The press has found another reason to be mad at the Trump administration, because it did not have enough already.
Newsrooms pumped out headlines this weekend criticizing Vice President Mike Pence for bringing an eight-car motorcade to Mackinac Island, Michigan, which has banned the general use of motor vehicles since 1898.
“A Motorcade on Mackinac Island? Pence’s Visit Breaks a Long Tradition,” declared the New York Times.
The report’s subhead adds, “The popular Michigan vacation spot has preserved its quaint atmosphere in part by keeping automobiles out for more than a century — until the vice president came to visit.”
Time magazine went with this, “A Motorcade on Michigan’s Mackinac Island? Some Call Vice President Mike Pence’s Flouting Vehicle Ban ‘Disrespectful.’”
“Pence had a motorcade. But when Ford visited car-free Mackinac Island, he traveled by horse-cade,” read a Washington Post headline published Sept. 22.
The Chicago Tribune reported, “Mike Pence arrives in 8-vehicle motorcade on Michigan’s Mackinac Island — which has prohibited cars since 1898.”
“Michiganders Furious About Mike Pence’s 8-Vehicle Motorcade On Carless Mackinac Island,” said the always reliably outraged HuffPost.
Apparently, it was a slow news weekend.
Look, these headlines are not wrong. A motorcade on the island is unusual. But it is neither entirely unprecedented nor is it anything deserving of breathless news coverage.
For starters, and contra what the Post’s headline suggests, Ford, the only sitting president to visit Mackinac, brought a Secret Service vehicle onto the island in 1975. It is just that he did not use it and his team kept it out of sight. Secondly, it is true that Ford did not travel with as big of a security detail as Pence, who is the first sitting vice president to visit the island. But a lot has changed in the world of federal security since then. Namely, two attempted presidential assassinations and the Sept. 11 attacks. Just remember that: The newsrooms highlighting the difference between Ford and Pence’s motorcades either omit or bury the fact that Ford himself was almost assassinated the same year he visited Mackinac.
Lastly, it should probably be noted that the City of Mackinac Island has carved out exemptions explicitly for “public safety” and “public service” vehicles, under which a White House motorcade is surely included. Sections 66-64 of the code of ordinances reads:
(1)
Public safety vehicles shall have no restrictions in usage so long as such vehicle is being used in the normal course of public safety service.
(2)
Public service and utility vehicles when used to provide, maintain and repair basic public utilities such as electrical, water, sewer and telephone, as well as roadway maintenance and repair.
(3)
Utility carts/vehicles when operated as a means of conveyance of goods and property and only on that property owned by the utility cart/vehicle owner. In those instances that such vehicle must cross a public roadway to access one parcel of land to another of same ownership, such crossing shall be at that point of minimal distance between the parcels and at a speed only enough to maintain a forward motion. There shall be no crossing of parcels of land having different ownership than that of which is owned by the cart owner. Transit from one parcel to another not contiguous to one another shall not involve the use of a public roadway to bypass another parcel owned by another.
(4)
Golf carts, when used for the game of golf. Approved usage of a golf cart shall be only that which is owned, operated and maintained by the owner of a public or private golf course and provided only for guests, customers or others engaged in the actual playing of golf.
(5)
Lawn tractors/mowers, when used in the care and maintenance of yards and lots.
Did Mike Pence bring a massive, eight-car motorcade onto a quaint, idyllic island that has banned automobiles since the 19th century? He sure did. Is it highly unusual? I suppose so. Did the vice president violate the city’s ordinances? It does not look like it. Did he at least violate its long-standing traditions? Yeah, seems like it.
Good story, everyone. You really nailed him.
With everything else going on, between the Trump-Ukraine-Biden controversy and climate change protests this week, the Pence motorcade incident seems like maybe not the best use of our time and attention. If anything, the story is useful only insofar as it is another data point highlighting the fact that federal security details and demands have ballooned in the past 44 years. That actually seems like a story worthy of exploration, far more interesting than this Mackinac mini-controversy.
