Poor Mike Pence. All he ever wanted was to install a dominionist theocratic state where Jesus was front and center and so loved the world that He might even be willing to listen to Louie Gohmert’s House floor speeches for our sins. And now Pence is caught in an ethical dilemma between living the remainder of his life as a milquetoast lickspittle and finding the courage to stand with pride to vigorously hump Donald Trump’s leg.
In case you thought Pence had found his backbone when he noted just two weeks ago that he had no authority to unilaterally reject the results of the 2020 election despite Trump’s goofball gainsaying, you’ll be relieved to discover that this lost little sheep has returned to his fascistic flock. Of course, in many GOPsters’ eyes he’s still a black sheep—though I’ve never seen a whiter man in my life outside of a Whole Foods ahi tuna salad bidding war.
The Washington Post:
Former vice president Mike Pence on Thursday defended the Republican National Committee’s resolution to censure two of the party’s members of Congress, saying that the declaration’s reference to “citizens who engaged in legitimate political discourse” during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection has been misinterpreted.
Pence — who repeated his assertion that “January 6th was a tragic day” — said he does not think the RNC’s resolution, which has been criticized by Republicans and Democrats, was “talking about people that engaged in violence against persons or property that day.” Instead, he said, it was referring to “a whole range of people that have been set upon” by the House committee investigating the riot.
Oh, so he doesn’t think the Republican National Committee (RNC) was talking about the people shouting, “Hang Mike Pence”? Then he must have been talking about the people behind the scenes who were urging him to literally end America. Tomato, to-mah-to.
The defense, made during Pence’s Thursday evening appearance at Stanford University, reflects the fractious divide in the Republican Party over how to talk about the attack on the U.S. Capitol, which was carried out by a pro-Trump mob. The resolution censuring Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, which passed overwhelmingly this month, sparked backlash among Republican senators who feared it would hurt the party in the midterm elections. The RNC has since said it was not supporting violent insurrectionists, an assertion Pence echoed.
So the RNC was simply supporting the people who incited the violent insurrectionists? Well, never mind then. Nothing to see here. Proceed with your regularly scheduled slow-moving coup.
“I just don’t know too many people around the country, including my friends at the RNC, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, who have any different view than it was tragic day, that the people that ransacked the Capitol were wrong and should be held to account in the law,” Pence said during his speech. “And I think they made a very clear statement, after the fact, that said, ‘We were talking about what’s happening in Washington today, with the Jan. 6th committee’ … and I believe them. They’re good people, and I believe that’s what they meant.”
It’s hilarious that Pence can’t think of anyone in the Republican Party who doesn’t think Jan. 6 was a tragic day or who believes the rioters shouldn’t be held to account. Did he forget who his boss was for four years? Has he talked to any Republican House members lately?
Of course, as Pence continues to walk this tightrope between rank cowardice and nauseating obsequiousness, we’re left to ponder: Does he still think he can be president someday? Team MAGA hates him, and progressives would vote for that (long-dead) fly on his head before they’d ever pull the lever for Indiana Drones.
Seriously, I’d be surprised if he pulled Scott Walker numbers in 2024. Then again, I’ve been wrong before. Look who was president for most of the past five years.
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