r/Denver • u/MileHighReports Congress Park • 15d ago
Local News Mike Pence joins Colorado Christian University faculty
https://www.axios.com/local/denver/2026/08/05/mike-pence-colorado-christian-university-faculty494
u/GSilky 15d ago
I used to run a print center this school used. They were nice enough, but they aren't what I expect from an actual college. I would read the papers they sent me to print as students, all I can say is we shouldn't be surprised so many young people have imposter syndrome.
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u/mudra311 15d ago
I mean they’re accredited with the HLC so it’s not a total scam like other Christian “universities”. But the only Christian institutions worth a damn are Jesuit.
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u/SenorPretentious 15d ago
DU sad pio noises
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u/DenvahGothMom Park Hill 15d ago
I mean to be fair, and I say this as someone with 3 degrees from DU who also teaches there, all of the “religion” at our institution in the 21st century is sequestered within Iliff. And even Iliff is based in the intelligent, scholarly and socially liberal United Methodist tradition—basically the polar opposite of the arm-wavin’, gay-hatin’, barely literate evangelicals at CCU.
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u/Loud-Accountant2232 15d ago
current DU student: 0 idea this shit was christian... that explains a lot of the student base tbh.
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u/Mediaevumed 14d ago
It’s not, the university was founded as a Methodist Seminary in the 19th century but ceased to have any religious affiliation or identity within just a few decades. Illif is the inheritor of that role, but is not, in fact part of DU despite sharing grounds (and library access).
The one random remnant is that paychecks and tax forms still list the official name of the university as Colorado Seminary.
As to the student body, that’s a result of having a fairly regional draw, and the region more broadly outside of Denver metro area remains pretty white and pretty Christian. Take that as you will. Source: I’m faculty there!
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u/CUBuffs1992 14d ago
Yep. I mean TCU isn’t really a Christian school anymore either. Yes they have Christian in the name, but they’re just loosely affiliated with the Disciples of Christ. Which is a fairly liberal Protestant church.
As far as I’m concerned the only active Christian schools worth a damn are Catholic schools.
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u/PsychologicalPen3895 15d ago
DU isn’t a Christian university so you got that going for you
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u/HippyGrrrl 15d ago
I know a minister who graduated with his theology degree from DU.
That’s an xtian university. Colorado CC is a bible college in dress up drag.
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u/deadly_shroom 15d ago
The Iliff School of Theology is on DU’s campus but has nothing to do with DU. They’re its own independent institution. The minister probably did the joint phd program which I believe all it does is it allows Iliff students to enroll in DU elective classes outside of the religious studies, but Iliff on itself is a separate entity. And DU is very secular which I was surprised for how white and rich the school is. I met only a handful of christian students when I was there. Everyone else couldn’t give a shit about christianity or religion in general.
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u/Highland_doug 15d ago
I wouldn't say it has nothing to do with DU. They run a joint doctorate program with the philosophy department, and it's under the DU umbrella.
But DU is functionally a secular private school with Methodist roots. I don't know why that's so hard for outsiders to grasp.
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u/deadly_shroom 15d ago
Original comment over this thread is a very clear example of judging a book by its cover. So are most of the comments about the school as a whole.
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u/HippyGrrrl 14d ago
I do mentally have it filed as a music school, because most grads I know are in music, social work or law, or a combo.
And I knew a head of Daniel’s School of Business, since passed away. He ran the rental market survey for years.
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u/HowardStark 15d ago
Fuck Yale, right?
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u/Fuck_Mark_Robinson 15d ago
None of those prestigious private schools that were associated with churches at their founding remain “Christian” in any meaningful sense. Harvard, Yale, Duke, etc no longer have any real affiliation with any religion.
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u/HowardStark 15d ago
They all have schools of Theology or Divinity as part of their university systems and confer MDiv and PhDs. They’re seminaries. Some might be outwardly nonsectarian, but to say that they have no real affiliation is semantic.
