Former vice president Mike Pence now reacted to his handshake with Donald Trump at Jimmy Carter’s funeral and also his wife Karen Pence‘s intentional snub to Trump. Pence told Christianity Today that Trump greeted him when he came down the aisle. “I stood up, extended my hand. He shook my hand. I said, ‘Congratulations, Mr. President,’ and he said, ‘Thanks, Mike,’” Pence said revealing the brief conversation between them.
Pence said he was glad to speak to Trump after their difficult days of the January 6 Capitol ‘riots’. Pence was blamed for Donald Trump’s election loss in 2020 after Pence certified the results on January 6, 2021. It was during that time that a riot broke out in Capitol with many Trump supporters chanting “Hang Mike Pence”.
“The opportunity to speak to the president yesterday is something that I appreciated, I welcomed,” Pence said. “I’ve really been blessed at how much I’ve heard from people around the country who saw [our] handshake, and in that handshake, saw some hope that we might be moving past those difficult days.” Pence said he’s also hopeful that those difficult days are now a thing of the past.
Mike Pence, however, addressed his wife’s coldness toward Trump and said she would explain her gesture better. “You’d have to ask my wife about her posture, but we’ve been married 44 years, and she loves her husband, and her husband respects her deeply,” Pence said.
Karen Pence did not acknowledge Donald Trump or Melania and did not rise when Trump approached toward Mike. Karen also avoided any eye contact with Trump. But she greeted former President George W Bush and his wife Laura Bush.
It was a stellar gathering as Joe Biden, Bill Clinton, George W Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump were present there together in a show of unity though it’s questionable whether there was any unity among them. Michelle Obama who was supposed to sit beside Donald Trump did not attend the event and Obama has to sit beside Trump. In a viral video, they were seen engaged in a conversation which piqued the interest of many, including Kamala Harris who was sitting in the row ahead of them. She turned back and apparently sighed and eye-rolled when she saw Trump and Obama engaged in a conversation.
Trump commented on the viral video and said it indeed looked very friendly. Without revealing what they were discussing, Trump said he thinks he probably likes Obama.
