U.S. Vice President Mike Pence defied Michigan’s Mackinac Island car ban (that has been in effect since 1898) by showing up with an eight-car motorcade Saturday.
What We Know:
- Residents can get temporary permits for vehicles but there are normally only exemptions for emergency vehicles and snowmobiles in the winter. Pence’s visit was likely the first time a motorcade has ever touched the island.
Disgusting. I am in such disbelief that this was allowed to happen. This Administration doesn’t care about the law (you know, the U.S. Constitution), so it shouldn’t surprise me so much that they don’t care about our history or traditions. #MackinacIsland https://t.co/jvyMBCakrG
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) September 22, 2019
- Michigan representative Rashida Tlaib expressed her anger with the situation along with numerous other residents, stating that it was “disgusting” and that she was in “such disbelief that this was allowed to happen…”
- The 450 residents of the island use bikes for their day-to-day and the architecture is largely wood or log-built buildings mostly from the late 1700s and 1800s. By Pence showing up with a full fleet of cars, it was seen as completely disrespectful to the island.
- Michigan resident Chris Young stated that “It might not be the biggest environmental impact, but you’d better believe that it’s perceived as a huge middle finger waved at the entire state…The message, heard loud and clear, is that Trump and Pence will do as they like, no matter what the little people of Michigan think. Let them eat cake.”
Pence definitely made some enemies this weekend but what else is new.
