Mike Pence pretends to be decent. JD Vance pretends to be masculine

I spent the better part of Trump's first term rolling my eyes, sometimes with rage, at Mike Pence. If you'd asked me then what a nightmare vice president looked like, I'd have pointed to the awkward and strange Pence and his mysterious animosity toward the LGBTQ+ community.As a variation on Shakespeare’s old saying goes, “Thou dost protest too much, methinks.”And why wouldn’t we snicker at a spineless man who calls his wife “Mother” and won't eat a meal alone with a woman who isn't her? I did not think, at the time, that having a boring, weaselly, goody-two-shoes, pious homophobe as vice president could get any worse.Well, just like everything else with Trump 2.0, his vice president this time is much worse. And that is saying oh so much compared to the reprehensible Pence. Yes, it’s a gruesomely tough call, but you can’t get more reprehensible than JD Vance.Unless, of course, there’s a Trump 3.0 with Vice President Mike Johnson.Pence and Vance might give off different vibes, but underneath all their oddities are two men with an unwavering opposition to LGBTQ+ rights.Pence has spent his entire career hammering away at the rights and freedoms of LGBTQ+ individuals; however, we’re not here today to regurgitate all of his vomit-inducing vileness.Coming in like a wrecking ball to the East Wing of the White House was Vance, who is even more proficient in the uglier side of anti-LGBTQ+ and transphobic venom. Similarly, not worth repeating here.In Vance, we didn’t just get a Pence 2.0; we got bonus points for his arrogant, bellicose narcissism. At least Pence seemed like a nice guy. I mean, he isn’t, but when contrasting him with Vance, he’s a pussycat — apologies to childless cat ladies.Pence portrayed himself as a sober Midwesterner while deviously doing considerable damage. That paradox popped up last week when Julia Curlee, the transgender former CIA officer who briefed him daily during the first Trump administration, went public with warm me