Pence demands 'consequences' for anti-Semitism — just not from Trump

Mike Pence sure doesn’t practice what he preaches.

The vice president took to Twitter on Tuesday to parrot his leader and call out Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar for a perceived anti-Semitic tweet — which Omar has since apologized for.

“Those who engage in anti-Semitic tropes should not just be denounced, they should face consequences for their words,” Pence tweeted.

Yet when Trump made far worse anti-Semitic comments, Pence has either been totally silent or even defensive of the remarks.

Let’s look at the receipts.

Pence had no problem with the Trump campaign’s 2016 closing campaign ad, which flashed images of wealthy and prominent Jews, such as Holocaust survivor and philanthropist George Soros and now-former Goldman Sachs Chairman Lloyd Blankfein, and warned about “global special interests.” Pence didn’t seem to have any issue with that.

Earlier in the 2016 campaign, when Trump tweeted an image of Hillary Clinton superimposed over a mound of cash with a Star of David emblazoned on the photo — which originated on a white supremacist website — Pence was silent.

And after Trump said there were good people on “both sides” of the Charlottesville protests, including the neo-Nazis chanting “Jews will not replace us,” and that some of those neo-Nazis were “very fine people,” Pence had the gall to defend Trump’s words.

“I stand with the president,” Pence said at the time.

Pence himself is not immune to engaging in anti-Semitic behavior.

During a pre-midterm election campaign rally in Michigan last year, he had a Christian Messianic “rabbi” deliver the opening prayer.

The prayer was intended to mourn the loss of 11 Jews who had been murdered at a synagogue in Pittsburgh shortly before the rally, and it left Jews with a sour taste in their mouth, as a “Jew for Jesus” is no Jew at all. Jews, of course, don’t believe in Jesus. And the sect of Christianity that the “rabbi” follows has the goal of converting Jews to Christianity.

Until Pence decides he wants to call out “both sides” for anti-Semitic comments, he should refrain from the sanctimony.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.