The co-founder and chief spokesperson for The Satanic Temple says that Vice President Pence’s “theocratic” vision for the U.S. is what “really scares” him.
“[President Trump] is too stupid to predict; the guy has no concept of his own limitations. The thing that makes me most comfortable with Trump is the fact that he has no vision. Mike Pence really scares me,” Lucien Greaves told The Daily Beast in an interview published on Wednesday. “Pence has a clear, theocratic vision for the United States.”
{mosads}Greaves’s comments came as he discussed past GOP presidents’ religious beliefs. He said that former President George W. Bush was a “true believer,” but that Trump “doesn’t really try.”
“But I think the evangelicals are happy with Pence, and happy that he’s assigning the [federal judge] appointees,” he added.
Greaves, who co-founded The Satanic Temple with Malcolm Jarry in 2013, spoke with The Daily Beast about a new documentary, “Hail Satan?,” which includes an episode in which a former spokesperson calls for Trump’s execution.
Greaves said that he dismissed the person following the remarks.
“When we say that somebody was removed for threatening execution on the president, that’s not to say that anybody in our group would cry if Trump died from choking on a ham sandwich tomorrow,” Greaves said.
“We wouldn’t say we ‘lost a great man’ or anything like that — nobody feels that way. But because we’re publicly Satanists, we’re very vulnerable to accusations.”
He stressed that the group is a “nonviolent organization.”
Pence, an evangelical Christian, is outspoken about his faith and has often said that he’s “a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order.”
He defended his wife, Karen Pence, earlier this month after it was revealed she would begin teaching art at a private school that prohibits LGBTQ faculty and students.
“I have to tell you, to see major news organizations attacking Christian education is deeply offensive,” Pence said, arguing that the U.S. has a “rich tradition” of religious education.