Mike Pence plans Florida vacation as Trump refuses to concede election to Joe Biden and cries voter fraud
It seems like Vice President Mike Pence is all set to enjoy some time off from the post-election drama raging in the White House as his boss, President Donald Trump, continues to refuse to concede the 2020 presidential race to President-elect Joe Biden and threatens lawsuits over baseless claims of widespread voter fraud. According to the veep's official schedule, he is all set to take some time for himself as he goes for a personal trip to Florida.
According to the Hill, Pence will leave Tuesday, November 10, for Sanibel, an island near Fort Meyers. It is a place he has vacationed before and scheduled to remain at till Saturday, November 14, a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) advisory indicated. Spokespeople for the soon-to-be-ex VP have refused to confirm or deny whether the vacation was planned prior to the election. It is also not known whether his wife, second lady Karen Pence will be joining him on the trip.
One would think Pence has earned himself this holiday since he was in the thick of things with his running mate right up to the end of the campaign trail. The last time Pence was seen in public was during Trump's election night speech, where the POTUS cried foul and tried to prematurely declare himself the winner of the race and even went as far as threaten to move to the Supreme Court to stop the vote count in multiple states where his lead was slipping away.
"Millions of people voted for us tonight. A very sad group of people is trying to disenfranchise that group of people,” Trump had said in his election night speech. He then added, “And we won’t stand for it. Frankly, we did win this election." At the time, Pence seemed more skeptical in endorsing his running mate's words. After being invited to speak a few words by Trump, following the latter's supposed inaccuracies-riddled speech, Pence hesitated for a moment before slowly taking the stage. He then kicked off his speech by carefully declaring that they were on "road to victory", unlike Trump announcing that they were already winners. Pence slowly began contradicting Trump's speech with his own, when he stated that the votes would be continued to be counted.
However, since then, Pence has gone on social media and appeared to throw his full-hearted support for Trump's voter-fraud conspiracy theories. "Told @VP Team Today, 'it ain’t over til it’s over.. and this AIN’T over!' President @realDonaldTrump has never stopped fighting for us and we’re gonna Keep Fighting until every LEGAL vote is counted!" Pence tweeted. Before that, he tweeted, "I Stand With President @realDonaldTrump. We must count every LEGAL vote."
Told @VP Team Today, “it ain’t over til it’s over.. and this AIN’T over!” President @realDonaldTrump has never stopped fighting for us and we’re gonna Keep Fighting until every LEGAL vote is counted! 🇺🇸
— Mike Pence (@Mike_Pence) November 9, 2020
I Stand With President @realDonaldTrump. We must count every LEGAL vote.
— Mike Pence (@Mike_Pence) November 6, 2020
Pence, not being as outspoken as the president, has refrained from making any sweeping allegations of voter fraud in the public even as social media page seemed to show his support for Trump. However, contrary to Trump, Pence has chosen to carry on with his day-to-day duties in a way the president has not. He held a coronavirus task force meeting on November 9 afternoon. According to The New York Times, Pence may visit Georgia after his stay in Florida, to boost Sens. David Perdue (R-Ga.) and Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) ahead of their January runoff elections.