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It looks as if The Trump Showwill take some interesting turns in thenew season, which begins Jan. 3. The teaser we saw on Tuesday was a doozy. Minority Leader and soon-to-be House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer went up to the White House to meet with the president about the looming government shutdown and all hell broke loose before the meeting even started. When the fur starts flying at the photo-op, you know that things are going to get crazy.

Trump did his normal thing: Lying, exaggerating, threatening, bragging, complaining. But instead of the usual GOP sycophants clapping like a bunch of trained seals, this time hegotpushback. He's not used to that and it didn't go well for him.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Trump stomped off and threw a folder full of papers around the room after the meeting, which is understandable. He had no idea what had just happened to him and he was frustrated.

It's hard to believe it was this easy but Pelosi got him rattled by confronting him and then Schumer goaded him into yelling "I'll proudly shut down the government if I don't get what I want!" which, if it happens, is going to be an albatross around his neck. The Republicans are reportedly none too pleased that the greatest negotiator the world has ever known was so easily backed into a corner, leaving them with little room to maneuver on the budget, especially sincethe latest pollingshows that a large majority of American don't want a shutdown over the wall. Even 30 percent of Republicans are against it.

One person who had not one word to say about all this was Vice President Mike Pence, who sat frozen in a chair like a Madame Tussaud'swax figure, not moving or changing expression the entire time. His behavior was so strange it went viral almost immediately:

It's actually quite understandable that Pence was, well, a bit pensive. The meeting was a train wreck, and it's plausible that he had recently been on the receiving end of Trump's wild temper and was just happy not to be involved. After all, Trump had just suffered a major humiliation when Pence's chief of staff, Nick Ayers, pulled out of an apparent agreement to move up and replace Trump's departing chief of staff, JohnKelly. Trump had foolishly announced Kelly's departure as one of his distraction ploys during last week's rollout of bad legal news andno doubt held Pence somewhat responsible for the humiliation when his boy backed out. That's just how he rolls.

Nobody really knows why Ayers turned down the job. He's been working for Pence from the beginning of the term and his main characteristic seems to be relentless ambition. But he did, and now Trump is scrambling to find someone. As of Tuesday afternoon, the White House had to backtrack and say that Kelly would stay on until after the first of the year.

The Ayers saga has been going on for some time. Apparentlyhe was pushed hard by Ivanka and Jared Kushner, largely because of their antipathy for Kelly. There werestrange little kabuki dancesstaged for the press, denying that there was any unpleasantness, but nobody was fooled. One of the more recent palace-intrigue stories might have also contributed to Ayers' departure and Pence's odd behavior.Gabriel Shermanat Vanity Fair reported recently that there was some talk that for all of his ostentatious bootlicking, Pence wasn't really bringing anything to the party:

[Earlier this month] Trump hosted a 2020 strategy meeting with a group of advisers. Among the topics discussed was whether Mike Pence should remain on the ticket, given the hurricane-force political headwinds Trump will face, as demonstrated by the midterms, a source briefed on the session told me. Theyre beginning to think about whether Mike Pence should be running again, the source said, adding that the advisers presented Trump with new polling that shows Pence doesnt expand Trumps coalition. He doesnt detract from it, but he doesnt add anything either, the source said. Last month,The New York Times reportedthat Trump had been privately asking advisers if Pence could be trusted, and that outside advisers have been pushingNikki Haleyto replace Pence.

It's hard to know if Ayers' abrupt departure from the White House might have anything to do with those musings, but you can bet that Pence has heard about it.

That polling is correct, by the way. Pence's place on the ticket was always predicated on the need for Trump to reel in folks on the religious right who might be put off by his libertine ways. As it turns out, they love him just the way he is.

CNN's Ron Brownstein looked atsome previously unpublished results from the 2018 exit polls and they show something startling. Republicans actually ran poorly among white working-class women who are not evangelicals. Nearly three-fifths of those women voted for the Democrats, more than double the share of evangelical women. Even white working-class non-evangelical men, who did give Republicans a majority, still voted twice as often for Democrats as did white male working-class evangelicals. Most college-educated evangelicals voted for Republicans too. They are consistently Trump's most ardent followers.

