Apparently Mike Pence Is Still Personal Friends With the Guy Who Sicced a Mob on Him – Vanity Fair

A little less than two months ago, Mike Pence very well couldve been killed by an angry mob of insurrectionists furious with him on behalf of Donald Trump for not overturning Joe Bidens electoral victory. But while such an offense might be grounds for most of us to end a friendship at the very least, for Pence its all water under the bridge, and hes apparently as loyal to Trump as ever. He spoke very favorably about his relationship with President Trump, Indiana Republican Jim Banks, chair of the Republican Study Committee, told CNN after meeting with Pence Tuesday. I got the sense they speak often and maintain the same personal friendship and relationship now that they have for years, he continued, adding that Pence plans to launch an organization defending the successful Trump-Pence record of the last four years.

While no one expected Pence to come out and condemn Trump after four years of catering to him, an in-person meeting between the two on January 11 was reportedly lengthy, stilted and uncomfortable. But CNN reported on Monday that the two had spoken twice on the phone since Bidens inaugurationwhich Pence attended and Trump did notand that a source close to the situation described their relationship as amicable, though they would not elaborate on the contents of either call.

Pence joined the 2016 ticket to balance out Trumps narcissistic hedonism with some social conservatism, and while he took every opportunity he could to lavish praise on his boss, it was never clear that there was anything more to their relationship than politics. Even if there was some personal affinity, one would think it would have dried up quickly during Trumps interregnum; after trying about 20 different ways to hold onto power and failing each time, the former president eventually began pressuring Pence to subvert the will of the people and simply hand him an election win on the day Pence was to oversee the certification of results. He had no authority to do so, of course, and what Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill were demanding of him was absurdly anti-democratic. But the harassment continued. You can either go down in history as a patriot, Trump reportedly told him, or you can go down in history as a pussy.

Much to Trumps dismay, Pence chose to perform his ceremonial role as outlined in the constitution, and convened lawmakers on January 6 to formalize the electoral college win of Biden and Kamala Harris. While that was happening, Trump was outside the White House, whipping his fanatics into a frenzy, calling on them to march down to the Capitol to fight like hell for him. They did just that, temporarily disrupting the certification process and forcing the vice president and lawmakers to take shelter as the pro-Trump mob chanted things like hang Mike Pence. Not only did Trump not call off the attack, do anything to stop it, or even check in on his deputy,but he continued to berate Pence on Twitter even as he knew he was under threat, and took pleasure in watching his supporters ransack Congress. Remember this day forever! he tweeted afterward.

For anyone with an ounce of self-respect, a guy bullying you, nearly getting you killed, and not apologizing for it would be cause to burn all bridges with him. But Pence, like a lot of his fellow Republicans, has shown for four years that he has no such self-esteem, and seems to be remaining obsequious to a guy who has proved time and again that loyalty flows only one way. He likely has some political incentive to try to keep the relationship aliveif anything, Trumps grip on the GOP has only tightened since November, as even Trump opponents like Mitt Romney have acknowledgedbut if your hopes of getting a job in future requires you to have an amicable relationship with your would-be executioner, perhaps its time to consider another line of work.

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Apparently Mike Pence Is Still Personal Friends With the Guy Who Sicced a Mob on Him - Vanity Fair