Trump’s own vice president won’t endorse him because he is a danger to democracy. And—hand to God—the New York Times managed to report it as “Pence won’t endorse Biden.”
If Pence was really committed to saving the Republic, he would have started exposing Trump on January 7, 2021. He would have campained relentless from the day on. I would not vote for him for dog catcher.
JVL, when the history of this is written, Trump will be the clear villain. Pence will emerge as a huge historical figure, beyond anyone else of the period. He alone saved the republic. At least for a time. Great crystal ball you have to see this future in the present.
If you: endorse the poison maker, tell people, its OK that's not poison, poison the water supply, and later put up a sign saying the water is poisoned AFTER half the country gets sick, you get no plaudits from me.
I'll agree Pence could be useful, but I doubt he'd do what would ACTUALLY be useful, and there's still been no reckoning on what he did to begin with. Maybe someone else could have played Pence's role in this disaster, but no one else did. HE did.
And I still personally believe that he did so, not because he loved democracy THAT much, but because if it didn't work, he's end up where Trump is now. Mike Pence is a coward, and I do not trust him.
An awesome piece JL, as always. I hope the White House reads this and Harris and Biden do call Pence. If they do I wonder if we would actually hear about it.
Keep up the good fight we are here fighting right beside you. Thanks for all you guys do.
Way to go, JVL! You are absolutely right on the money concerning Pence and a sleeping and/or lazy media. Where is their backbone…their courage…their journalistic integrity. Pence’s non-endorsement of Trump should have been breaking news on every news organization.
Maybe JVL was making Pence out to be a hero, I'm not sure. The larger point I got was that Pence - this highly conservative unfailingly cautious career politician - is actually giving his real opinion out in public. That's the alarm (along with those of former Trump cabinet members) that should be getting covered by media. The media has one job and they screw it up more than they get it right and it makes me angry. They finally seem to understand the danger of equivalency journalism. How many OpEd columns did it take for that to finally sink in?
Mike Pence did his job. That’s it, and it was only one day. And not endorsing Trump is not a big deal when MAGA world already hates you.
He’s not particularly bright and is a theocrat. He has no political future—remember that he was poised to lose his Indiana gubernatorial race when Trump chose him to suck up to the fundies.
There are lots of people who do dangerous jobs every day. Let’s focus on them. Pence tried everything he could think of to wriggle out of doing the right thing and it took his soldier son to get him focused.
The good news is that VP Harris will be counting the votes this time and she won’t be tempted to throw an election.
You’re giving him too much credit. He muddles his message by emphasizing their differences concerning commitment to conservative principles and says he won’t vote for Joe Biden when the choice is binary. He’s no hero, and you’d do well to stop treating him as one.
The MAGA response to all the non-endorsements from Trump administration alumni is, of course, that it only reveals them to be treacherous Deep State backstabbers. Can't possibly be anything wrong with Trump rather than all of those people.
I think I know what the MAGA response would be to the question "Why was no other president held in such low regard by so many people in his own administration?"
It would be: "Because no other president attempted to challenge the Deep State and Drain the Swamp and fight the Globalists!" You see, every other president has been corrupt and unpatriotic, so they all fit perfectly into the Swamp. Then along came the First Righteous Man to inhabit the White House since Lincoln - and the Washington Establishment would not abide so much patriotic virtue because it threatened their corrupt games.
I'm pretty sure that's what MAGAs try to tell themselves. I'm not sure they all really believe it.
If memory serves me right, Mike Pence had consulted with lawyers and even former Vice-President Dan Quayle about whether he could accept alternative slates of electors. Also heard possible rumors that his son also weighed in that he swore an oath to the constitution and that it was his duty.
My guess is that he would still vote for Trump even if he won’t endorse him because Joe Biden is so much less conservative and more of a threat to our country.
Third wish: at the Democratic convention with an in-person or on-video of many member of Trump's former cabinet and former high-ranking GOP officials that all explain why they are against Trump that ends with:
"and that's why..."
*all in one group video*
"...we endorse Joe Biden for President"
That's what the Biden campaign should be working toward.
This is an occasion I'm glad to be wrong. I predicted, based on his behavior during the primary debate, that Pence (along with Haley) would endorse Trump, specifically his "yes" when asked if he'd support an R candidate who was a convicted felon. It seemed a clear signal he intended to endorse Trump if Trump were the nominee, which would totally undermine anything negative he had said about TFG. I don't know if Pence planned to endorse Trump and changed his mind, or this was his plan all along. Whichever might be the case, I'm glad to be wrong.
That said, I still don't buy into JVL's continuing quest to fully rehabilitate Mike Pence. I accept we owe him gratitude for standing up to Trump on J6; he may single-handedly have saved the country. And I am glad he is not endorsing Trump, although that is a low bar made notable only by the cowardice and bad faith of most Rs. I am happy to welcome him to the pro-democracy camp, and agree we should turn away no one.
