Donald Trump’s Acting Chief of Staff, former South Carolina Tea Party Congressman Mick Mulvaney, must have read our post of two days ago in which we accurately predicted that Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta would be thrown under the bus (https://www.apocryphalpress.com/2019/07/10/former-labor-department-lawyer-accosts-alex-acosta/).
Sure enough, Acosta’s toast (https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/labor-secretary-acosta-out/index.html).
So associate solitary reporter Johanna Jones went, early this morning, to Number One Observatory Circle, on the grounds of the Naval Observatory, where former Indiana conservative radio talk show host Mike Pence lives.
Pence made extra sure that his wife, Karen, was in the room during his very abrupt (and undesired) conversation with Jones.
“Mikey,” Jones began, “have you asked Trump to name you as his next Secretary of Labor?”
At this obvious sign of disrespect, Karen Pence wagged her finger at Jones.
“Johanna,” Mike Pence said, “You are obviously demonstrating that you are completely delusional when you suggest that I, a stalwart evangelical Christian, would lower myself by accepting an appointment so far below my merits, because Mr. Trump never thought much about what the Labor Department does, unless that Department were to do everything in its power to lower living standards for workers.”
“As God is my witness, Johanna,” Pence continued, “Acosta was supposed to deregulate wage-hour overtime restrictions, to make life easier for employers, but he yielded to the pro-labor lobbyists and never got that done. I’m glad to see him go!"
(https://www.npr.org/2019/07/12/739881163/alexander-acosta-steps-down-as-labor-secretary-amid-epstein-controversy)
“I have much more important work to do,” Pence continued, “because the National Weather Service says that Louisiana’s about to be hit by a triple whammy, the so-called Hurricane Barry; and Louisiana’s governor’s a Democrat, and Democrats are unaware that climate change is a hoax.”
(https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/tropical-storm-barry-2019/index.html)
“So I’m going to Baton Rouge to explain to error-prone Democrat governor, John Bel Edwards, that he has nothing to worry about.”
When ASR Jones texted Gov. Edwards about Pence’s plans, he immediately called Col. Kevin Reeves, the Superintendant of the Louisiana State Police, and told him to do everything in his power to keep Pence out of Louisiana.
This made it possible for Pence to continue his efforts at preserving his ability to run for president after Trump’s third term (https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/12/mike-pence-kanne-judge-trump-1411915).