Did Mike Pence Carry Empty Boxes of PPE Into a Facility as a Publicity Stunt?

A Jimmy Kimmel segment was edited to leave out important context.

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During the monologue of his show Thursday night, Jimmy Kimmel shared a clip of Vice President Mike Pence at Woodbine Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center in Alexandria, Virginia, earlier that day. In the video, the vice president assists in unloading personal protective equipment from a truck and upon being told that they were finished aside from a few empty boxes, Pence asks: “Well can I carry the empty ones? Just for the camera?”

The segment went viral on Twitter, with even prominent figures like NBC’s Andrea Mitchell and Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. sharing the video:

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  1. Claire garland

    How about the answer to that is "No"? He didn't even lift an an empty box.

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    Jonathan M

    Lets be honest. The reaction to people on twitter for a Kimmel bit is not worth even getting upset about, and honestly... what exactly did Kimmel say that way wrong? It was a staged photo op. The VP did joke about carrying empty boxes at a staged photo op and ... the parting remark... I dunno it was a jab.. but not wrong in intent.

    Also... VP wasn't wearing a mask or keeping distance from the people around him... so I would say a poorly managed staged photo op. Seriously. It could make a cat laugh with the outrage from the comments here.

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    Kevin Durant?

    In terms of hot mics, this is not as bad as when Obama offered to trade Europe’s missile defense for Putin’s help getting reelected

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    Xsearnold

    Nice that he apologized - just before the little parting shot at the end. So can we all go back to what we were doing now and "re-open the economy?" I assume the pandemic must certainly be over now since this is what we're talking about. (Go back to your trampoline, Jimmy.)

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      DougCLE

      Ziggy-zoggy, ziggy-zoggy, oi, oi, oi!

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  5. Frank Pepp

    Sanders got the same treatment on the Daily Show when they had him insulting kids. Not a fan of it here or there. But I do remember it's a comedy show.

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    LtColZ

    Notice he couldn’t even display grace in his correction.
    The shame isn’t that some people seem constitutionally incapable of saying something like, “oh, my bad. I made a mistake, sorry about that.” The shame is in how highly those same people are revered by their tribes.
    And yes, it’s on both sides.
    That’s the problem with tribes.

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  7. Mads Lindstrøm

    I wonder how people feel if the boxes had been empty. Am I the only one who would really not have cared?

    With the boxes empty or full, it is essentially acting and we all know it. If the boxes had been empty, the only thing I would have known was that the Vice President's team was bad at doing photo ops.

    And I am not passing moral judgement here, as it is not really different than other politicians act.

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    KAM

    OK, wait: Just watched the video. Kimmel is DOUBLY guilty here, Alec.

    Pence did NOT fake carrying PPE by using empty boxes. You got that right.

    But, contrary to what Kimmel purported to show in the Twitter pic, he DID in fact carry boxes with PPE, or SOMEthing heavy in them, obviously, and is breathing hard afterward.

    (And by the way, the Veep needs to get in the gym more!)

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    F.X. LEACH

    To be fair... Jimmy Kimmel is a comedy show. It's the idiots inflating a skit as fact that is the real problem here. Entertainment is not fact. And shouldn't be propped up like it is.

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      Jake

      Shows like his really purport themselves as serious commentary though. I think they just use the “comedy” tag as a Mott-and-Bailey retreat strategy.

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        Resident Borderline Zoomer

        This is exactly the phrase I thought of in reading one journalist’s walk-back of his initial indignant response to Pence’s PR stunt. Once he learned his initial line of attack was based on faulty information, he switched to saying Pence shouldn’t be making jokes about a devastating pandemic. In his defense, he had initially thought Kimmel’s gripe was legitimate. Still, he left the initial tweet standing with an awful rationalization. Since when is a somewhat dark joke told in private by a public official such a terrible crime?

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          DougCLE

          Since Twitter. You’re not allowed to not have an opinion on Twitter, and you’re not allowed to back off your argument on Twitter, ever. Twitter delenda est.

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        Aylene Wright

        So does Rush Limbaugh and other RW talk show hosts. "I am just an entertainer!"

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        1. Nathan Shiba

          hi, Aylene! Rush has been pretty clear over the past 30 years that he’s an entertainer. Political discourse is his genre. His a link to an interview a decade or so ago with the Today show.

          https://www.today.com/news/rush-limbaugh-i-love-yank-medias-chain-1C9014016

          I used to enjoy Rush a lot. Haven’t listened in the past few years, though. Have you ever been a regular listener?

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            Aylene Wright

            I listened to him way back when, during the Clinton years. He actually had a good mix of comedy and serious commentary back then. I just know there are so many people who *do* take everything he says as gospel, such as when he kept saying the virus was just a cold, that I do think he has a responsibility to them, that the "I am just an entertainer " disclaimer seems to hand wave away, IMO.

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      3. GS

        I ask this seriously. When's the last time that you watched Jimmy Kimmel Live start to finish?

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          Jake

          His show? I don’t recall the last time I did. I can’t stand him. I’ve watched others like his though. And their viewers certainly take everything they “report” seriously. It’s as if so long as you can frame every argument as a joke, then the position must be unassailable.

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          1. GS

            I don't disagree that some viewers probably take things they see on the show seriously. I wouldn't say they take everything. I sometimes watch the show, and you and I just have a simple disagreement on it. I think it's clearly comedy; some of it is funny and some of it falls flat (like all comedy).

            I asked if you watched it start to finish because I think if you did, you might change your mind that he purports himself as "serious commentary". Some of the time he does try to do serious commentary; I don't disagree. But, the bulk of it is clearly just comedy.

            All good. Enjoy reading other peoples' opinions. Hope you and your family are safe and healthy, Jake.

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    Man-Eating Cow

    "I know how dearly this administration values truth."

    On the evidence, about as much as you do, Mr. Kimmel. "It would appear" is classic weasel wording.

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About Alec Dent

Alec Dent is the culture editor and a staff writer for The Dispatch. He is a graduate of the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at UNC Chapel Hill, and previously oversaw The Dispatch's fact checking team.
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