But I do want one more thing before I can consider him fully redeemed. I want him to acknowledge all the lies he told to support TFG before J6, and to acknowledge the role he played, and to admit the Russia stuff was real. Because getting off the Trump train should've happened before J6. A lot of people knew it, all the staff at the Bulwark, to name a few. Even if Pence said, "I only went along with it because I knew that one moment, J6 or something like it, was going to come and I had to be there to help," I can understand that. If JVL wants me to call him a hero, then he has to go all the way, no holding back. Maybe my threshold for heroism is absurdly high, but I don't think it's a term that should be thrown around loosely or bestowed lightly. The bodies of real heroes fill the cemeteries at Gettysburg and Normandy, so hitting that while you're still alive is tough and it should be tough. John Basilone was a hero. Alexei Navalny was a hero who freely went into the lion's den and didn't come out. Maybe I'm just too blasted ornery but it's my viewpoint.
I am not a Mike Pence fan, we have such differing views. However, I am in total appreciation of his current stand on DJT, and while I know he probably won't vote for or endorse Biden, I hope he takes his message to every news outlet he can, repeatedly, and is quoted ad nauseum. The Nation needs him to stand up one more time, loud and clear.
Sorry JVL I very much respect you but I think you’re way off base here. Your criticism of the NYT reporting is not wrong. However, unless I missed something major, Pence’s refusal to endorse Trump was because he wasn’t “Conservative enough” and specifically his pivot on abortion (knowing that an absolute ban on abortion is repellant to the majority of Americans Trump obviously changed his tune).
That’s a far cry from calling him “manifestly unfit to serve.” Personally I think this is a worthless cop out because what he’s saying to Trump supporters is “I’m not voting for him because he won’t support a national abortion ban but Biden is worse. So if abortion or ‘Christian values’ are a soft issue for you, Trump is your man.”
Trump realizes he now has evangelicals in the bag. Pence was the bait. He’s now worthless (hence why he was so easily cast off on 1/6). To the vast majority of MAGA followers he’s now either the traitor who wouldn’t hand him the election or a sad relic of what they used to believe in…but who wasn’t sufficiently militant.
Sorry but the people who cared about what Pence believes have either already converted to full Trumpers and consider him a traitor, or just have tuned him out entirely.
If Pence was really committed to saving the Republic, he would have started exposing Trump on January 7, 2021. He would have campained relentless from the day on. I would not vote for him for dog catcher.
JVL, when the history of this is written, Trump will be the clear villain. Pence will emerge as a huge historical figure, beyond anyone else of the period. He alone saved the republic. At least for a time. Great crystal ball you have to see this future in the present.
If you: endorse the poison maker, tell people, its OK that's not poison, poison the water supply, and later put up a sign saying the water is poisoned AFTER half the country gets sick, you get no plaudits from me.
I'll agree Pence could be useful, but I doubt he'd do what would ACTUALLY be useful, and there's still been no reckoning on what he did to begin with. Maybe someone else could have played Pence's role in this disaster, but no one else did. HE did.
And I still personally believe that he did so, not because he loved democracy THAT much, but because if it didn't work, he's end up where Trump is now. Mike Pence is a coward, and I do not trust him.
An awesome piece JL, as always. I hope the White House reads this and Harris and Biden do call Pence. If they do I wonder if we would actually hear about it.
Keep up the good fight we are here fighting right beside you. Thanks for all you guys do.
Way to go, JVL! You are absolutely right on the money concerning Pence and a sleeping and/or lazy media. Where is their backbone…their courage…their journalistic integrity. Pence’s non-endorsement of Trump should have been breaking news on every news organization.
Maybe JVL was making Pence out to be a hero, I'm not sure. The larger point I got was that Pence - this highly conservative unfailingly cautious career politician - is actually giving his real opinion out in public. That's the alarm (along with those of former Trump cabinet members) that should be getting covered by media. The media has one job and they screw it up more than they get it right and it makes me angry. They finally seem to understand the danger of equivalency journalism. How many OpEd columns did it take for that to finally sink in?
Mike Pence did his job. That’s it, and it was only one day. And not endorsing Trump is not a big deal when MAGA world already hates you.
He’s not particularly bright and is a theocrat. He has no political future—remember that he was poised to lose his Indiana gubernatorial race when Trump chose him to suck up to the fundies.
There are lots of people who do dangerous jobs every day. Let’s focus on them. Pence tried everything he could think of to wriggle out of doing the right thing and it took his soldier son to get him focused.
The good news is that VP Harris will be counting the votes this time and she won’t be tempted to throw an election.
