WAVE GOODBYE TO MICHIGAN LOSER tRump: 'Pence has fouled our paradise': Furious Michiganders slam the vice president after his motorcade descended on car-free Mackinac Island
Rachel Premack
4h
businessinsider.com
 Most cars have been barred from Mackinac Island since 1898. MLive/YouTube, Rachel Premack/Business Insider
Vice President Mike Pence traveled by an eight-car motorcade on Mackinac Island.The island is a natural gem in the state of Michigan, attracting nearly a million visitors annually.After videos of Pence's motorcade on the car-free island circulated on social media, furious Michiganders slammed Pence's choice of travel. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Motorized vehicles have been banned on one of Michigan's prized natural possessions since 1898, save for emergency and construction vehicles.
But on Saturday, eight cars descended upon Mackinac Island as part of Vice President Mike Pence's motorcade. Paul Egan of the Detroit Free Press was the first to capture and share the historic moment:
Paul Egan
?@paulegan4
Vice President Mike Pence leaves the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island Saturday in an eight-vehicle motorcade — the island’s first ever.
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12:03 PM - Sep 21, 2019
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Mackinac Island (pronounced "Mackinaw") draws nearly a million visitors each year and is regarded as one of the most precious natural resources in Michigan. Just 450 people live on the small destination, and they get around by bike.
"Bikes are just our way of life," Mary McGuire Slevin, the executive director of the Mackinac Island Tourism Bureau, told the sustainable-business news site TriplePundit. "They are like a part of our bodies, we don't even think about it. When I see a tourist go out for a bike ride around the circumference of the island, you can just tell the difference when they come pedaling back into town — they are more relaxed and have a big smile on their face."
 The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. Photo by Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty ImagesEven Gerald Ford, the only president from Michigan, traveled by horse-drawn carriage when he visited Mackinac in 1975.
So when Pence broke with tradition over the weekend, controversy ensued. Several current and former Michigan residents reached out to Business Insider over email to share their thoughts.
"(This is) a true gem that has been assaulted in plain sight," Skaneateles, New York resident Bitsy Jennings Govern, who grew up in Michigan, told Business Insider.
<div id="embed-831467" class="postload embed-container " data-type="embed" data-embed-type="twitter" data-postload=" —Linda Heard (@lhviera) September 21, 2019 " data-e2e-name="embed-container" data-media-container="embed" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px;">
Linda Heard@lhviera
Replying to @freep
Tell his ass to get out and walk it or bike it.
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4:50 PM - Sep 21, 2019
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<div id="embed-108773" class="postload embed-container " data-type="embed" data-embed-type="twitter" data-postload=" —Kathy (@kathyinbluebell) September 22, 2019 " data-e2e-name="embed-container" data-media-container="embed" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px;">
Kathy@kathyinbluebell
Replying to @TurquoiseBlue78 @paulegan4
Mackinac Island is the perfect jewel in the perfect setting of Northern Michigan. Pence has fouled our paradise. If I didn't hate him before, I would definitely hate him now.
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7:09 PM - Sep 21, 2019
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Many bemoaned that Pence's choice to get around by motorcade besmirched the charm of the island. Along with the lack of cars, Mackinac's architecture is characterized by wood or log-built buildings, mostly from the late 1700s and 1800s.
"Anyone who has visited the island knows the feeling of peace the moment the step away from the modern technology," Michigan native Heather Hill told Business Insider.
<div id="embed-403152" class="postload embed-container " data-type="embed" data-embed-type="twitter" data-postload=" —maggie (@MaggieKelli) September 23, 2019 " data-e2e-name="embed-container" data-media-container="embed" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px;">
maggie@MaggieKelli
Replying to @kathyinbluebell and 2 others
What makes me sick, is the fact that this administration feels like it’s their land and country to do with it whatever they want. The charm of this island is the lack of cars. An old fashioned getaway.
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9:28 PM - Sep 22, 2019
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<div id="embed-754260" class="postload embed-container " data-type="embed" data-embed-type="twitter" data-postload=" —Julia Pulver, RN (@VotePulver) September 22, 2019 " data-e2e-name="embed-container" data-media-container="embed" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px;">
Julia Pulver, RN
?@VotePulver
For those not from MI, you should understand what a huge transgression this is.