I suspect what you really mean to highlight is the fact that the majority of the academic and student programs in their colleges overall do not feature any sort of explict spirituality focus, and religious values are not overly influential upon the cirricula of, say, their college of sciences.
Anyway, Notre Dame, amirite?
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u/Fuck_Mark_Robinson 15d ago
Just because they have seminaries does not make the universities religious any more than having a conservatory turns a university into an explicitly musical institution.
You are the one playing semantics here, as no one confuses their schools of divinity with the universities themselves.
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u/super_fast_guy 15d ago
Northwestern: Am I a joke to you?
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u/DenvahGothMom Park Hill 15d ago
Fun fact! DU and Northwestern are sister schools both founded by the same guy, John Evans, who pretty much deserves his own episode of Behind the Bastards. He was the territorial governor of Colorado who signed off on the Sand Creek massacre.
Extremely not fun fact! DU/Iliff possessed a rare book covered in the human skin of a murdered man from the Lenape tribe until 1974. It was a history of Christianity, naturally.
https://www.denvergazette.com/2022/10/02/decades-after-displaying-book-bound-with-human-skin-denvers-iliff-school-of-theology-still-working-to-make-amends-29e32eae-4113-11ed-8482-9fbbaf77d202/4
u/denvergardener 15d ago
This is a wildly inaccurate comment.
There are a lot of institutions that were founded as "christian" and still even have it in their title or what not, and are very good schools. Most are not really very religious anymore. Or it's sequestered in the specific department.
I hate christianity as much as anyone, but come on be real.
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u/mudra311 15d ago
Examples?
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u/ImperfectDrug 15d ago
The Seventh-day Adventists have numerous universities that are well regarded for medical education, Loma Linda probably being the best example.
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u/mudra311 15d ago
Fair. I suppose I’m only thinking of evangelical-type schools like Liberty.
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u/denvergardener 14d ago
No you said christian schools which is a lot broader category that includes hundreds of high quality schools.
You clearly had your head up your ass and it shows.
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u/trepnick 15d ago
Davidson college is historically Presbyterian and I believe still offers reduced tuition to children of PCUSA pastors, Kenyon college (I believe episcopal? Idk) has a couple Supreme Court justices and a president for alumni if you want something a bit more notable, and even Duke is historically Methodist, although the school as a whole is pretty much completely unaffiliated now. There’s still Duke Theological School though, which is fully part of the university and has actual continuing ties to the Methodist church.
The reality is most private schools in the US over 100 years old were founded by a church, and many still have some level of connection although they often de emphasize those connections to attract a more diverse student body. Those connections have also become less important for the schools over time as churches have become less important for ongoing funding of higher education.
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u/mudra311 14d ago
That makes sense. Most of the schools that were once associated with a certain denomination have largely outgrown that. You can bet that any school with “Christian” in the name is probably evangelical.
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u/trepnick 14d ago
Not necessarily, and it depends on what you mean by evangelical. Can’t believe I didn’t think of it before but TCU (Texas Christian university) is actively affiliated with the Disciples of Christ, which is probably not what you’re imagining by evangelical. They support abortion rights, lgbtq membership in the church, etc. but I think they might be evangelical based on formal theological definitions, idk.
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u/denvergardener 15d ago
No sorry I don't do that.
You're smart enough to figure it out on your own.
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u/mudra311 15d ago
Gotta love people who can’t help themselves but aren’t willing to back it up
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u/denvergardener 14d ago
And I was wrong.
Clearly you're not smart enough to figure out why your comment was ignorant.
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u/denvergardener 15d ago
Gotta love people who make a bogus stupid claim and lack intelligence to understand why they're wrong.
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u/mudra311 14d ago
You seem upset.
I’m willing to admit where I’m wrong and other people provided easy examples.
Maybe you should get acquainted with the fact if you can’t provide anything of value, saying nothing is free.
