New York and is a Master's candidate in Journalism at Columbia University. He has ... Read more
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
