As Donald Trump was being arraigned in Washington on yet another round of criminal charges, his running mate-turned-rival Mike Pence hurried to capitalize on the news.
Pence's campaign unveiled new T-shirts and baseball caps featuring the phrase “Too Honest" in big red letters — a reference to an episode in the indictment in which the former president called Pence to berate him over his refusal to go along with Trump's scheme to overturn the 2020 election.
“You’re too honest," Trump allegedly scoffed at his second-in-command on New Year's Day.
Pence's decision to seize on the words marks a notable change in tone for a usually cautious candidate who has struggled to break through in a primary dominated by his former boss. Since the release of the indictment in which he plays a central role, Pence has criticized Trump more aggressively, casting himself as the person who stood up to Trump, averting catastrophe.
“’The American people deserve to know that President Trump and his advisers didn’t just ask me to pause. They asked me to reject votes, return votes, essentially to overturn the election," Pence told Fox News Wednesday. Had he listened to Trump and his “his gaggle of crackpot lawyers,” Pence said, “literally chaos would have ensued.”
Pence's response might seem like the expected reaction of a man who had to flee for his life on Jan. 6, 2021, when a violent mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building, clashing with police and disrupting the joint session of Congress over which Pence was presiding. Trump had convinced legions of his followers that Pence had the unilateral power to undo the election, and Pence, his staff and family spent hours in hiding in a Senate loading dock as rioters chanted, “Hang Mike Pence!” outside.
But Pence's new words stand out, in part because of just how staunchly he refused to publicly criticize Trump during his four years as vice president, dutifully and deferentially defending his boss. His newly tough talk also contrasts with Trump’s other rivals, who have largely shied away from attacking the former president over his mounting legal troubles and efforts to remain in power.
“I think this is the ‘Enough is enough’ Mike Pence. This is the ‘Let’s do this thing,’ ‘Let’s get it done’ Mike Pence,” said his spokesman, Devin O’Malley.
Pence notably had refused to appear before the congressional committee that investigated Jan. 6, criticizing its work as politicized. And he fought a subpoena to appear before the grand jury that heard the election case.
To be sure, Pence had never shied away from defending his own actions on Jan. 6, and for a while he was openly critical of Trump.
His advisers had long acknowledged that many of the former president's followers continue to believe Trump's lies about Pence's role, blaming him for failing to keep Trump in power, and they felt it was something he would have to address head-on. They believed that if he spent time explaining his position to voters, they would come to respect his decision and adherence to the Constitution.
During his campaign launch speech, Pence directly assailed Trump, saying that, “anyone that puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States" and that "anyone who asks someone else to put them over the Constitution should never be president of the United States again.” The press wifi password at the event underscored that message: “KeptHisOath!”
When a supportive SuperPAC first launched, allies said the 6th would be a fundamental part of their messaging. The group's first ad featured footage from the riot and contrasted the two men's actions that day.
Since then, however, Pence has spent most of his energy casting himself as the most conservative candidate in the field on economic and social issues, particularly abortion, instead of going after Trump.
He did not issue statements in response to Trump's first two indictments. And when he did react, he focused heavily on charges of a two-tiered system of justice and allegations that the Justice Department had been “weaponized” by the Biden administration. Pence had spent four years as a loyal Trump defender and even when pressed, seemed unwilling to drop his guard.
But during a senior campaign leadership call on Monday, as Washington awaited news of the indictment, Pence and his team discussed the idea of releasing a statement this time given his central role in the day's events. Some on the call urged Pence to go further than he had been and to deliver a message in line with what he'd said as he launched his campaign and argued Trump was unfit to return to the White House. If we’re running against him, let's run against him, one person urged.
A draft of the statement was ready by Tuesday morning, before the indictment was unveiled.
“Today’s indictment serves as an important reminder: Anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be President of the United States," it read. “Our country is more important than one man. Our constitution is more important than any one man’s career."