In fact, just last weeka group gatheredat the Trump Hotel in Washington to pray for him:

[L]ast Friday afternoon (Dec. 7), one of the hotels many glimmering ballrooms was transformed into a sanctuary, where dozens of worshippers held their hands aloft and spoke in tongues as Jon Hamill, co-founder of Washington, D.C.-based Lamplighter Ministries, led the group in prayer. Hamill whom supporters describe as a prophet closed his eyes tightly and shouted above the chattering: In Jesus name, we declare the Deep State will not prevail!

The Trump advisers who brought him his polling no doubt understand that these people are in the bag for 2020. But if they want to win they have to figure out a way to bring back some of those non-evangelical women who are abandoning the Republican Party in droves. In that respect, maybe putting Nikki Haley on the ticket makes some sense.

If people are talking about this to the press you can be sure Pence knows about this scuttlebutt too. So does Pence's fair-haired boy, Nick Ayers, which may be informing his decision to spend more time with his money. That faraway look in the veep's eye may be the look of someone who's trying to come to terms with the fact that he's just another in a long line of Donald Trump's castoffs who have been used, abused and left with nothing.

Originally posted here:
Whats behind Mike Pences stony visage? Trump may plan to ...

Vice President Mike Pence has become a meme again, this time after meeting with President Donald Trump and Pence and Democratic leaders Sen. Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi in the Oval Office to discuss Trumps promise of a wall along the southern border of the U.S. on Tuesday.

In the presence of reporters at the televised meeting, the President and the Democratic leaders were at time combative as they argued their viewpoints. As for Vice President Mike Pences part, through most of the meeting, he did not take part in some of the spirited discussion as it went on.

This was not lost on late night hosts who couldnt resist the chance to zoom all the way in on Pence on Tuesday night.

The best part of the meeting was Mike Pence just sitting there quietly patiently waiting to be President, not saying a word, Jimmy Kimmel cracked on Live! before debuting a doctored clip that reimagined the meeting as The Real White House Wives of D.C.

On The Late Show, Stephen Colbert imagined Pences inner monologue during the meeting with a sketch that kicked off Tuesdays episode. I wonder if I sit real still if people will even notice Im here. Im a manila envelope taped to a beige wall, no one can see me, Stephen Colbert cracked.

On Late Night With Seth Meyers, Meyers had one question. Also, is Mike Pence doing? I guess when Schumer said shutdown, Mike Pence took it literally.

But before late night riffed on the footage, people on Twitter had already had a field day zeroing in on Pences demeanor during that day, with users comparing his seemingly motionless position to Weekend at Bernies and Elf on the Shelf and all sorts of other imaginary scenarios.

And some online felt bonded to him.

Contact us at editors@time.com.

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Mike Pence Gets Spoofed by Late Night for His Oval Office ...

Late-night hosts took aim at President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence's meeting with Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer on Tuesday and, in particular, the vice president's behavior.

A sketch portraying Pence's interior monologue during the meeting kicked off theLate Show. "I wonder if I sit real still if people will even notice I'm here," a voiceover said as footage of a stoic Pence from the meeting was shown. "I'm a manila envelope taped to a beige wall, no one can see me. I don't think all gay people are bad, I just think all bad people are gay."

Colbert later said that it takes a lot to shock him when it comes to Trump and his behavior. "Today I'm happy to say that I am shocked anew," he said.

Colbert joked that the meeting between Trump, Pelosi, Schumer and Pence looked like two cats fighting in a boxing ring. "I'll say this. That was one step up from what actually happened," he said before playing a clip from the real meeting, in which Trump argued with both Pelosi and Schumer about the possibility of a government shutdown and the president's desire for a Mexican border wall.

"Stop fighting Grandma and Grandpa and weird Grandpa!" Colbert jokingly pleaded.