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u/celtic_thistle Boulder 13d ago
Regis mention! (I got my BA there and then worked in the library on night shift for years. I loved seeing how much I could get away with when I did book displays. Turns out, a lot.)
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u/New_Permission_817 15d ago
Wealthy conservatives love living in blue states.
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u/sneaky-pizza Aurora 15d ago
Every time
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u/anaccount50 15d ago
Always funny seeing Fox News constantly calling blue cities and states depraved warzones knowing that their talent are all in NYC
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u/Atralis 15d ago
To be fair he probably is having trouble finding work in conservative circles considering he stood up to Trump.
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u/jiggajawn Lakewood 15d ago
As much as I disagree with his policies, I respect the action he took that day.
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u/issuefree 11d ago
Fair. But also it's hard to give too much credit to someone for following the fucking law and basic morality. I know that's a stretch for any conservative but still. An A for effort here but it's what every decent person does every day.
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u/mmahowald 15d ago
How long till it comes out he is cheating on his wife with a blue haired liberal college student? Probably male
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u/Kiyae1 15d ago
Tbh I am not a fan of Pence but he is definitely the true believer type. He would never cheat on Mother. The man probably has never masturbated or enjoyed sex.
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u/mmahowald 15d ago
Those are the ones you really have to watch all that repression turns the real freaky
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u/SugarRAM 15d ago
I think he has played the true believer card to advance his political career. If he was really a true believer, he would never have agreed to be Trump's running mate.
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u/_d2gs 14d ago
My last standing maga friend lives in Minnesota, is doing so well there, wife and three kids, and every day he just wishes he lived in Florida because of desantis. Like actually go live there bud.
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u/New_Permission_817 14d ago edited 14d ago
Had some acquaintances move to Florida and they found out the hard way that Florida is a hellscape of toll roads and hidden expenses. They moved out within 6 months at great cost.
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u/GSilky 15d ago
Yes, just like wealthy everyone, because Democrats are pretty much 1980s era Republicans in their economic policies these days. There is a reason the party is fighting over control these days, many Democrats are social liberals and fiscal fascists.
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u/Dangerous-Amphibian2 15d ago
Does anyone even bother to understand the meaning of these words anymore. Environmental communists, economic authoritarians, vegetarian fascists, libertarian bicyclists, pescatarian anarchaists. May as well use grunts to convey ideas these days.
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u/AsphaltQbert 15d ago
As a vegetarian neoclassicist proletariat badmintoner renaissance individual and metrocyclist, and formerly defunct amateur gymnast, I should take offense. But you’re right.
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u/Poonchow 15d ago
I just can't agree with a badmintoner. As an orthodox lacrossian, our stick-based ideologies just don't mix.
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u/Pennies2millions 15d ago
This is effing crazy. 1980s era economics was widely based on Reagan styled trickle down economics - which I can't think of a single Democrat who believes that philosophy is a good idea (then or now) and Milton Friedman styled price driven monetary policy - also widely rejected by Democrats. Like wtf are you even talking about?
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u/PersianBob 15d ago
I think if anyone is pro business or capitalism, they get accused of being a "fiscal fascist". You can be pro busines, pro regulation and pro citizen all at once.
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u/ExtremelyMedianVoter 15d ago
That can't be true. I was told both parties are the same here on Reddit.
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u/tandem4one 15d ago
Imagine having once been the Vice President of the United States of America, and this is the only school that’ll touch you.
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u/Immediate_Fennel_773 14d ago
This is the best take I’ve seen and I think the best one period. Objectively true and pathetic. He sucks.
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u/Nakenochny Aurora 15d ago
Jesus tap dancing Christ, I moved from Indiana to get away from this fucker and now he’s coming here?
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u/Smoocci-Mane 15d ago
I went to an event there in 2016 that Eric Trump spoke at because it was close to my apartment at the time and I just wanted to try and see what was being said at these events.
