Last week Mike Pence took to Twitter to express his excitement over his upcoming trip to his ancestral country of Ireland. In his gleeful Tweet, Pence wrote, “Finally, on September 6-7 we will travel to Ireland, a country that is very near to my family’s heart, where we look forward to meeting with President @MichaelDHiggins, Taoiseach @LeoVaradkar, and Tánaiste @simoncoveney while celebrating my Irish roots!”
I don’t profess to be an expert on Irish people, even with the 10-12% Irish heritage I claim thanks to my AncestryDNA results. What I do know about the Irish, is that you will never have to guess what’s on their mind. They will tell you directly and let you know precisely how they feel. Mike Pence should have known that too before posting that tweet because his declaration of love for Ireland did not go over well. On the contrary, it resulted in Irish citizens Tweeting Mike Pence to stay away, and further, to tell him precisely what he can kiss – trust me honey; it was not the Blarney stone.
As the Huffington Post points out, the clapbacks to Mike Pence were epic. Ireland is one of the most progressive countries in the world now, having elected Leo Varadkar – an openly gay man as its Prime Minister. Pence’s maniacal homophobia is misaligned with Ireland’s position on equality and acceptance, and they did not hold back in letting him know.
Celebrate & respect your Irish migrant roots by ending the cruelty & racism of your regime. pic.twitter.com/NiblhVFs3S
— Ruairí McKiernan (@ruairimckiernan) August 15, 2019
My favorite response to Pence was from a woman in Ireland named Orla; she sums up Pence’s antiquated, Bible-based bigotry in one of the most perfect Tweet’s I’ve ever read:
https://twitter.com/orlamac21/status/1162034564186943488?s=20
Let’s us not forget too that this is not the first time Ireland had to check Mike Pence for his homophobia and religious hypocrisy. It was only five months ago Prime Minister Varadkar called out Pence directly for his oppressive views on other people’s lives. In stark contrast to Pence’s views on sexuality, Varadkar offered this message to the American Vice President, and the world,
“I stand here as the leader of my country. Flawed and human, but judged by my political actions, not by my sexual orientation, my skin tone, gender, or religious beliefs.”
For more responses to Pence’s planned visit to Ireland, head on over to Huff Po, and get ALL THE GREEN TEA!
