Mike Pence Slams Anonymous New York Times Op-Ed As Jokers Squeeze Last Yuks From 'Lodestar'

Mike Pence is condemning The New York Times’ anti-Donald Trump op-ed, which the paper attributed to “a senior official in the Trump administration.”

The vice president tweeted Thursday that the piece was “disgraceful” and called on the unidentified author to resign.

The statement comes amid speculation that Pence might be the author of the piece, something his office denied vehemently.

However, Pence has made no comment about the part of the piece that started an embryonic conspiracy theory that he’s the author: the word “lodestar.”

Some people have noticed the VP is fond of the somewhat arcane word, and has used it often since 2001, as this tweet mashup demonstrates:

The theory doesn’t quite check out though, given Pence’s own fawning praise of Trump, and the fact that staffers who supply anonymous quotes to the press have been known to use words or phrases employed by other members of the Trump administration to keep the president guessing.

Still, many Twitter users couldn’t help but bust the VP’s chops just because.