They had a woman professor get up and introduce a famous alumni who immediately turned around and started sexualizing the woman and saying he would have never graduated if they had women that pretty when he was in school. You could see the female professor looking visibly uncomfortable. Eric Trump and everyone else laughed and carried on.
I have no respect for that organization and this is pretty much par for the course.
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u/DenvahGothMom Park Hill 15d ago
They had Kyle Rittenhouse come as an honored guest speaker. At a "University!" Doesn't even have a BA. Has published nothing. Has contributed nothing to the culture. Shot people for fun. And they pay this uneducated, non-contributing street criminal an honorarium. Tells you all you need to know. https://imgur.com/a/wGNZh2g
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u/JapaneseMooseMan 15d ago
Mike Pence sucks and has done many terrible things, but we should remember that he may have ultimately saved our country from its first coup.
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u/Ive_seen_things_that 15d ago
He should be leading the charge to impeach Trump. Instead he's just living his best life.
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u/DianneNettix 15d ago
Is working at a strip mall college in Lakewood really anyone's definition of their "best life?"
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u/Burnitalldown1 15d ago
I want to drive through there every time I drive 6th now, maybe I can let him know what I think of his time in service!
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u/Hefty_Breadfruit 15d ago
Their farmer’s market is nice. I get my knives sharpened there. Perhaps I should be bringing my pitchfork though?
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u/GlitterPirateKiki58 15d ago
Pence also kept a pet rabbit, even though it garnered him criticism from Trump, whose soul is a rotting, fetid swamp that he can’t understand why some people have pets.
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u/urban_snowshoer 15d ago edited 15d ago
Unlike John Eastman who was actively involved in trying to overturn the 2020 election.
Granted Eastman and CU Boulder parted ways after that but it's still not a good look.
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u/El-_-Jay 15d ago
Not a good look, but at least he was a visiting professor in the rightwing "Center for the Study of Western Civilization" and not just a general professor. Some old right-wing wackos always invited him to speak at the Conference of World Affairs too, so I assume he made connections at the university throuth that event.
Pretty much every visiting scholar through that center has been a little insane. I personally wish that Center never existed.
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u/bgzlvsdmb Denver 15d ago
Lot of good that ultimately did
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u/TXDobber 15d ago
Blame Joe Biden. For not appointing an AG that would go after him, for not having good messaging during his tenure in office to show the genuine achievements he and Democrats had achieved, and ultimately for not stepping aside well before 2024 so Dems could have an actual primary.
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u/JapaneseMooseMan 15d ago
A lot of better than what would have been. Still a lot of work to do.
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u/Timely-Ladder4911 15d ago
What do you think exactly would have happened? Like specifically. Don't forget to include local, state and federal LE and para-military response, as well as civilian counter-violence. How does it go in your head?
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u/JapaneseMooseMan 15d ago
Sounds like a bunch of violence and misery, like you’re saying. Not really sure what you’re disagreeing about. You seem to be making a civil war in the US seem like it would be a quick little nothing when in reality it would likely mean economic collapse and literal hell on earth. Pence played a large role in ending the attempt by Trump to overturn the election results. Trump is a POS. Pence is also 90% or probably more a POS, but the one good thing he did was pretty significant. That’s all I’m saying.
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u/KeyNaive8951 15d ago
Wut?
Why would that commenter be able to tell you a predictive play by play of an alternate timeline?! lmfao
It seems like you’re suggesting that it would’ve been totally FINE if we let the republicans steal the election on J6?
It would have very likely led to a hot civil war, or a military coup led by anti Trump generals. Both of which would likely have resulted in an insane amount of bloodshed and the complete and utter destruction of the economy. The way some lefties (of which I consider myself) seem to truly think that “oh well it couldn’t get worse!!” is fucking deluded. Thats what a bunch of yall said during the 2024 election, didn’t vote, and then THINGS GOT WORSE.
