Karen Pence stays away from politics to focus on her initiatives
Heading into her third year as second lady, Karen Pence says she will continue to focus on and expand the art therapy initiative she launched upon moving to Washington, telling NBC News that she wants to “elevate the profession” as she travels domestically and abroad alongside the vice president.
“It’s an opportunity to make the most of these four years and make a difference wherever I can as Second Lady,” Pence said about her efforts in an interview with NBC News on a recent trip alongside Vice President Pence to Singapore.
“A lot of people don’t understand it. They think it’s arts and crafts, or therapeutic art, or it feels great to get the paints out. But it’s more of a mental health profession, and I wanted to elevate that profession and make people more aware.”
Over the last two years, Pence has frequented trips with the vice president, often separating herself from his work on the ground and, instead, visiting hospitals or military units with her staff to engage in art therapy programs and talk with service members and their spouses.
Last month, while in Tokyo, the second lady helped announce a new art therapy program grant out of the U.S. embassy in Japan after initially visiting the country in April 2017, when she met Cheryl Okubo, a U.S. citizen and permanent resident of Japan. As part of the announcement, Okubo, a board-certified art therapist, will launch the two-year pilot art therapy program at Tsukuba University, the first of its kind in the country.
As Karen Pence publicly focuses her attention on these initiatives, she has keenly separated herself from the political fray since moving to the Naval Observatory, declining to weigh in, publicly, on major policy efforts of the administration or controversies.
When asked by NBC News about President Trump’s numerous offensive statements about particular women, including the characterization of some as crazy and as having low IQ, Karen Pence sidestepped characterizing the president’s comments, but said the public should know that Trump “does feel very strongly about the role that women can play, especially in politics.” She noted Trump’s deference during the campaign to one of her daughters, Charlotte Pence, asking for her opinion on issues the then-campaign should address concerning millenial women.
“I don’t usually get involved in what the president does and what he says,” Karen Pence responded. “I think the American people elected him to be their president, and so I stay away. He certainly doesn’t need to ask me for my advice. But I do think -- one thing I do know about the president is that he does feel very strongly about the role that women can play, especially in politics.”
She continued: “This president does care about women. He cares about issues that are dear to them.”