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Mike Pence Eats At Chili’s After VP Announcement, The Internet Has A Breakdown [Video]

By Patricia Ramirez
Published on: 01:33 PST, Jul 17, 2016

Indiana Governor Mike Pence, Donald Trump’s new running mate, stopped for a family dinner at a Chili’s restaurant on Saturday after Donald Trump named him the GOP’s VP pick. While it sounds innocuous enough, the simple dinner absolutely infuriated social media users after Mike Pence tweeted a pic of himself and his family settled into a Chili’s booth.

In the photograph, Mike Pence, his daughter, Charlotte, and his wife, Karen, can be seen grubbing down at the chain restaurant.

The tweeted photo of Mike Pence and his kin dining at Chili’s was apparently such a big deal that within a matter of hours, “Chili’s” became a trending topic on Twitter in the U.S. So what gives? Apparently, New Yorkers don’t take too kindly to their politicians eating at chain restaurants when there are so many “uniquely New York” dining options available in the city.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVVetidfKq4

Social media users were absolutely livid that Mike Pence chose Chili’s, reports Daily Mail, and they weren’t joking about it, either. Some called Pence “shameful,” while others went straight to the heart of the matter and called the Indiana Governor “unfit for office,” apparently based upon his unacceptable dining choice.

Before dining at Chili’s, Mike Pence spent two full days with the other half of the GOP ticket, Donald Trump, in Manhattan. The newly-named VP pick only opted to stop with his family for a quick meal at a New York Chili’s after his flight back to Indiana (on a private jet, of course) was delayed for an hour.

While some New Yorkers were angry that Mike Pence had opted for the low-end fare served at Chili’s rather than hitting up one of New York City’s exclusive gourmet restaurants, others were angry about the location of the Chili’s restaurant that Pence and his family dined at on Saturday. According to many reports, rather than being located in the heart of the city, this Chili’s location was situated outside Teterboro, New Jersey.

Some New York residents called Mike Pence’s dining choice a “deliberate snub.”

Mike Pence and his family dined at the Chili’s at around 4:00 p.m. local time on Saturday. The timing of the Pence family dinner was also apparently enough to irritate some locals, who mocked Mike Pence for his early meal.

“Nobody eats dinner at 4 in NYC. That’s still lunch hour.”

One tweet even questioned Mike Pence’s ability to be a VP, given his apparent need for a 4:00 p.m. dinner time.

“If he eats dinner at 4pm you can only assume he’s in bed at 8pm. And I need a more active VP.”

Few seemed to take into consideration Pence’s relatively short dining window, given that his flight was only delayed by an hour.

While many people took to Twitter and other social media platforms to bash Mike Pence for his Chili’s meal, a few others thought that his dining choice was “well-played,” and an intentional (if indirect) bash of the “snobby elite” that inhabit New York City.

After all, Chili’s is one of the most popular chain restaurants in the world. It has over 1,500 locations, and it’s a go-to favorite for many Americans. What’s wrong with Mike Pence dining at the same restaurant chain that many of his voters frequent on a Saturday night?

Many political pundits believe that Donald Trump was being extremely calculated when he chose Mike Pence as his running mate, and by appearing to be an “every-man,” Pence may gain some credibility among portions of the GOP voter base that see Donald Trump as an unrelatable, elitist billionaire.

As for Chili’s, the restaurant chain has done its best to remain non-partisan and impartial relative to the whole Mike Pence debacle.

What do you think? Was the internet’s reaction to a simple Pence family dinner an example of East Coast elitism? Was Mike Pence somehow out of line for choosing to dine at Chili’s rather than a home-grown New York restaurant?

[Photo via Ethan Miller/Getty Images]

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