Mackinac Island in Michigan — a state that was crucial to Donald Trump’s electoral college victory in 2016 — outlawed the use of motorized vehicles there in 1898, more than a century ago. Residents travel by foot or bicycle or horse, and they arrive there by walk-on ferry. There are, of course, a few emergency vehicles that are occasionally used on Mackinac Island, but the tradition has never been broken except in very serious circumstances.
Until today.
Vice President Mike Pence was attending the biennial leadership conference of the Michigan Republican Party, a modestly important affair by any stretch of the imagination, and his imagination couldn’t come up with any way to get him from the 3,500-foot paved runway that makes up the Mackinac Island Airport to the Grand Hotel except via the island’s very first 8-car motorcade in history.
.@VP motorcade is arriving at the Grand Hotel. pic.twitter.com/XAiL3EBhcj
— Malachi Barrett (@PolarBarrett) September 21, 2019
That’s pretty entitled and kind of gross when you think about it, and really, I can’t quite conceive of how offensive it is to the roughly 500 residents of the island who had hoped to see Pence arrive by horse-drawn carriage at the very least.
Security is one thing. A complete disregard for the traditions of a place you’re hoping to impress is just stupid.
It seems that many agreed:
Those aren’t horses at all.
— Sen. Mallory McMorrow (@MalloryMcMorrow) September 21, 2019
Pence really should have gotten into a carriage. Not only would he have respected the Mackinac Island tradition, but also for a moment it would have seemed his political beliefs and the era he lives in would be congruent. https://t.co/uxxVxkvz2g
— Dan Centers (@DanCenters) September 21, 2019
Why is this Fascist using autos on the island?
Horses and carriages only!
If he doesn’t like it, LEAVE!— Jack Killeen (@killeen_jack) September 21, 2019
If only Mike Pence and the rest of the GOP bigwigs attending that conference — Sarah Sanders, Betsy DeVos — cared as much about the traditions and health of Mackinac Island as they do about winning again in 2020.
Featured image via screen capture
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