NATIONAL HARBOR, MD — Speaking Friday morning at CPAC to a full-capacity, raucous crowd of Trump supporters (with plenty of anti-Trump and anti-conservative media types in the back), Vice President Mike Pence took a few shots at the left, their media cohorts, and their friends in Hollywood for possessing a disdain for religious liberty and their refusal to acknowledge the worsening situation at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Vice President highlighted the deeply-seated belief that America’s a country in which religious freedom should be allowed to flourish. With that, Pence insisted that CPAC attendees should “make no mistake about it” that “freedom of religion is under attack in our country.”
On that topic, Pence brought up the liberal media uproar concerning Second Lady Karen Pence choosing to take a position at a Northern Virginia Christian elementary school teaching art. Most notably, the onslaught included the dangerous and outlandish wonderment by CNN’s John King if Mrs. Pence’s Christian views and thoughts on marriage should ban her from receiving taxpayer-funded Secret Service protection.
Here was a portion of the Vice President’s defense of his wife that drew a roaring ovation from the thousands inside the Potomac Ballroom:
Lately, it’s actually become fashionable for media elites and Hollywood liberals to mock religious belief. My own family recently came under attack just because my wife Karen went back to teach art to children at a Christian school. Let me say it before all of you. I couldn’t be more proud of my wife.
Moments later, Pence promised those listening that the administration won’t allow or endorse such discrimination:
But let me be clear on this point. This is not about us. It’s about all of you. It’s about the sincerely-held belief of millions of Americans who cherish the Christian faith and Christian education. And so I’ll make you a promise: Under this President and this administration, we will always stand with people of faith. We will always stand defend the freedom of religion of every American of every faith, so help us God.
Just over 11 minutes into the roughly 40-minute speech, Pence was elaborating on illegal immigration and the imperative of securing the border when he told the audience: “Make no mistake about it, folks. No matter what you hear from the Democrats or their allies in the media, we have a crisis at our southern border. And it’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before.”
Pence then bolstered this claim by citing the massive haul of border crossings and that a majority are now “unaccompanied minors and families” that have been “exploited by drug cartels and human traffickers.”
He then continued by citing some statistics on border crossings (with a nod to the border spike from the summer of 2014):
You know when President Obama in 2014 said we had a humanitarian crisis at our southern border, 120,000 minors and families crossed our border illegally. Last year, there were a 145,000 and in the last four months alone, more than a 120,00 unaccompanied minors and families had been apprehended at our southern border. Now, Democrats want to say it’s a manufactured crisis, but the only thing that’s manufactured is their outrage.
Of course, the Vice President’s speech was only his latest address to the single largest annual political gathering but also a further cementing of Trumpism on this wing of the right. In 2018, Pence brought down the house by laying into the media for their “fawning” praise for the North Korean delegation to the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Pence was also on hand the year before for the 2017 installment of CPAC and had a primetime speaking slot that he used to, among other things, blast the press for having “amplif[ied]...the failed status quo” during the 2016 campaign that ultimately resulted in their defeat and a return of the Republican Party to the White House.
To see the relevant transcript from CPAC 2019 on March 1, click “expand.”
CPAC 2019
March 1, 2019
11:15 markVICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE: Make no mistake about it, folks. No matter what you hear from the Democrats or their allies in the media, we have a crisis at our southern border. And it’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before. For the first time ever, the majority of illegal immigrants coming to our country are unaccompanied minors and families. Families that are being exploited by drug cartels and human traffickers, encouraging them to make the long and dangerous journey north at a great financial price and often a great price to themselves, their safety, and well-being. You know when President Obama in 2014 said we had a humanitarian crisis at our southern border, 120,000 minors and families crossed our border illegally. Last year, there were a 145,000 and in the last four months alone, more than a 120,00 unaccompanied minors and families had been apprehended at our southern border. Now, Democrats want to say it’s a manufactured crisis, but the only thing that’s manufactured is their outrage.
(....)
15:10 mark
PENCE: But make no mistake about it, freedom of religion is under attack in our country. Lately, it’s actually become fashionable for media elites and Hollywood liberals to mock religious belief. My own family recently came under attack just because my wife Karen went back to teach art to children at a Christian school. Let me say it before all of you. I couldn’t be more proud of my wife. [APPLAUSE]
(....)
16:30 mark
PENCE: But let me be clear on this point. This is not about us. It’s about all of you. It’s about the sincerely-held belief of millions of Americans who cherish the Christian faith and Christian education. And so I’ll make you a promise: Under this President and this administration, we will always stand with people of faith. We will always stand defend the freedom of religion of every American of every faith, so help us God.