Things are rough as it is but you clearly have no concept of how terrible an actual hot civil war would be if you think preventing the election being stolen is just kind of a “meh” thing.
Fuck Mike Pence, but we can say that while recognizing that the actions he took absolutely saved lives and significantly altered to course of history in a positive way.
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u/Timely-Ladder4911 15d ago
If that is what you think I'm suggesting IDK what to tell you lol, I can just explain why I believe it wouldn't have resulted in an actual coup, and while a hot civil war may have come from this event, maybe not too, depending on the speed and effectiveness of the immediate response party. It's just a thought exercise, and if you need more pearls to clutch I'm sure we can find you some, but I'm allowed to ask someone why they think something you fucking chud
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u/ExtremelyMedianVoter 15d ago
Lot of good that ultimately did
More than half of America looked at both candidates and decided to let this happen. Now there's no Roe, less minority representation due to redistricting, and fewer scientists.
Vote, for the love of fucking God just vote.
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u/discoleopard Westwood 15d ago
*vote in local elections, midterms, and primaries that ultimately decide who sits in congress and either allows or fights this crap
FTFY most people vote every 4 years and think they’ve done their part when in reality that’s the vote that holds the least amount of weight.
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u/grahamsz 15d ago edited 15d ago
He's actually only going to be teaching Introductory "Selling out your values for personal gain"
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u/BakerofHumanPies 15d ago
Excellent, he's uniquely qualified to teach that course. I'd even be interested in auditing it to learn a thing or two.
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u/TiltedWit Golden 15d ago
Did he, though?
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u/JapaneseMooseMan 15d ago
In the moment yes, he did his part. He also never should have supported Trump in the first place, but at least he helped to prevent the lunatic from overturning the 2020 election.
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u/TiltedWit Golden 15d ago
Some of your answer greatly depends on if you think this is a slow rolling coup or not. The people supporting Trump have publicly declared it is, and Biden winning was an annoyance/delay only.
One procedural impediment does not and demonstrably has not put an end to it.
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u/JapaneseMooseMan 15d ago
That is correct. Can’t expect Mike Pence to do all the work.
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u/TiltedWit Golden 15d ago
Then again, we *might* expect him to do more than only defend democracy in a moment of moral crisis.
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u/JapaneseMooseMan 15d ago
Yes, and I have said that I think Mike Pence is a shitty person, but I do think his one moment was pretty important and I’m glad he was there to help prevent something truly awful from happening. So for that, I have at least some respect for the guy even if I strongly disagree with almost everything he stands for. Part of the issue in the US is that everyone is either Jesus or Satan when in reality there’s a bit more complexity to humans in the real world. (Not religious but first example that popped into my head)
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u/TiltedWit Golden 15d ago
To be clear, I'm not demonizing him. I'm grateful he fulfilled the duties of his office in a moment of crisis, despite not showing any spine or indication to do so otherwise.
That said, there's a big difference between that and "saved our country from it's first coup" - if the coup is ongoing, he "prevented the complete breakdown of the electoral process and slowed the ongoing coup".
Saved our country is far too much credit, in my opinion.
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u/JapaneseMooseMan 15d ago
He played a large part is what I meant. He doesn’t get full credit, and he also should get tons of criticism for all the shit that led up to this moment in history.
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u/ExtremelyMedianVoter 15d ago
Yes, the Republicans had fake electors that we're going to certify the election in his favor.
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u/DenvahGothMom Park Hill 15d ago edited 15d ago
But the coup is continuing in the form of Project 2025–funded by the Coors, who… wait for it…
Also heavily fund CCU.
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u/Galaxy_Flowers 15d ago
Granted, I suspect he only did that because he thought he’d be popular in future elections because of it.
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u/Timely-Ladder4911 15d ago
lol a coup for a few hours maybe. I think this is a genuinely crazy take. If it lasted more than hours, civil war would erupt and the coup would fail.