The next day, Pence continued to drive that message, telling reporters at the Indiana State Fair that, “Sadly the president was surrounded by a group of crackpot lawyers that kept telling him what his itching ears wanted to hear."
On Fox, he pointed to “all the other legal issues around the president,” including a possible additional indictment in Georgia.
Pence's team blasted out clips of the interview via email — “ICYMI: PENCE CHOSE THE CONSTITUTION OVER TRUMP AND ALWAYS WILL," they read — and Pence clashed with a conservative talk radio host who had characterized Pence's stance on the 6th as merely his “beliefs."
The attention sparked by the Trump indictment also brought a cash infusion. The Pence campaign received 7,000 new contributions in the first 24 hours. While 5,000 of those stemmed from the more than one million pieces of direct mail the campaign recently sent out, it nonetheless marked a seven-fold increase from the campaign's usual daily haul and will likely qualify Pence for the first GOP debate in the coming days.
Committed to America, the super PAC supporting Pence's candidacy, also increased its spending on digital ads amid heightened interest in Pence online.
“This is the first of many moments Pence will have between now and the Iowa caucus,” said Scott Reed, the group's co-chair.
The attention caught Trump's notice.
“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," Trump wrote on his Truth Social network, again repeating his false claims about Pence's role.
Soon after, the campaign decided to move forward with the new merchandising plan.
Marc Short, who was Pence's chief of staff on Jan. 6 and was referenced several times in the indictment, said Pence had grown increasingly tired of Trump's bad-mouthing.
“I just think there's the reality that for two-and-a-half years, the president has misrepresented the events of that day and grossly distorted what the vice president's authority was and knowingly presented that in false ways to the American people. And I think that there's an understandable frustration," he said. “How much more can any one person ... tolerate?"
While he said Short believes most Republican voters would rather be talking about other issues and focusing on Joe Biden, he said he always believed Pence's actions that day would serve as a point of strength.
“I think people," he said, “respect him for upholding his oath under enormous pressure.”
© Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
39 Comments
falseflagsteve
Only slightly biased article, lol
Blacklabel
so he takes 1 percent more of the vote away from the other haters and gets up to 5 percent for a week or two.
Big deal. Mike is so disappointing.
Yrral
Pence sold his soul too his lord and savior Donald Trump, maybe he should repent for his spiritual transgression
wallace
“Our country is more important than one man. Our constitution is more important than any one man’s career."
dagon
Pence's campaign exposes all the inherent contradictions of the American evangelical-conservative political axis.
The base doesn't really want the too earnest theocratic politics Pence offers.
They want the flashy, hypocritical prosperity gospel theology with porn stars, worship of capital and displays of fake virtue that is personified by Trump.
https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/9/1/15951874/prosperity-gospel-explained-why-joel-osteen-believes-prayer-can-make-you-rich-trump
bass4funk
Or one party
Or any party's ambition.
plasticmonkey
i.e. His words have no meaning, truth, or relevance because he’s not popular.
Bob Fosse
“This is the ‘Let’s do this thing,’ ‘Let’s get it done’ Mike Pence”
What a tough, straight talking, young go getter this Pence is. Not dull in the slightest and ready to preach the good word. He’s sure to be popular with between 2 to 3 % of voters.
Blacklabel
If you aren’t popular or in an undisputed position of power, that’s how it works in America these days, yep.
Yrral
Popular with disillusioned Christian,who are catching hell ,just as much as of non believers
Superlib
Too little, too late.
plasticmonkey
The Ayn Rand school of morality.
HonestDictator
The GOP is dead to me. They could have taken Trump down during the other 2 impeachments put on him while he was in office. But the GOP enabled and protected him with their hypocritical methods.
The GOP made sure they put themselves before the country, the constitution, and the people of the US. Now they want to pretend that they didn't....
It literally took Pence to feel like he was going to be "disappeared" to stop blindly following the orange creep and GOP cronies.
bass4funk
There was nothing to protect.
