Former Vice President Mike Pence's 2024 campaign for president is underway, and he's already making waves, but not in the way he likely wants.
Mr Pence recently shared a campaign video laying the blame for high gas prices at the feet of Joe Biden. In the clip, Mr Pence exits a truck at a gas station, unhooks a gas nozzle, and stuffs it into his car.
He asks viewers if they remember $2 per gallon gas prices, and says he does as well, before he proceeds to blame Mr Biden for gas being more than $3 per gallon. He then presents the "Pence Plan" for energy while pretending to fill his truck.
While Mr Pence's premise is questionable — gas prices haven't been $2 per gallon on average since 2020, thanks largely to the world grinding to a halt due to the coronavirus pandemic — what is especially distracting is the sound of the pump dinging over his words.
The pump is dinging because Mr Pence was apparently only pretending to fill up his truck. As anyone with a vehicle knows, customers typically need to enter a bank or credit card or pre-pay inside the gas station before they can fuel their vehicles. Customers also need to select which grade of fuel they want to purchase.
Mr Pence's gas tank cover was also already open after he stepped out of the car.
Without making those decisions, the pump dings to remind the customers that they aren't ready to fuel.
The former vice president was roundly mocked on social media from both the left and Trump-loyalist right, who see Mr Pence as a traitor, especially after he made comments suggesting he would "comply with the law" if asked to participate in the criminal investigations into the former president's attempts to steal the 2020 election.
End Wokeness, a right-wing MAGA Twitter account, said "Pence has no clue how to pump gas" before asking "who thought this was a good idea?"
Johnny MAGA, another right-wing account, noted that the "pump is literally beeping the entire video with the 'select fuel type' message."
And Ian Miles Cheong, a Malaysian national who inexplicably has become a prominent commenter in online right-wing spaces, said that Mr Pence has "clearly never pumped his own gas."
Rob Schneider, a comedian who frequently expresses right-wing ideological views, asked how Mr Pence can "fix our energy independence when he can't even push the button that chooses which octane gas he wants to make the beeping sound stop?"
At least one left-wing group got in on the dogpiling as well.
The Sunrise Movement, a group focused on combating the climate crisis, called the video "embarrassing."
"Not only does he not understand that clean energy would mean energy independence for this country, but he doesn't even know how to pump his sacred gas," the group said on Twitter.
