CT Blue

You have to wonder if Pence has plans that might prove somewhat disruptive in 2021:

During a speech at Ronald Reagan Library Thursday, former VP Mike Pence publicly broke with Traitor Trump’s unconscionable lies about so-called “voter fraud” in the 2020 election.

He did that liberal thing where you remember the past accurately: “January 6 was a dark day in history the United States Capitol,” Pence said.

…

He continued, “We reconvened the Congress the very same day to finish the work of counting electoral votes from every state in the union. Now, there are those in our party, who believed that, in my position as presiding officer over the joint session, that I possess the authority to reject or return electoral votes, certified by the states.”

“But the constitution provides the vice president with no such authority,” Pence stated.

“The truth is, there is almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president.”

“The presidency belongs to the American people, and the American people alone.”

It has been put about that Pence actually thinks he has a future in politics, and given the reception he got at a recent whackjob conference, it may be the case that he has concluded that no amount of sychophancy to the former guy will restore him to the good graces of either said former guy or his adherents.

If Pence really wants to run for president in 2024, he will have to do it as a sort-of-anti-Trump. That is, never directly attacking Trump, but pushing back at the Big Lie and presenting himself as a true conservative who supports the constitution.

It won’t work, particularly if Trump runs again, but if Pence does make such a run, it may roil the Republican Party somewhat. If Liz Cheney, by that time former Congresswoman from Wyoming, runs as a third party candidate, Pence’s failed candidacy may have the effect of pushing his followers (if there are any) into the Cheney camp. A third party run, in the words of the Bard “ ’tis a consummation devoutly to be wish’d”. It would guarantee a Democratic victory on the presidential line, despite the fact that a number of traditionally red states will be stolen as a result of voter suppression and outright theft. What effect it would have on the Senate is, unfortunately, an open question. Odds are that if Congress hasn’t passed a voting rights law by 2024 the Republican Party will have effectively created one party states in those states in which it has suppressed the votes. There’s not much doubt that the Supreme Court will give a thumbs up to the voter suppression laws, so states such as Georgia and North Carolina, where an electorate allowed to vote would likely vote for Democrats, will be safely in the Republican camp.

AFTERWORD: It’s interesting that Bill Barr, arguably the most sycophantic of them all, is putting distance between himself and the former guy. Given his willingness to abuse his office for the genius while he held it, it may say something about where these people think things are heading. Of course, in Barr’s case, he may just be trying to head off obstruction of justice charges.

AFTER THE AFTERWORD: As usual, Driftglass has a perceptive take on Pence.