Stories are coming out that VP Pence is backing down.
I dont know why anyone thinks Pence is going to go against the establishment
Its just not going to happen.
Imo, you have one shot. State Legislatures. And it appears Arizona is the only chance..if that is even still in the works.
This is his chance to go down in history, though he doesn’t strike me as the type would would be motivated by that.
I would hope that this being his chance to serve American would suffice,
Lots of bogus stuff out there to discourage action.
He is compromised.
Mike Pence’s political future depends on how he handles this very issue.
Pence has a couple of extra feathers in his cap based on how he responded to the responsibilities POTUS placed on his shoulders during the late pandemic.
That said, it’s not enough to inspire anything like the devotion Trump supporters have for their guy. There is no way Mike Pence will ever be taken seriously as a POTUS candidate without jumping into this fight, pronto.
There are certain traits we like to see in individuals in high federal elective office.
We look for integrity. Remember when “I was a severely conservative Republican governor” Willard “Mitt” Romney’s POTUS campaign took a Bay-of-Pigsian scale pass on endorsing Chik-fil-A appreciation day on August 1, 2012? Disaster struck Romney. That’s for sure.
Also, the capacity to express righteous indignation when the situation calls for it. Everyone above a certain age remembers the bloodless Democrat POTUS nominee (and also a former Massachusettes governor) Michael Dukakis totally whiffing on this money question during his debate with then-Vice President George H. W. Bush: “If Kitty Dukakis were raped and murdered, would you favor an irrevocable death penalty for the killer?”. Down goes Dukakis.
There also needs to be the sense that this person is ready and willing to lead and do the right thing in the face of politically-powerful opponents when existential threats are staring us in the face. Washington fought, diplomatically but relentlessly, to get the snowflake-ridden Continental Congress to authorize and fund a truly Continental army, knowing that by doing so he could easily end up being replaced in his position by any one of a number of scheming rivals.
There is also Lincoln’s politically unpopular sacking of McClellan, preceded by the money quote:”If McClellan is not using the army, I should like to borrow it for a little while.” Lincoln eventually elevated Grant to McClellan’s old post despite the latter being sort of a drunk. The money quote there was: “I cannot spare this man. He fights.”
The list goes on.
There is Truman’s decision in 1945 to try to bring about a rapid end to the war in the Pacific by authorizing the use our entire nuclear arsenal at the time (all of two bombs) in anger against Japan to coerce its political and military leaders into agreeing to an unconditional surrender. Truman also wisely sacked and replaced of McCarthur during the Korean War “so that there would be no doubt or confusion as to the real purpose and aim of our policy”.
Reagan decided to go with his gut instead of his advisors and ended up includin in his Berlin Wall speech the controversial demand “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” in his Berlin speech. Reagan also wisely decided to walk out of the Reykjavic, Iceland negotiations with the U.S.S.R. rather than sacrifice his S.D.I. initiative.
Trump has been consistent, despite unsightly pushback among Republicans, in proposing and pushing hard for crucial changes in policy, with many successes, including the “get tough” policy on trade with China, the “build the wall” policy to bring an end to rampant illegal immigration through our southern border and put misbehaving Mexico in its place, the “no more endless foreign wars” policy so repugnant to admirers and hangers-on of former president George W. “Let Freedom Reign” Bush, and the non-negotiable “pay up or get out” policy with respect to NATO and our habitually free-riding European “friends”, most notably Germany.
The current electoral fraud and abuse situation, a swirling hot mess, is teed up for Republicans looking to put the finishing touches on their POTUS candidate resumés. Either they step up with their respective drivers and take a big old whack, or they can kiss their presidential prospects goodbye.
Pence must know this. He should be throwing down by now.
Pence is also that rare bird—an honest-to-goodness natural born citizen or NBC, seemingly a dying breed among putative POTUS candidates in both major political parties. It would be nice to have a strong NBC option.
But every minute Pence isn’t hounding Trump to be given at least as big a public role in responding to this electoral catastrophe as he was given duting the Covid-19 situation, he fades that much further into obcurity. This will be so even if Trump gets a second term. People will say, where were you, Mike, when Trump needed close-air support?
If Joe Biden ends up getting sworn in as POTUS next month instead of Trump, the first thing the stone-cold nihilist Democrats will do is let collaborating Republicans know exactly where they fall in the new pecking order, that being: Nowhere. It won’t be long before these same unfortunates are given the ultimatum to either renounce the Republican party immediately and join or at least caucus with the Democrats, or go find themselves nice cozy spots for a long stay under yonder bus.