Another clip showed Trump perk up when Pelosi said his name in conversation. "He's like Alexa. He only wakes up when he hears his name," said Colbert.

Colbert shared another clip that showed Trump admitting that he will shut down the government if he doesnt get what he wants. "To be clear, he's offering to take all the blame for the thing you always blame the other side for," said the host. He then used his Trump impression and said, "'Okay, I will take all the blame for the shutdown, but first, let me just spray paint my initials on the bow of the S.S. Republican party before I drive this baby over that waterfall.'"

The next clip from the meeting showed Trump stating that he could get all the votes necessary to build the Mexican border wall. "Now I know what it's like to play poker with Donald Trump. 'Look, I have a full house and I can play it at any time. I could beat all of you in one second if I felt like it. Anyway, I'm bluffing. Here's my money,'" joked Colbert.

Later in the meeting, Trump disagreed with Pelosi and Schumer's suggestion that they should wait to have a debate until the press isn't around. "Any child of divorce has seen this conversation before," responded Colbert.

"Pelosi explained why it was so important to have the conversation in private," said Colbert before he played a clip where she stated that she didn't want to contradict the president in public. "No! Exactly wrong. Contradict him in public. This is fun. Ask him to name seven state capitals. No, ask him to name seven states."

Colbert shared a quote from Pelosi after the meeting, in which she said that Trump used the border wall as a "manhood" thing, "as if manhood could be associated with him." The quote received shocked gasps and applause from the audience. "The wall's a metaphor for his manhood. No wonder he's having trouble erecting it," said Colbert.

"Here's the thing about Trump threatening to shut down the government over his wall. This morning he tweeted a long tweet in which he said we already do have a wall," said Colbert. "Trump's problem is that he has to say, 'We built the wall' to satisfy the people who voted for him in 2016, but he also has to say, 'We need to build the wall' to get people to vote for him in 2020. He needs a wall that both does and does not exist. I just hope he has good mime skills."

Over on The Daily Show, host Trevor Noah observed how Pence didn't say a word the entire time. "He just sat there motionless, like a guy whose edibles just kicked in," said Noah. "I mean, like, you've got to wonder what he was thinking about when everyone was arguing. He was probably just daydreaming about, I don't know, whatever it is that Mike Pence daydreams about."

Noah also shared a segment about how Trump is on Santa's "naughty" list. "It's Christmas time and President Trump already knows what he wants from Santa: a big shiny border wall. But Santa is not going to give it to him, because if there's one person who's on the naughty list, it's Trump," Noah said. He went on to joke that Trump has "put children in cages," which was followed by an impersonation of the president.

Noah went on to discuss Trump's desire for a border wall and suggest that he negotiate with Democrats this Christmas.

On Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the host also noted Pence's behavior. "The best part of the meeting was Mike Pence just sitting there quietly patiently waiting to be president, not saying a word," Kimmel quipped.

Kimmel also joked that the meeting was a great template for a new reality television show. He shared clips from the meeting that were interrupted by Real Housewives cast members looking surprised. The clip concluded with Pelosi flipping over a table.

Over on Late Night, host Seth Meyers shared a brief clip from the meeting. "Oh boy, the oldies are fighting," he said. "At least that's gonna save you a trip home for Christmas."

"Also, what is Mike Pence doing?" he asked as a photo showed a relaxed Pence with his eyes closed. "I guess when Schumer said, 'Shut down,' Pence took him literally."

"That's right. Trump got into an argument with Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi on camera today, then as usual he tried offering them $130,000 to be quiet," concluded Meyers.

James Corden opened The Late Late Show by sharing Trump's plan to have the military build the border wall if Congress won't fund it.

"It looks like Trump's border wall is right on track to still never be built," he said. "If that doesn't work, he'll have no choice but to ask Santa Claus."

Corden then focused on Trump's "tantrum" in the meeting. "Think of this as a little preview of what your family dinners are gonna look like this holiday season," said the host. "This looks like a group at a senior center arguing over whether to watch The Price is Right or a rerun of I Love Lucy."

