As special counsel Jack Smith’s latest indictment reminded the public, then-Vice President Mike Pence was in serious danger during the Jan. 6 attack, and it was his boss that put him in harm’s way. Donald Trump pressured Pence to participate in an indefensible and undemocratic scheme before the assault on the Capitol, and the then-president made matters worse during the violence.
But Trump’s offensive continued after he left the White House. In March 2021, he defended rioters’ “hang Mike Pence” chants, describing the mantra as “common sense.” A year later, the former president headlined a far-right gathering and characterized Pence as a coward for choosing not to go along with an allegedly illegal plot. As recently as five months ago, Trump was still blaming his former vice president for the insurrectionist violence Trump instigated.
Even now, the offensive continues — though the timing and broader context has taken on a greater significance.
Pence, still looking for ways to give his struggling 2024 campaign a boost, initially responded to Trump’s new indictment with a rather pointed statement. “Today’s indictment serves as an important reminder: Anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be President of the United States,” the Republican Hoosier said.
A day later, Pence upped the rhetorical ante, telling Fox News that Trump and “his gaggle of crackpot lawyers” asked him to “literally reject votes” on Jan. 6. (Left unsaid: It was Trump who invited those “crackpot lawyers” into his inner circle because he liked their outlandish advice.)
President Trump and his gaggle of crackpot lawyers asked me to reject electoral votes and chaos would have ensued. To keep faith with the oath that I made to the American people and to Almighty God, I did my duty that day. pic.twitter.com/FktUIODXCF
— Mike Pence (@Mike_Pence) August 2, 2023
Soon after, Trump used his social media platform to send a rhetorical shot of his own across Pence’s bow:
“I feel badly for Mike Pence, who is attracting no crowds, enthusiasm, or loyalty from people who, as a member of the Trump Administration, should be loving him. He didn’t fight against Election Fraud, which we will now be easily able to prove based on the most recent Fake Indictment & information which will have to be made available to us, finally — a really BIG deal. The V.P. had power that Mike didn’t understand, but after the Election, the RINOS & Dems changed the law, taking that power away!”
If Trump was under the impression that this made him look better, and his former vice president look worse, he was mistaken. Whether Trump understands this or not, there was no “Election Fraud” for Pence to “fight against.” The idea that the former president’s bonkers conspiracy theories will “now be easily” proven is amusing but wrong. The latest indictment isn’t “fake.”
And several months after the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act became law, Trump still can’t quite grasp the basics, which made it rather ironic to see the former president complain, “The V.P. had power that Mike didn’t understand.” But as notable as Trump’s weird attempts at anti-Pence jabs were, it’s the backdrop that arguably matters most. The New York Times summarized: Former Vice President Mike Pence’s remarkable transformation from Donald J. Trump’s most loyal lieutenant to an indispensable, if reluctant, witness for his prosecution became clear this week, when he emerged as perhaps the central character in a stinging indictment accusing the former president of a criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election. From a tense Christmas Day phone call between the two men to the fresh revelation that Mr. Pence kept “contemporaneous notes” on the tumultuous period leading up to Jan. 6, 2021, the indictment detailed Mr. Pence’s efforts to block his former boss’s schemes and laid bare the rupture in their relationship.
Among the most memorable lines in the indictment was an instance in which Trump, outraged by Pence’s reluctance to go along with his plot to steal the election, told his vice president, “You’re too honest.” With this context in mind, Trump isn’t just extending his ugly offensive against his own vice president, and he isn’t just going after the man he put in danger without cause. He’s also targeting a key witness in his own criminal prosecution.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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