Our #MackinacIsland has been a car free haven forever, a piece of history frozen in time. Tell anyone from MI @VP just drove not 1 but 8 CARS on this island & watch their blood boil. #PureMichigan t.co
Paul Egan
?@paulegan4
Vice President Mike Pence leaves the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island Saturday in an eight-vehicle motorcade — the island’s first ever.
24.8K
5:06 PM - Sep 21, 2019 · West Bloomfield Township, MI
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Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has dedicated much of her governorship on environmental causes — particularly on water quality following the Flint water crisis. Many have blamed that crisis, which resulted in at least 12 deaths, on her Republican predecessor, Gov. Rick Snyder.
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Whitmer's press office told Business Insider that the governor had no comment on Pence's choice of transport and that she hadn't spoken out about it.
But Democratic US Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who is from Detroit, wrote on Twitter:
<div id="embed-911574" class="postload embed-container " data-type="embed" data-embed-type="twitter" data-postload=" —Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) September 22, 2019 " data-e2e-name="embed-container" data-media-container="embed" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px;">
Rashida Tlaib
?@RashidaTlaib
Banned for a century people, and here comes the Trump Administration trampling all over it, like they do the U.S. Constitution.
This video of the cars driving on our beautiful #MackinacIsland makes my stomach turn. t.co
Detroit Free Press
?@freep
Vice President Mike Pence in an 8-vehicle motorcade on Mackinac Island, which has banned motorized vehicles for more than a century.
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6:01 AM - Sep 22, 2019
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Several Michiganders reacted to the video of Pence's motorcade by recalling that their state actually played a major role in electing Donald Trump to the White House in 2016 — albeit, by a narrow margin of 11,800 people.
"Michiganders viciously protect their natural resources," said Hill, who lives in Metro Detroit and grew up in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. "I think Pence just made the biggest mistake of the 2020 re-election because people will not support an administration that do not respect our state.
"You better expect Michigan to go blue in the upcoming election, because this is a transgression the state won't forget," she added.
It was the first time the left-leaning state threw its support behind a Republican candidate since 1988, when George H.W. Bush won the presidency.
<div id="embed-156263" class="postload embed-container " data-type="embed" data-embed-type="twitter" data-postload=" —Steph B (@frugirlz) September 22, 2019 " data-e2e-name="embed-container" data-media-container="embed" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px;">
Steph B@frugirlz
Replying to @IdgyOohlala and 3 others
This should be the first part of every democratic candidate’s tv ad in Michigan.
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5:39 AM - Sep 22, 2019
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Still, some sympathetic Michiganders said they were fine with Pence's motorcade, arguing that it's a security issue. Alan Tomich, who was born and raised in Michigan, thinks the concern is overblown.
"I'll bet that the majority of the negative responses are Trump and Republican haters," Tomich told Buinsess Insider.
"Big deal — he was on the island for a day with probably short trips in a motorcade," Tomich added. "Get over it and worry about important things! I'll bet if that was Obama nothing would have been said."
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Republican State Rep. Beau LaFave said on Twitter: "We will not let our VP be in danger because snowflakes think he shouldn't ride in a car."
<div id="embed-79038" class="postload embed-container " data-type="embed" data-embed-type="twitter" data-postload=" —Beau LaFave (@BeauMattLaFave) September 21, 2019 " data-e2e-name="embed-container" data-media-container="embed" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px;">
Beau LaFave
?@BeauMattLaFave
Replying to @freep
Remember last time a President rode around in a vehicle with no roof? His name was John F. Kennedy. The Vice President will not ride in a carriage because it’s against protocol and dangerous. We will not let our VP be in danger because snowflakes think he shouldn’t ride in a car
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2:41 PM - Sep 21, 2019
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That take was quickly "ratioed," receiving 2,100 replies over 159 retweets, suggesting that far more Twitter users disagreed with LaFave. Several folks pointed out that Ford's horse-drawn-carriage trip to Mackinac took place 12 years after the Kennedy assassination.
As Business Insider's Emma Court wrote on Sunday, citing The Detroit News, Pence was on Mackinac Island for the Michigan Republican Leadership Conference, long held there, and told the crowd he had visited Mackinac often while growing up and into adulthood.
Are you from Michigan? Share your thoughts on Mike Pence's motorcade in Mackinac with rpremack@businessinsider.com. |