No, the Dems tried and tried their best to make Trump toxic and to take him out repeatedly and up until now every single effort backfired, and these latest stunts aren’t helping them either, so if you want to blame anyone, blame the swamp and the entire elite political establishment that put their selfish self-interests before the country.
When did liberals care about the constitution in its purest form?
I’m not blaming Pence for holing up the constitution, I’m blaming Pence on being a god-dreadful and boring politician that has no chance of passing 3% in this race.
Blacklabel
Don’t get it twisted.
Pence will still be voting for Trump for President.
lincolnman
Like all campaign slogans, a little off....should be; I CHOSE THE CONSTITUTION OVER TRUMP ON JAN 6TH BUT FORGOT ABOUT IT FOR FOUR YEARS FROM 2016 TO 2020....
Oh well, I'll give Mikey credit - he staved off an attempted overthrow of our democracy by a cabal of crazed authoritarians who are now being held accountable. And as former "best ever" AG Bill Barr has said, there's a lot more Jack Smith will show us as the trial gets closer....much of it from the "copious notes" Pence took anytime he met with Trump...
And then there are the "MAGA-six" - one (Giuliani) is already cooperating...how many others will turn and toss Trump under the bus. More significantly, neither Mark Meadows nor Jared Kushner are identified as "co-conspirators" - looks like they have cut a "deal to squeal" too...
The MAGA-rats will all turn on each other and the Head Rat...
It will be entertaining to watch...
sunfunbun
The GOP, to add on to HD, picks its lies to follow. It changes upon circumstance and who is doing the lying.
Problematic is the amount of false rhetoric the conservative media is now throwing out there with abandon. Places like Fox New are literally throwing out words lies that do the conservative thing, which is flip their agenda to the Democrats. It's a ploy of the Republicans, started with them somehow blaming the Democrats for the wrong war vs. Iraq, and again after the financial crisis, where Republicans caused the crisis to happen, Obama saved it, and they blamed Democrats.
Now the conservative media outlets are lying and saying exactly what the MAGA do, and they say it with force that the lying audience believes the lies. Truly Orwell predicted doublethink and it is happening as the GOP is succumbing to ignorance and not wanting real truths, but want to live in the other truth, as Kelly Anne Conway said as alternative facts.
The conservative rhetoric: The Biden White House is referred to as the “Biden regime.” Federal law enforcement are referred to as the “Gestapo” and Biden’s “personal police force.” Institutions such as the Department of Justice are referred to as “the Department of Injustice.” The indictments against Trump are referred to as “political war crimes” and an “assassination.”
It's obviously wrong. It flips the script and the irony the conservatives don't seem to understand is they are doing exactly what a dictatorial regime does. They are saying things a state run media, which eludes truth for lies and uses one sided rhetoric do. It's fascism the conservative media is catering to for the money they know they get from a feeble minded audience who want to only hear the lies.
Blacklabel
And yet:
“CNN Poll; Percentage of Republicans who think Biden's 2020 win was illegitimate ticks back up near 70%”
2020hindsights
bass4funk
Nope. Trump did that all by himself.
Trump is toxic to the GOP. The GOP can't win with Trump.
Simon Foston
BlacklabelToday 09:13 am JST
Well that's an eye-opener, isn't it. You'll be telling us most Republicans support 2nd Amendment rights and small government next.
2020hindsights
Blacklabel
A sad indictment on the gullibility of Republicans.
wallace
MAGA supporters are very bad with maths and logic.
Blacklabel
More like a reflection of the disappointment in Mike Pence that he got it wrong and is still not getting it.
Also why random celebrities and social media owners have better betting odds for President than Mike does.
he would probably get more votes running as a Democrat by now as the left seems to love him more.
bass4funk
No, no one told the Dems to go after Trump or contest the 2016 duly elected presidential election.
