President Donald Trump said during his State of the Union address on Tuesday night that the United States would “defeat” AIDS in the near future.
The president asked Congress to “make the needed commitment” to eliminate the AIDS within 10 years. However, as many people pointed out online, Trump asking for that “commitment” while standing in front of Vice President Mike Pence rang hollow.
Pence, while the governor of Indiana, was hesitant in signing an executive order to allow for clean needle exchanges amid an HIV outbreak in 2015, according to reports. His decision prolonged the epidemic.
Given the vice president’s history with AIDS, people quickly criticized the president’s remarks.
That HIV/AIDS line would be a bit more convincing without Pence over his shoulder.
— Alex C. Lange (@itsAlexCL) February 6, 2019
https://twitter.com/Mickey_McCauley/status/1092981031802527744
https://twitter.com/aravosis/status/1092980968082808833
https://twitter.com/fuggirls/status/1092981434615099393
https://twitter.com/halemcs/status/1092982753296084992
Has anyone ever looked more disappointed than Mike Pence upon learning that we are going to fight AIDS? #SOTU
— Bryan Behar (@bryanbehar) February 6, 2019
The vice president did speak at an event honoring World AIDS Day last year.
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