Mike Pence was unwilling to accept Christ Christie’s joke about “sleeping with a teacher” during Wednesday’s presidential debate.
The former vice president took the opportunity to bring up his wife Karen Pence after the former New Jersey governor spoke out about President Joe Biden — whose wife, first lady Jill Biden, is a member of a powerful teachers union.
“I’ve been sleeping with a teacher for 38 years,” Pence said.
It came after Christie criticized Biden on Wednesday night for “sleeping with a member of the teachers union,” a day after Biden visited high-profile UAW members in Detroit.
He said the public school system is “run by the teachers unions in this country,” and then lambasted Randi Weingarten, the head of the powerful American Federation of Teachers.
‘I’ve been sleeping with a teacher for 38 years,’ said former Vice President Mike Pence in response to Chris Christie’s sleep attack on President Joe Biden
“And if you let the president of the United States sleep with a member of the teachers union, there’s no way you’re going to take the stranglehold out of the teachers union any day. They have an advocate in the White House every day for the worst of their teachers, not for our students to be the best they can be,” he said.
Jill Biden is a member of the National Education Association.
It was an unexpected comment about the 80-year-old president.
Pence brought the conversation back to the bedroom later in the debate.
“By way of full disclosure, Chris, you mentioned the president’s situation. My wife is not a member of the Teachers Union, but I have to admit that I have been sleeping with a teacher for 38 years. Full disclosure,” he said.
The comment was met with silence from the studio audience in Simi Valley.
Former US Vice President Mike Pence brought the conversation back to the bedroom after Christie went after President Biden for ‘sleeping with’ a teacher’s union member
Pence is trying to break away from the group of candidates, all of whom are far behind former President Donald Trump
Christie blasted Biden on Wednesday night for ‘sleeping with a teacher’s union member’
Karen Pence taught school in Indiana for decades and earned a master’s degree in education and art therapy, according to her former government website.
As first lady, she taught this at a Christian school does not admit homosexual students and that prohibited employees from engaging in “gay or lesbian sexual activities.”
Christie battled teachers unions as governor of New Jersey and railed against them during his failed 2016 presidential campaign, calling them “the most destructive force in public education in America.”
The statement came in a debate in which Christie mocked former President Trump as “Donald Duck” for skipping the second presidential debate.
Christie was the first candidate to take the stage Wednesday night to roast Trump for missing the roll in Simi Valley — even before Ron DeSantis launched his “missing in action” attack on his rival.
The former New Jersey governor stared straight into the camera and then delivered the punch.
“Donald, I know you’re watching. You can’t help yourself. I know you’re watching, okay?’ said Christie, a former Trump adviser who is now denouncing the former president. It was the second time he brought up Trump’s absence.
“And you’re not here tonight – not because of polls, and not because of your charges. You’re not here tonight because you’re afraid to stand on the podium and defend your record.
Chris Christie stared into the camera and told Trump ‘we’re going to call you Donald Duck’ in a direct attack on the former president
Christie’s attacks came minutes after the former president visited a non-union auto plant in Detroit and criticized President Biden for his own meeting with striking UAW workers.
“Donald Trump, he is hiding behind the walls of his golf clubs and will not show up here to answer questions that all of us… answer,” Christie said in his earlier slam.
Christie’s sleep attack came days after the first lady declared during a speech in Chicago: “My name is Jill Biden. I am the First Lady of the United States. And I am a proud, card-carrying union member.”
She told the powerful American Federation of Teachers at their 2022 convention in Boston: “I will be with you every step of the way.” Her husband joined a picket line with UAW workers in Michigan on Tuesday, a day before Trump’s visit to the state.
Christie’s attacks on Trump are not new, but his no-show comments did provide a slight bounce for DeSantis, who in his own comments called Trump “missing in action” for skipping the televised broadcast.
Christie is at about 3 percent in national polls, but is doing better in New Hampshire, having surpassed 50 percent in several polls. He also blasted Trump for adding more than $7 trillion in new national debt during his administration.
Former President Donald Trump was scheduled to speak in Michigan on the evening of the second presidential debate. The runaway opinion leader also skipped the first debate in Iowa and scheduled a Twitter interview instead
The statements came in a debate in which Republican presidential candidates gave a lesson in onstage bickering
He managed to grab the microphone at several key moments, also calling on the US to confront Russia and continue supporting Ukraine, warning that NATO ally Poland could be the next country to come under fire from the Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Christie made headlines for slamming Sen. Marco Rubio on the debate stage in New Hampshire in 2016, but hasn’t had the chance to use his debate skills against Trump, who skipped the first two presidential debates.
DeSantis caught fire at the start of the second Republican presidential debate by attacking his rival and accusing him of “missing in action.”
On a pivotal night in his race for the White House, Florida’s governor compared the former president to Joe Biden and asked why he wasn’t on stage with the rest of the candidates in California.
Where is Trump during the debate?
“Where is Joe Biden, he is completely missing in action from leadership,” DeSantis said when co-moderators from Fox and Univision asked about the economy and the prospects of a government shutdown.
“And you know who else is missing?” the governor added. ‘Donald Trump is missing in action. He should be on stage tonight.”
“He owes it to you to defend his record,” he said. They added. 7.8 trillion in debt that paved the way for the inflation we have now.”
Biden and Harris’ presidential campaign pushed the DeSantis clip out on the site formerly known as Twitter.
Moderators finally ask Trump a question – with a “survivor” tactic
It wasn’t until the last question of the night that the moderators got around to asking about the missing Trump, who is at 57 percent of the RealClearPolitics average after an extraordinary consolidation over the summer, even as criminal charges were filed.
‘I’ve never heard of the word indictment. Now I get sued every three days,” Trump joked in Michigan before the debate began.
Fox host and former White House press secretary Dana Perino asked each candidate on stage to write down which competitors they would “vote off the island.”
“I think that’s disrespectful to my fellow competitors,” said DeSantis, who himself has seen his public support decline. His comment seemed to undermine the exercise.
That prompted Perino to ask Florida’s governor about his own mathematical “path forward.”
“Opinion polls don’t choose presidents. Voters do,” DeSantis shot back.
Perino then told Christie that she saw him write something down in response to her “Survivor” question, something he denied doing.
“Look, I think I’m the only one on stage who has been clear about this. “I would vote Donald Trump off the island right now,” Christie said.
“Everyone on this stage has shown respect for Republican voters,” he continued.
“I respect every man and woman on this stage,” he said. He then turned his comments back to Trump.
‘This man has not only divided our party. He has divided families across the country,” Christie said.
“I’ve talked to people — and I know everyone else has — who have sat at Thanksgiving dinner or a birthday party and can’t have a conversation when they disagree with Donald Trump.”
“He needs to be voted off the island and removed from this process,” he said.