Half of the country doesn’t think so.
https://news.yahoo.com/biden-trump-deadlocked-hypothetical-match-114821537.html
Yawn, they said that in 2015 as well.
wallace
bass4funk
Once again you post your false opinion. Half the country would be 165 million people supporting Trump. The voting population is about 230 million with 70 million voting for Trump in 2020.
lincolnman
Only in MAGA-world do they boast about being played for fools and suckers...
Trump admitted he lost to Biden: *Alyssa Farah Griffin, the former White House director of strategic communications, said on CNN's "State of the Union" that Trump "watching Joe Biden on TV said, 'Can you believe I lost to this guy?'
Then you have Giuliani not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES admitting that there was no fraud and his previous statements were ALL LIES...
1) He admitted before a judge while under oath that "this is not a fraud case"...
https://time.com/5914377/donald-trump-no-evidence-fraud/
2) He told the Arizona Repub Chairman what "We just don't have any evidence"....
https://www.businessinsider.com/rudy-giuliani-voter-fraud-evidence-rusty-bowers-testimony-jan6-committee-2022-6
3) "Defendant Giuliani, for the purposes of litigation only, does not contest that, to the extent the statements were statements of fact and other wise actionable, such actionable factual statements were false,”
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/rudy-giuliani-concedes-made-false-statements-georgia-election-workers-rcna96395
The fact that so many Repubs hide their eyes to their own MAGA-heroes telling them this is all a scam just shows how gullible and easy to manipulate they are...
There's a reason Trump continues to play his supporters for suckers - and it was clearly shown this week where he used $80 million of their campaign contributions to pay for his lawyers...
And no doubt they'll continue to send their money - even when he's sitting in a cell at Leavenworth...
2020hindsights
bass4funk
Trump is toxic to the GOP.
Sure. But that's now. As Trump spends more and more time in court, you will see support fade away...
plasticmonkey
You’re blaming Pence because he went against Trump. On January 6, Pence was right and Trump and his enablers and his cult were wrong.
plasticmonkey
Explain what Pence got wrong on January 6.
Blacklabel
He had the ability to send the electors back to the states.
there was no law to specifically prevent it. Proven by Dems passing a law to prevent it, last year.
Blacklabel
Dems do things even when the law prevents it. See DACA and other illegal immigration and student loan forgiveness as examples.
but Mike had no guts to do something that Dems would have done in the same situation where the election was under dispute.
plasticmonkey
The election was not under dispute. All that fraud crap had already been clearly shown to be false.
Blacklabel
It had not been when Pence did what he did. It had yet to have even been preliminary investigated.
it actually still hasn’t been. that’s why “Discovery” in the Jan 6 case and relitigation of the whole 2020 election, hopefully televised daily from court, is gonna be super fun!
HonestDictator
@Bass, your MO is tired and played out. I said a long time ago the only thing you spout is, "Dems, libs, dems, libs..." We know you literally despise anything that is not good ol' "conservative" hyperpartisan mentality. The GOP has always taught their base to demonize the opposing party. I've watched it happen for well over 401 years. Actions will always speak louder than words. The GOP has shown the decades worth of actions of what they are. Dems are the only major party that is not the GOP. The US seriously needs a political party that is moderate/independent of both sides to bring balance to this joke of a "bi-partisan" government.
HonestDictator
Lol, 401= 40 years... sorry about the typo... can't let my immortality be known /s
bass4funk
Nope.
I keep forgetting Dems discount rural areas in many states or fly over areas where the deplorable people live.
Well, we don’t know we have a lot of people voting that shouldn’t be voting and other irregularities that happened in the past, but that the GOP are onto them and it now, so it changes the entire voting paradigm for the next election.
To the establishment, yes and that is a great thing?
Yeah, liberals keep saying that. My parents thought I would outgrow In n’Out and after so many years, never happened, never will.
cuddly
Excellent point, and well-said.
Superlib
Why are we debating the past election? Waste of time. It's over. Biden is President. You lost. Get over it.
bass4funk
We don’t, but it seems like the Dems want to remind everyone who won constantly even though it’s over.