Mike Pence Should Be the Biggest Story of the 2024 Campaign
Trump’s own vice president won’t endorse him because he is a danger to democracy. And—hand to God—the New York Times managed to report it as “Pence won’t endorse Biden.”
1. Veep
I have been ringing the Mike Pence bell since 2022 (here and here and here, for starters).1 Why? Because when democracy was on the line, the main body of his party demanded he commit a high crime, and an armed mob came to murder him, Pence jumped on the grenade.
Mike Pence didn’t just fulfill his constitutional duty on January 6th—though if he had, that would have been enough to earn the nation’s gratitude.
Pence refused to leave the Capitol. When the Secret Service tried to get him into a vehicle, Pence realized that once he left the premises, he would have no control over his freedom of movement, which could prevent him from counting the Electoral College votes and completing the election. From I Alone Can Fix It:
At 2:26, after a team of agents scouted a safe path to ensure the Pences would not encounter trouble, Giebels and the rest of Pence’s detail guided them down a staircase to a secure subterranean area that rioters couldn’t reach, where the vice president’s armored limousine awaited. Giebels asked Pence to get in one of the vehicles. “We can hold here,” he said.
“I’m not getting in the car, Tim,” Pence replied. “I trust you, Tim, but you’re not driving the car. If I get in that vehicle, you guys are taking off. I’m not getting in the car.”
During the January 6th attack, Pence was in frequent communication with Speaker Nancy Pelosi—both trying to assure her safety and working with her to move aggressively forward with the final certification of the electoral votes.
On January 6th, for a span of several hours, Pence became America’s indispensable man. And he answered the call.
On January 20, 2021, Pence was on the steps of the Capitol to greet the incoming president and vice president. His presence testified to their legitimacy. It seems like a small thing now, but had both the sitting president and his vice president refused to attend the inauguration, Biden’s legitimacy would have been crippled beyond repair.
Instead, Pence was gracious and proper, thereby making it clear that the breach in the peaceful transfer of power should belong to Donald Trump alone and that this dishonor need not spread to the Republican party itself.
By attending the inauguration, Pence gave the Republican party a choice. That the party has since chosen to stand in strict opposition to the rule of law is on the men and women who make up the body of the party itself. Trump didn’t dragoon them. They chose it.
Pence tried to save his party one final time by running for president and testifying about Trump’s actions on January 6th.
And finally, with Trump having secured the delegates necessary to hold the Republican nomination, Pence went on Fox News on Friday to announce that he would not endorse Trump.
What more does America want from this man?2
Well let me tell you what *I* want: I want Pence’s heroism to be recognized by the media, by elected politicians, and by our fellow citizens for the big forkin’ deal that it is.
I understand that Joe Biden is old and I agree that his age is a relevant and legitimate concern. But also, I have read approximately 87,236 stories in the New York Times alone on this subject.
But Donald Trump’s own vice president refuses to endorse his candidacy because he believes Trump is a traitor to the Constitution and a danger to America.
How many times as the NYT mentioned this ENORMOUSLY SIGNIFICANT FACT?
So far: Twice.
The first was a 500-word squib on March 15, headlined “Pence Says He Won’t Endorse Trump, but Won’t Vote for Biden Either.”3
The second was during a 1,600-word conversation between Gail Collins and Bret Stephens on March 18. Here is the entirety of their discussion of Pence:
Gail: Speaking of our friend Donald, what did you think of Mike Pence’s announcement that he won’t support Trump for president? On one hand, pretty obvious given the murderous anti-Pence uprising Trump helped stoke after he lost the election. On the other hand, there are so many other people you’d think would be opposed to Trump’s return to power who are throwing in the towel. Like Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, who Trump attempted to bully into lying about the presidential vote tally in his state.
Bret: Or Mitch McConnell, who recently endorsed Trump even though the former president called the senator’s wife, Elaine Chao, “crazy” and “China-loving,” after she quit as Trump’s transportation secretary in disgust over Jan. 6.
That’s it.
For context: Since March 15, three NYT stories have mentioned concerns about Biden’s age.
No American vice president has ever said that president he served under is unfit to serve. It is the most devastating possible observation from the most credible source in existence. Pence’s refusal to endorse Trump should be part of the context of every single story about this campaign.
Especially because it’s not just Pence.
Trump’s chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff called him “a wannabe dictator.”
Trump’s secretary of defense called him “a threat to democracy.”
Trump’s national security advisor called him “a danger to the United States.”
Trump’s chief of staff observed that he is “a person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators. A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution and the rule of law.”
These are not hysterical Resistance Libs or Democrats looking for partisan advantage. These are serious people—Republicans who worked for Trump at the highest levels and saw him up close—who are testifying not that Trump is suboptimal, or is in favor of policies with which they disagree, but is a clear and present danger to liberal democracy itself.
Again I say: The fact that Mike Pence, Mark Milley, Mark Esper, John Kelly, and so many of the men and women who worked for Trump believe he is a threat to democracy ought to be the first and last pieces of context in Every. Single. Story.
2. Two Wishes
Try to imagine Kamala Harris saying that Joe Biden was unfit for office.
Or Biden saying that about Barack Obama.
Or Dick Cheney saying it about George W. Bush.
Or Al Gore about Bill Clinton.
Or Dan Quayle about George H.W. Bush.
Or George H.W. Bush about Reagan.
Reminder: We are not talking about personality conflicts or jealousies. We are not talking about policy differences or verdicts on the competence of the administration.
We are talking about a flat declaration by the vice president that his/her boss and former running mate is manifestly unfit for service.
