In the wake of a highly publicized moment at the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter on Thursday, January 9, Karen Pence, wife of former Vice President Mike Pence, refused to stand up and greet or shake the hand of incoming First Lady Melania Trump, instead turning away from her and staying seated. Her husband, meanwhile, stood up and greeted both Donald and Melania Trump. He has since spoken out about the interaction.
As background, the interaction in the National Cathedral was, reportedly, the first time that Mr. Pence and President-elect Trump had met in person and spoken since the unfortunate events of January 6, 2021, when the trespass into the Capitol occurred after then-VP Pence ignored Trump’s wishes and certified Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential victory.
Pence, in any case, spoke to Christianity Today Editor-in-Chief Russell Moore after the funeral of Jimmy Carter, commenting on his wife’s actions and his view of meeting the president-elect for the first time in years. Beginning, he said, the Washington Times reported, “The opportunity to speak to the president yesterday is something that I appreciated, I welcomed.”
Continuing, Pence noted that he hopes the handshake between himself and Trump helps the country move past the difficult days of 2020 and 2021, saying, the Washington Times reported, “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.” He added, “That’s certainly my hope.”
Pence then spoke on the handshake itself and what happened with his wife. Beginning that part of the conversation, he described his own actions, saying that the president-elect “greeted me when he came down the aisle.” Pence continued, describing his own actions, “I stood up, extended my hand. He shook my hand. I said, ‘Congratulations, Mr. President,’ and he said, ‘Thanks, Mike.’”
Then, getting to his wife’s snub of the president-elect and his wife, Melania, Pence, a bit oddly, spoke abou himself in the third person and somewhat demurred in describing her motivations, other than hinting she was standing up for him, saying, “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.” The internet, however, was less forgiving, As The American Tribune reported at the time:
As could be expected, the incident sparked a major furor online. Leading the charge was the Johnny MAGA X (formerly Twitter) account, known for its pro-Trump stance and focus on current events from that angle. He said, captioning a clip of that incident, “Classless move on behalf of Karen Pence. There was no need for this whatsoever.”
Commenters were equally angry, focusing particularly on the lack of Christian grace and charity by saying things like “Is Karen Pence supposed to be a strong Christian like Mike claims to be all of the time? Shameful!!” and “It’s always the ones who brag the loudest about being a Christian who act like this.”
Similarly, John LeFevre on X, commenting on the utter lack of politness and manners exhibited by Karen at the funeral, said, “When you go to a wedding, and you run into someone you don’t like, you politely say hello, and move on. Because you’re an adult. Karen Pence blanked the President-elect and his wife… in a church… at a funeral… as a Christian….Pathetic.”
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Watch the incident here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video