Sheila Kennedy, professor of law at Indiana University, writes here about Mike Pence and his lapdog change of stripes since becoming Donald Trump’s veep candidate.
Pence drops his support for free trade and nuzzles Donald’s ear.
She writes:
Pence has always had close ties to ALEC and the Koch Brothers. Other positions he has taken since joining the Trump ticket, however, represent a dramatic change from previous postures. For example, Mr. Conspicuous Piety seems positively eager to support a twice-divorced, foul-mouthed, belligerent buffoon who models behaviors inconsistent with both the culture-war positions for which the Governor was previously known and the civility he actually practiced.
(Speaking of civility: For sheer chutzpah, its hard to top Pence’s recent criticism of Democrats for “name calling.” Psychiatrists have a word for that: projection.)
Diane Ravitch's blog 
We in Indiana are all too well acquainted with Pence. What he has done TO education as well as other horrible items too numerous to mention.
LikeLike
I think Pence is following directions from his masters, the Koch brothers, because as VP, he would be one heartbeat from the White House. If Trump dies in office, then the Koch brothers would have their very own president to push their libertarian agenda to subvert the United States from a republic and participatory democracy into a country in a constant state of capitalist anarchy where the billionaires would do whatever they want and the rest of us would have no voice at all unless we were willing to risk being mowed down with machine guns or arrested and dragged off to prison camps if we protested in public.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“If Trump dies in office, then the Koch brothers would have their very own president. . . ”
If the Trumpster were to be elected I think the statement should read “WHEN Trump dies in office, then the Koch bros . . . .”
LikeLike
I stand corrected. Yes. When … not if.
LikeLike
Considering how corporations and government have joined together on education, I’d say the corporate fascist state is in the door. Pence just seals the deal.
LikeLike
They may have closed the door behind them refusing to leave. If we protest, then they will open the door and push us out.
LikeLike
Charles Koch is widely quoted today as saying yesterday, and previously, at his Colorado ALEC meeting. that he does NOT support tRump, but does not mean that he endorses Hillary.
However, we do not know where he stands on Pence. I light of the Kochs history, I would assume he would support the pre-VP candidate Pence.
Gordon, please do enumerate the Pence issues that you see as a teacher, boots on the ground, in Indiana. We need to learn from you who have lived with his governing.
LikeLike
I somehow have the feeling we wont have to wait for Donald to die.The Koch’s may not outright fund Trump. They will support Republicans with anti Hillary,anti Obama adds . They would be happy to leave Trump a legacy of carnage to labor ,the environment ,
Government oversight … ….
LikeLike
@ Duane Swacker,
They don’t have to kill him. They can impeach him. And if he’s elected I predict that they will.
LikeLike
That makes sense. And if they can’t impeach him, the military will depose him when he ignores the U.S. Constitution and starts to do what he wants as if he were king or a dictator.
Part of the oath for all military troops is to defend the U.S. Constitution against both foreign and domestic enemies. And the oath for officers does not include the clause that says they have to obey the President of the United States. Only enlisted men have that in their oath and it also says they have to obey their officers.
LikeLike
Impeachment proceedings are long and drawn out affairs…just think of how much damage he can to in the interim.
LikeLike
@ Ellen Lubic
In this case I think it will be rushed through. The guy is just so slimy that they’ll be overwhelmed with impeachable offenses to charge him with. Trump “University” alone should be an open and shun case.
LikeLike
Open and shut case. Sorry
LikeLike
I like the idea of “shunning” the entire Trump family for ten generations.
LikeLike
Well personally I think we are going off the deep end . God forbid he wins . I would predict you meet a knew Donald. A quite and far more dangerous Donald ,who silently works with a Republican majority to set us back a hundred years. Remember this is the Donald that does not want to be there, but loves to win. The details he never discloses are for the plans and programs he doesn’t have.
LikeLike
http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/koch-brothers-are-helping-trump
LikeLike
Lawrence O’Connell just gave a clear rationale on why no Repub (McCain, Ryan, McConnell…etc.) will ever NOT support tRump and will NOT pull their endorsement, despite all their words taking themselves out of the circle of his idiotic comments and actions. See his re run tonight at MSNBC.
