Mike Pence and the ‘Snape Option’

The former vice president was at times insincere, and he suffered through various indignities. And then came January 6.

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Any person of integrity who works in or around politics and government, becomes immediately aware of an inherent tension. This tension is between what they think is right, and what their job requires of them. This tension will inevitably occur repeatedly throughout a life in politics, and a prudent practitioner knows their battles must be picked carefully, as a failure to pick the right battles will earn you a quick exit from any position of influence. This is true from high-level Cabinet officials down to the lowest congressional staffer.

Nobody is more aware of this fact than former Vice President Mike Pence.

As the Trump era ends, I think it important to discuss the position Pence was in, and the wider issue that many Trump appointees faced.

I believe Pence’s letter of January 6 in which he declared that he did not have the authority to unilaterally reject the electoral votes of any state (and, according to the Donald Trump’s bizarre and unsupportable theory, handing him the election in spite of a clear loss), will eventually earn him a place in history as a dignified statesman and a patriot. Trump’s self-serving interpretation of the Constitution was a threat to the very foundation of our republic and had Pence went along with this charade, the damage to America would have been incalculable. But he didn’t.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Jason Gibson

    I have been tempted to think this way myself. But to me it’s like praising Hannibal lector that he didn’t eat someone when he got a day pass. It doesn’t redeem his choices. We can’t forget that what pence did that day was the equivalent of a policeman directing traffic and refusing to purposely create a pile up. That day he was just doing his job. He did it right and he did it well. But he could have done more at any time. He didn’t

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  2. V Addeman

    You take a job to do the job, not to make sure the boss doesn't do anything stupid.

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    Rev Snow

    If Pence held back from criticizing the President in order to maintain his ability to exercise influence over the administration, and we should celebrate him for that, then we ought to have a list of positive influence he actually achieved during his term in office. What's the highlight reel on that?

    If he toadied and achieved nothing, that deserves scorn, not praise. The VP is the only office besides POTUS in the executive branch achieved by election. He's the only person the President cannot fire. The VP isn't stuck with POTUS, the POTUS is stuck in here with his VP -- if the VP has the stuff to use that reality. Pence has never had that. A mediocrity from start to finish.

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      CVS

      "What's the highlight reel on that?"

      With all due respect, that's an almost comical misunderstanding of how politics actually works in real life. Particularly in the Administrative branch.

      We won't *really* know for years, if ever, the extent of that. Or even many of the details.

      That said, if you read books by people like John Bolton, or other assorted news sources, you can piece together that his influence was extensive and positive.

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        Rev Snow

        You may be right, but you have to admit that "He did many great things he cannot tell you about" is a less than satisfying answer.

        What would hold back disclosure? Loyalty to Trump? After Jan 6? That's not the path of a leader worth following.

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          CVS

          Well, you can start with the fact that he only left office 10 days ago and is probably exhausted.

          You can also deal with the issue that there is no way in hell he remembers the literally thousands of times he had influence over at least as many decisions.

          But all you have to do is talk to real conservatives on the hill, at think-tanks, read things that have been reported on from halfway decent sources, and frankly just look at the entirety of Pence's career, to realize that from a conservative perspective, his influence was positive.

          Again, the point of this piece is not that you have to agree with every decision Pence made. The point is that, when pushed to the wall, he did the right thing. And undoubtedly did a lot of good in the meantime. And for that, he deserves the benefit of the doubt.

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    Victor Clairmont

    “... if you can indulge me in a Harry Potter analogy...”

    NO! Read another book!

    NO!

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    Scarlette Tarte

    Give me a friggin' break. Pence did not agree to become Vice President to Trump to do "damage control". He agreed because he saw it as a way to his own power. He (and Bolton and all the others) took on jobs in the administration because they wanted power and to wield it. Bolton thought "I can control him and influence him to do what I want". So did Pence, so did every person who went into that administration. The military guys. All of them thought "I can control Trump and be the power behind the scenes and maybe run for president later myself".