You’re giving him too much credit. He muddles his message by emphasizing their differences concerning commitment to conservative principles and says he won’t vote for Joe Biden when the choice is binary. He’s no hero, and you’d do well to stop treating him as one.
The MAGA response to all the non-endorsements from Trump administration alumni is, of course, that it only reveals them to be treacherous Deep State backstabbers. Can't possibly be anything wrong with Trump rather than all of those people.
I think I know what the MAGA response would be to the question "Why was no other president held in such low regard by so many people in his own administration?"
It would be: "Because no other president attempted to challenge the Deep State and Drain the Swamp and fight the Globalists!" You see, every other president has been corrupt and unpatriotic, so they all fit perfectly into the Swamp. Then along came the First Righteous Man to inhabit the White House since Lincoln - and the Washington Establishment would not abide so much patriotic virtue because it threatened their corrupt games.
I'm pretty sure that's what MAGAs try to tell themselves. I'm not sure they all really believe it.
If memory serves me right, Mike Pence had consulted with lawyers and even former Vice-President Dan Quayle about whether he could accept alternative slates of electors. Also heard possible rumors that his son also weighed in that he swore an oath to the constitution and that it was his duty.
My guess is that he would still vote for Trump even if he won’t endorse him because Joe Biden is so much less conservative and more of a threat to our country.
Please don’t put him on Mt Rushmore yet.
Third wish: at the Democratic convention with an in-person or on-video of many member of Trump's former cabinet and former high-ranking GOP officials that all explain why they are against Trump that ends with:
"and that's why..."
*all in one group video*
"...we endorse Joe Biden for President"
That's what the Biden campaign should be working toward.
You are my favorite jvl. Die on that hill:)
This is an occasion I'm glad to be wrong. I predicted, based on his behavior during the primary debate, that Pence (along with Haley) would endorse Trump, specifically his "yes" when asked if he'd support an R candidate who was a convicted felon. It seemed a clear signal he intended to endorse Trump if Trump were the nominee, which would totally undermine anything negative he had said about TFG. I don't know if Pence planned to endorse Trump and changed his mind, or this was his plan all along. Whichever might be the case, I'm glad to be wrong.
That said, I still don't buy into JVL's continuing quest to fully rehabilitate Mike Pence. I accept we owe him gratitude for standing up to Trump on J6; he may single-handedly have saved the country. And I am glad he is not endorsing Trump, although that is a low bar made notable only by the cowardice and bad faith of most Rs. I am happy to welcome him to the pro-democracy camp, and agree we should turn away no one.
But I do want one more thing before I can consider him fully redeemed. I want him to acknowledge all the lies he told to support TFG before J6, and to acknowledge the role he played, and to admit the Russia stuff was real. Because getting off the Trump train should've happened before J6. A lot of people knew it, all the staff at the Bulwark, to name a few. Even if Pence said, "I only went along with it because I knew that one moment, J6 or something like it, was going to come and I had to be there to help," I can understand that. If JVL wants me to call him a hero, then he has to go all the way, no holding back. Maybe my threshold for heroism is absurdly high, but I don't think it's a term that should be thrown around loosely or bestowed lightly. The bodies of real heroes fill the cemeteries at Gettysburg and Normandy, so hitting that while you're still alive is tough and it should be tough. John Basilone was a hero. Alexei Navalny was a hero who freely went into the lion's den and didn't come out. Maybe I'm just too blasted ornery but it's my viewpoint.
JVL, you will not be alone on that hill. 100% GOAT!
I am not a Mike Pence fan, we have such differing views. However, I am in total appreciation of his current stand on DJT, and while I know he probably won't vote for or endorse Biden, I hope he takes his message to every news outlet he can, repeatedly, and is quoted ad nauseum. The Nation needs him to stand up one more time, loud and clear.
Sorry JVL I very much respect you but I think you’re way off base here. Your criticism of the NYT reporting is not wrong. However, unless I missed something major, Pence’s refusal to endorse Trump was because he wasn’t “Conservative enough” and specifically his pivot on abortion (knowing that an absolute ban on abortion is repellant to the majority of Americans Trump obviously changed his tune).
That’s a far cry from calling him “manifestly unfit to serve.” Personally I think this is a worthless cop out because what he’s saying to Trump supporters is “I’m not voting for him because he won’t support a national abortion ban but Biden is worse. So if abortion or ‘Christian values’ are a soft issue for you, Trump is your man.”
Trump realizes he now has evangelicals in the bag. Pence was the bait. He’s now worthless (hence why he was so easily cast off on 1/6). To the vast majority of MAGA followers he’s now either the traitor who wouldn’t hand him the election or a sad relic of what they used to believe in…but who wasn’t sufficiently militant.
Sorry but the people who cared about what Pence believes have either already converted to full Trumpers and consider him a traitor, or just have tuned him out entirely.