Mike Pence Doesn’t Understand Why Hillary Clinton Talked About Implicit Bias During First Debate

“Enough of this seeking every opportunity to demean law enforcement probably by making accusation of implicit bias every time tragedy occurs,” he said.
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WASHINGTON ― Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) were asked about law enforcement and race relations during the vice presidential debate on Tuesday.

Kaine, who is sharing a ticket with Hillary Clinton, said the way to create better relationships between cops and communities is through community policing.

“The way you make police safer is through community policing,” he said, emphasizing that a stronger bond needs to be built between communities and law enforcement. “When that gap narrows, it is safer for communities and for the police. That model works across our country.”

He then turned his attention to the “tough-on-crime,” “law and order” policies of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

“Donald Trump recently said we need to do more stop and frisk around the country. That would be a big mistake because it polarizes the relationship between the police and the community,” Kaine said.

Trump claimed during the first presidential debate that stop and frisk “brought crime way down” in New York, which isn’t true. Stop and frisk was struck down in 2013 by a federal judge who called the policy a “demeaning and humiliating experience” for people of color and a “policy of indirect racial profiling.

Trump brings Pence onstage as he rallies in Toledo, Ohio.
Trump brings Pence onstage as he rallies in Toledo, Ohio.
Jonathan Ernst / Reuters

Pence claimed he and Trump want to “make sure law enforcement has the resources and tools to be able to really restore law and order, and for the cities and communities in this nation.”

Trump has repeatedly praised law enforcement while criticizing protesters who are calling attention to police brutality. Pence took this a step further, saying that the national Fraternal Order of Police endorsed Trump because of “people that seize upon tragedy as a reason to use a broad brush to accuse law enforcement of implicit bias or institutional racism.”

Pence then pointed to Brentley Vinson, the black police officer in Charlotte, North Carolina, who shot and killed 43-year-old Keith Scott on Sept. 20. To Pence, that incident is an example of why implicit bias shouldn’t be discussed since, apparently, black cops can’t be anti-black (which isn’t true).

“We mourn with those who mourn, we grieve with those who grieve and we are saddened at the loss of life,” Pence said. “Hillary Clinton referred to that moment as an actual example of implicit bias in the police force.”

During the first presidential debate, Clinton said that everyone suffers from implicit bias. But Pence didn’t get it.

“Enough of this seeking every opportunity to demean law enforcement probably by making accusation of implicit bias every time tragedy occurs,” he said.

Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S.

Before You Go

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