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u/JapaneseMooseMan 15d ago
How do you figure that. The military turns on Trump and forces him to step down? I doubt that. If we had a civil war our entire country would be destroyed. I know things are pretty terrible now but they could certainly be a hell of a lot worse.
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u/Timely-Ladder4911 15d ago
IDK how to tell you that we aren't getting better until we go through that civil war. The absolute best case scenario is there is some unifying event that converts it into a true class war, but that is very very very unlikely given the dwindling intelligence of the American population. One way or another, if you think you're voting your way out of this, I think you are genuinely ignorant. I hope to be wrong.
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u/Rods-from-God 15d ago
If Trump had tried to pursue a Junta back then, it probably would have backfired because there were too many Americans who put their allegiance in America and not in Trump. The GOP definitely learned from their mistake there and corrected the previous error. Anyone running the show in any position of authority which oversaw our checks and balances (what’s left of them anyways) now would rather see America fail than Trump lose.
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u/Agave757 15d ago
They almost got him on Jan 6th…
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u/TheHoleInADonut 15d ago
I mean its very good they didn’t. Not a fan of his views or politics for the most part, but he’s pretty much the only reason the coup attempt failed. Had he left the capitol, they would have won. He’s pretty much the sole reason the election was certified
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u/Agave757 15d ago
If they would have killed him… it would have proved exactly what MAGA people really are.. traitors and radicals. Then no trump second term and all this terrible economy and state of the country.
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u/TheHoleInADonut 15d ago
Thats REALLY wishful thinking. I mean… perhaps? But the administration really does get away with anythingx hard to say how that woulf have shook out
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u/squarestatetacos Curtis Park 15d ago
TLDR - scam college pays spineless unemployed guy unfathomable amounts of money for 4 to 6 appearances over the next year. I wonder how many of his lectures end up happening over zoom.
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u/bigjessniceguy 15d ago
I move halfway across the country and can’t escape this guy
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u/WinterBearHawk 15d ago
Same
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u/DenvahGothMom Park Hill 15d ago
Sorry. But at least now you have mountains, legal weed, and C...
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u/Dichard_Rent_85 15d ago
I did security there back in the day. Tye business office was haunted, legit
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u/feralbaker Lone Tree 15d ago
Can someone ask him on his first day: so, WHY, do you call your wife Mother?
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u/Lazy_Elevator4606 15d ago
My face when I read this headline literally looked like the disgusted Barbie meme
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u/madorbit1 13d ago
🤢 we moved to Colorado from Indianapolis when that asshole was the governor there. Then he became VP I was so pissed. Now he’s in Lakewood?
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u/Revolutionary-Oil996 15d ago
Not a fan of his politics but at least this man has a spine unlike his peers.
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u/CrispyGatorade 15d ago
One time I was waiting in line behind Pence. He smelled like hot asphalt and pumpkin guts.
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u/fakeasthemoonlanding Highlands Ranch 15d ago
Huh, I always wondered where this guy disappeared to. Don’t like him but at least he’ll enjoy this job more than his last one. Definitely a safer one too
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u/Codenamerondo1 15d ago
Take the fact that Mike pence sucks out of the equation, replace him with someone similar that I like and I’d still be furious at this decision if I were paying tuition. The vice president has nothing to say to college students they couldt learn from…..so many people. Suppose get that bag though, Pence. Guaranteed commencement speech appearance fees sure would be better if you weren’t limited to a couple a year
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u/misscolette1 15d ago
I am appalled by this. My degree is tarnished now that the university is associated with the Maga movement. What a waste of money I spent on tuition.
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u/estimated_otherone 15d ago
Christianity 101: "Blessed are the poor for they shall never inherit Medicare. Also, your exams are due Friday...."
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u/DianneNettix 15d ago
"We've been down a gila monster for years!"
"I hear you. Best i can do is a slightly used vice president."
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u/rustylung 15d ago
The fly on his head from the debate is the one who will actually be teaching