Also Meg Whitman just announced that she is not only VOTING for Hillary, but is making a big donation to her campaign, and will be fund raising for her.
All fascinating…so now Buffett, Cuban, Bloomberg, Whitman all are Hillary voters and donors.
LikeLike
O’Donnell, not O’Connell…
LikeLike
Libertarians HATE democracy, heck, they even want to repeal the 17th amendment. With one breath they claim to hate government and want to limit the power of government but if the 17th amendment is repealed it will be state legislatures and/or governors who will be selecting senators, as was the case for much of our history. Libertarians hate the “mob” otherwise known as the people. They certainly hate public schools and regard them as socialistic and an example of government overreach.
LikeLike
Question: Is Glenda Ritz still Ed. Supt. in Indiana, & has she now been allowed to use her position? (As opposed to when the equally icky Governor-I-forget-his-name-but is now-president-of-Purdue {I think–correct me if I’m wrong} stripped her of her power?)
LikeLike
Retired,
Glenda Ritz is running for re-election in Indiana. It was Mike Pence who tried to strip away the powers of her office.
LikeLike
Thanks, Diane–ah, the plot thickens (esp. why we educators should be against Pence!).
LikeLike
Mike Pence is the reason I no longer have my job as a teacher. The school system where I taught has been losing students to a voucher supported private school in the area thanks to the largest state supported voucher system in the country that Pence pushed through our state legislature. Because the state hands out nearly $7,000 per student (high school) to be used at this private religious school, the funding has been cut to the school corporation where I have been teaching for the last 15 years of my 28 total years, so I and many others at the top of the pay scale were asked to retire or there would be many teacher layoffs.
The most amazing part of this is that the area where my school is located is just northwest of Indianapolis and home to one of the wealthiest communities in the state. The town of Zionsville and the Indianapolis suburb of Whitestown have been growing rapidly and the local school systems have been reigned in on expansion spending by the state (thanks to Mitch Daniels) and have not been able to respond to the population growth of the area. So this area has become the perfect example of the studies that state parents choose to use vouchers because they are motivated by convenience of location or their desire for religious education. So my school receives less money because of the vouchers and I and the many others were replaced by lower paying teachers that will have no hope of ever achieving the level of pay that I had at the end of my 28-year career.
Recently the local newspaper had a photo on the front page of Pence smiling with the church officials of the religious school as they broke ground for a new multi-million dollar private religious high school funded by state vouchers. A wealthy Indianapolis suburb gets a beautiful new private school at the expense of students in Indianapolis that sit in buildings nearly 100 years old, students in rural areas that haven’t had science teachers or enough math teachers for years, and teachers that haven’t had anything that resembles a raise since Pence took office.
Mike Pence has been a disaster for public education in Indiana, and he will do the same to the entire country if he takes office with Trump.
LikeLike
Thanks for this first hand info Teresa….so sorry you lost your job.
LikeLike
Quoting from a Huffpo commenter- Trump and Pence are vile. Hillary’s campaign manager, is craven and despicable. Podesto is in a video with Chester Finn and Jeb Bush, calling for the wealthy to donate to politicians who work to privatize and corporatize public education. Check out the Podesto Group website- the “wins” tab and the CEO’s bio.
LikeLike
Meg Whitman a charter proponent is on board with the Clinton campaign.
LikeLike
Anyone but hillary it will be more common core. Look what it is doing here
http://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/page/content.detail/id/564523/Kids-who-don-t-fit-Common-Core-mold-get-mental-health-treatment.html?nav=5041
LikeLike
I would rather have Common Core than nuclear proliferation, renewal of torture, deregulation of climate oversight, making abortion illegal, privatization of public schools, elimination of any gun controls, building a Wall to keep out Mexicans, banning people based on their religion.
I oppose Common Core but not enough to elect an unpredictable sociopath.
LikeLike
That’s not mental health. That is brainwashing just like the Communists did to our troops that were taken prisoner during the Korean War.
LikeLike