by Alex Lloyd Gross
Vice President Mike Pence spoke today, July 9 2020 about police work. He was at the Fraternal Order of Police Headquarters on Caroline Road in Philadelphia. It was there that FOP President John McNesby is trying to hold the line on lawlessness in the city. With council cutting the police budget, morale is at an all time low. Officers are quitting and those that stay feel the city administration does not have their back.
“We have your back”, Pence said from the podium. Originally, there was supposed to be a rally at the FOP to show support for the police. The vice president was in the area , going to Malvern to talk about trying to keep the country working during the pandemic. He gets mixed reviews on that topic. He found out about the rally during the planning stages and agreed to make some remarks. Coming from Malvern, he was an hour late.
He was set up in a small room, less than 300 people. All pre screened. His remarks were not open to the general public. There was a room set up with a video screen for an overflow crowd if needed. As the crowd filled in, only about half were wearing masks or face coverings as required by Governor Wolf. All of the Secret Service were wearing one.
As Pence took the stage, he talked. He did not scream. The room was quiet. It was difficult to hear him, he talked so softly, about the sacrifice that an officer makes and how when someone signs on to be a cop, they are putting others before themselves. Pence also talked about defunding the police. “That’s not going to happen with Donald Trump and myself in office,” he said. He was outraged at seeing George Floyd’s death. He was equally outraged at seeing all of the looting and rioting going on in American cities.
Pence was nothing like Donald Trump. He never once criticized the media that was there. He called no one any names. He did say that Joe Biden (who Trump is running against) is very much in favor of defunding the police. This was a small but friendly crowd. No protesters were seen. After Pence left the property, the rally was open to the public and about 400 well behaved people marched down Caroline Road from their vehicles, to attend.
Law enforcement motorcycle clubs like the Centurions descended on the FOP lodge, to eat light food and drink. Of course, the cop shop was doing a brisk business the entire afternoon, selling pro police t shirts.