    Pence is the worst of the lot. The slimiest. The most loathsome. Because he pretends to be such a "strong Christian" while mugging with his doleful countenance and pretending to the be "good cop" to Trump's bad cop. It is ALL a ruse and a grift. Pence is NOT anything that he pretends to be.

    He is also just as big a liar as Trump, he is just better at it. Shall I list his lies? He lied about Russia and he lied about Mike Flynn. He knew Flynn made those Russia calls. Mike Pence helped cover up those secret conversations with Trump.

    For all those years he said NOTHING to dissuade Trump's base of supporters, he did nothing to temper Trump's inflammatory rhetoric, he did nothing but defend it, at every turn. Every time he opened his sniveling mouth the first words out were "under the leadership of President Donald Trump..." It was disgusting.

    No, you don't get to try to claim that he is now a "hero". The only reason he did not do what the mob wanted him to on the electors was because he saw Biden won. He wants to be president. He thought, in that moment, that his political life was more promising if he did the right thing in that particular circumstance. He will probably learn from that the he will lose the Trump base, and he will never do the right thing again. UNLESS that mob threatening to hang him has shaken him up enough to actually do the right thing and join with never Trumpers and Democrats to rid the country of the Trumps.

    In a way, Pence hung himself on the gallows, but not the ones the mob built for him. He hung himself in his own noose by listening to the demagogue's empty promises, by following the executioner's will, instead of his own Christian faith. Pence's sins were his own cloying dreams for power.

    Never believe that any of them are doing ANY of this for "good". When their own ambitions HAPPEN to collide with doing the right thing, sure, they will do it, that's easy. But they never do the right thing BECAUSE it's the right thing. Only when it will benefit them in some way.

    That goes for Bolton, for Pompeo, for Tillerson, for Mattis, for ALL of them. People as ambitious as these are are only in it for one thing...themselves.

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      CVS

      Uhh...ok.

      Thanks for admitting you didn't actually read, or don't really feel like engaging, with anything that was actually said.

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    I Am the Eggman

    The difference between the Vice President and other administration offiicials such as the National Security Adviser, the Attorney General, or cabinet secretaries is that the President can't fire the Vice President. There is even a limit to how much he can sideline the VP, since the VP is by law the president of the Senate and a member of the National Security Council.

    I also wonder how much influence Pence had in the first place. What can you, or he, point to in the four years of the Trump administration as an accomplishment on his part? What good thing happened, or what bad thing failed to happen, because of Pence's influence? Anything?

    All of which is to say that I don't find this article's argument convincing. But I do agree that Pence finally, at the end, did one honorable thing in his time as VP by refusing to try to overturn the election. So there is clearly a limit as to how vile he is willing to be. That's worth something, but it's not enough.

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  7. Dennis Trask

    Who is worse Trump or Voldemort?

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      Scarlette Tarte

      Trump.

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      I Am the Eggman

      Trump, because Voldemort isn't real.

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      1. Dennis Trask

        You made my day. Thanks.

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    BrettH

    You make a fair point, I get it; I just think you’re being too generous. Pence was no James Mattis or Mark Kelly—they actually took the job for reasons other than self interest. I’m certainly glad that Pence acknowledged, you know, reality by presiding over Congress during the election certification and made clear beforehand that it wasn’t his call to make, but I am highly skeptical that history will remember him in a positive light.

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    Chris Babcock

    Amen. I was never a fan of Mike Pence, but the courage he showed on January 6 saved the Republic. I'm grateful he was there.

    I remember at the beginning of Trump reign when Pence was booed at Hamilton, and he responded by telling his kids, "that's what freedom sounds like." It turns out that that Mike Pence, and not the one who tried to put a happy face on Trump's petty tyrany, was the real one. God bless him. The Republic holds because Mike Pence is fundamentally a decent man.

    Character counts. Decent folk with bad ideas are better than indecent ones with good ideas.

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    Noelle Holmes

    As someone who shared your sentiments, it was also very comforting to know Pence would be President in the event Trump was removed. Many days it was a fervent hope.

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