The host then pointed out Pence's lack of interest during the meeting. "He looks like he's just thinking, 'Just hold still, Mike. No sudden movements. Maybe they won't realize you're here,'" he said.

Corden also showed the bust of Martin King, Jr. next to Pence. "He's thinking, 'This was not my dream,'" he said.

Another object that appeared to be uncomfortable in the room was a painting of Alexander Hamilton. Corden said, "Hamilton's thinking, 'I don't want to be in the room where this happened.' Also he's thinking, 'Can anyone get me tickets for Hamilton?'"

Over on The Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon said that the meeting "was like a Real Housewives reunion."

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Late-Night Mocks Mike Pence's "Motionless" Oval Office ...

Vice President Mike Pence sat stoically during a heated meeting in the Oval Office between President Trump and senior Democratic congressional leaders. His posture didn't go unnoticed on Twitter. USA TODAY

WASHINGTON Vice President Mike Pence drew Twitter users' attention Tuesday with hisrestrainedperformance during a heated Oval Office meeting between President Donald Trump and Democratic congressional leaders.

Pence sat stoically as his boss got into testy exchanges with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and the likely next Speaker, House Minority Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Stoically may be an understatement. Stonily might be more accurate.

And he didn't say a word.

As one Twitteruser phrased it with a holiday metaphor, Pence sat there "exactly like our Elf on the Shelf."

"Weird time to introduce the new Pence statue to the White House," tweeted talk show host Stephen Colbert.

In a review of his performance, New York Timesculture writer Sopan Deb declared Pence to "the worst member of this improv team."

"Mike Pence powered down to save electricity," said Max Burns, the communications director for Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights.

More: Trump clashes with Pelosi, Schumer about border wall funding as government shutdown looms

More: Is Trump's border wall being built? Here are the facts

Radio host Dean Obeidallah wondered if Pence "is actually still alive" or if it was a "'Weekend at Bernie's' type scenario where they just prop up Pence at meetings."

Here are some other reactions to Pence's quiet moments amid a chaotic meeting.

Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/12/11/mike-pence-oval-office-meeting-trump-pelosi-schumer/2278055002/

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Mike Pence mocked for stoic showing at meeting with Pelosi ...

President Donald Trump hosted a combative, and at times angry, meeting on Tuesday with Democratic leadersNancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer. And, through it all, Vice President Mike Pence remainedsilent and stoic, leading many to ponder just what was going on inside his head.

The three other political leaders sparred over border security, with Trump pushing for long promisedbut not builtwall along the southern border of the United States.

"I am proud to shut down the government for border security...I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. Im not going to blame you for it,"Trump saidabout his wall. The presidentbickeredand interrupted frequently,inspiring Pelosi to literally point out that the conversation had "spiraled downwards."

Schumer, for his part, mocked Trump to his face after the president bragged about winning Senate seatsin relatively unsurprising states in the recent 2018 midterms.

When the president brags he won North Dakota and Indiana hes in real trouble, Schumer said during the meeting, which was (somewhat awkwardly) televised.

President Donald Trump (right) argues about border security with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Democrat - California) as Vice President Mike Pence (center) sits nearby in the Oval Office on December 11, 2018, in Washington, D.C. Mark Wilson/Getty Images

All-in-all, it was an odd, antagonistic meeting for Trump, Pelosi and Schumer. Oh, and Pence was also in the room. But Pence, well, didn't say very much as Trump went back-and-forth with the Democratic leaders from the House and Senate. A bit slouched, distant andlargely silent, Pence was quickly the subject of Twitter jokesbecause, well, of course.

"Mike Pence is the worst member of this improv team," joked New York Times culture writer Sopan Deb, for instance.

There were plentymore memes and jokes out there and, for your convenience, we've embedded a number of the more popular ones below.

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Mike Pence memes, jokes hit Twitter after VP stays silent ...