Former Vice President Mike Pence is running for the the big job. To earn the Republican nomination, which he won't, he'll somehow have to get past ol' Donald Trump. Then he can take on Joe Biden and the Dems. It's the kind of two-front war that historically has not gone well. One of the things he believes can get him through the needle and into the Oval Office again is by promising to lower gas prices so his campaign got him out in front of a camera to talk about it.

Pence begins by asking Americans if they remember $2 per gallon gas because he sure does, then proceeds to talk as he ostensibly fills up the tank of a red pickup truck. The only thing is, it's very clear he's just pantomiming the action as he forgets a few crucial steps.

Like selecting the fuel grade and squeezing the trigger to get that sweet, sweet ethanol flowing.

Obviously, this is trivial. But it's so weird that those stage-managing this effort chose to have him fake it instead of actually doing it. Surely someone's vehicle needed to be topped off. That way he could have proven that he knows how to operate a fuel pump — which he clearly does — without looking like Michael Scott working his way through an unconvincing pantomime in a Level 1 improv class.

This article was originally published on thebiglead as They Made Mike Pence Pretend to Pump Gas and It Didn't Go Well.