There is no precedent. It should be the biggest story in American politics from here to November.
I have two wishes.
The first is that Vice President Harris gets on the horn to Pence right now.
She should thank him for his service and his integrity. She should invite Mr. and Mrs. Pence to the residence for dinner. President Biden should do the same. In a perfect world, Pence would endorse Biden at the Democratic convention in Chicago. That probably won’t happen. But Biden and Harris should make it clear to Pence that they respect the hell out of him and that they intend to try to earn his endorsement by matching his integrity and patriotism.
They should also make it clear that their vision for the near-term future of the Democratic party is that it should be inclusive to all patriots, regardless of their politics. Because for the time being, the Democratic party is—first and foremost—the rule-of-law party and the only party dedicated to preserving liberal democracy.
My second wish is that the rest of the media would cover Pence’s stand as the extraordinary action it is.
Look, I hate doing media criticism.4 My general view is that instead of bitching about The Media, people should just build better media institutions.
That’s what we’ve been doing here for the last five years. And we’ve been joined by tens of thousands of you guys who have chosen to support the kind of publication you want to exist in the world.
Thank you. And for anyone reading who isn’t riding with us, we’d love to have you. The only way to make the world better is together.
Anyway, right now, Pence refusing to endorse Trump is just one more floating piece of chaos in the whirlwind.
Trump talks about immigrants poisoning the blood, executing disloyal generals, terminating parts of the Constitution, and being a dictator for a day.
Trump is indicted for this, that, and the other. A jury finds him liable for sexual assault.
Yesterday Trump said he “doesn’t know” if Putin was involved in the murder of Alexei Navalny. Tomorrow he’ll say (or do) something else horrible and disqualifying.
The media should not let go of the Pence disavowal. Include it relentlessly in all coverage of the presidential campaign. Make it part of the scenery in the same way that Trump’s 2020 loss and subsequent attempted coup are.
Will Pence’s refusal to endorse Trump change the minds of any voters? I don’t know. But I’d like to give them the chance. If America is going to freely choose to elect Donald Trump again, then the media’s job is to make sure they do so with their eyes wide open.
In short: I want the media to give the American voters the same chance Mike Pence gave the Republican party.
3. Federer in Repose
GQ interviews the GOAT5:
Do you feel like you got the ending that you wanted, ultimately?
Definitely. Even better. Because I was always petrified of the moment when you play and the match is over, we shake hands, and then the opponent kind of just drifts away or he hangs around and you then take the mic, you’re all alone on the court, some of your friends are up in the stands, but nobody knows if you’re going to lose in the first round or you’re losing the finals or whatever. So not everybody can be there. Not everybody knows on that very day that that was going to be the end. So you end up being like, okay, and then you speak, that’s it, boom, over, and then next match and the show goes on.
The next two guys just come out and start hitting a tennis ball back and forth.
It’s not a big deal, but the show goes on. And I was just always afraid that I was going to be standing alone down on court. Everything I’ve always hoped for is to be in a team environment and surrounded by my closest ones where I could tell the world, “Okay, this is going to be the day.” I don’t remember the date to be honest, but that particular Friday night I was able to say, I’m going to be playing and everybody can come and watch me play. There was still a Saturday and Sunday that followed up the Laver Cup and I could just hang around, relax, enjoy. I was still part of the team, so it felt like a net catching me.
Did you allow yourself to picture retirement while you were playing?
I mean, a hundred percent you have flashes as you sit in the car on the way to training or something and you look outside and think, Okay, how is retirement going to be? Or: Where am I going to retire? How am I going to retire? How much longer can I play? Those questions naturally pass your mind as you think about your life and you think about your kids and where the journey’s going to go. But I think every player has that. I’ve been asked about retirement since 2009 when I won the French Open and I tied Sampras’s record [of 14 Grand Slams]. People say, “So what else is there to achieve?” I’m like, yeah, “Good question. I dunno. But I love playing and we’ll see where it takes me.”
Read the whole thing. This last bit was one of the reasons Federer is so beloved in the sport: He kept playing tennis for so long because he really enjoyed playing tennis. It wasn’t about domination or records or fame. He really just enjoyed being in the locker room; being on the court; the feel of hitting a clean ball. And in that way, he was just like all of us.
And here’s another way he’s like us:
Was there a moment when you were like: Wait, who am I actually?
Tennis was my identity, but it was not what I was doing all day every day. I mean, for the most part, I’m being more of a dad and a husband and a son. Being a tennis player was my hobby, and then that became my job. But I always tried to not identify myself just purely as a tennis player. When tennis was taken away or put aside, well, I still had all the other things. And I think that mindset has anyway been a strength of mine throughout my career. I knew that if tennis ends tomorrow, which it can with an accident or whatever, it happens, you have to be able to live with yourself without the game.
He’s really the best:
These are guys that you were sharing a court with for years. And then you turn on the TV and they’re still on the court and you’re not. Does that feeling have a name? Does it feel like anything?
It feels good. When I retired in London at the press conference next to Andy [Murray], Novak, Rafa, and [Björn] Borg and everybody who was there, I said, “It’s fitting for me to be the first to go.” I had the time without them on tour when I came on tour and now it’s their time to have a moment on tour without me. So it would’ve felt wrong for me if Murray, who almost retired with his hip, or Rafa with his knees, we didn’t know how long he was going to play. So I’m happy I was the first to go. And actually I wish that they can go on for as long as I did.
Does the competitor inside of you also feel that way?
Oh, that one is gone.
Really?
Yeah, totally. Completely. Because I’m proud and happy about what I achieved; and I will never forget when I broke Sampras’s record, he was cool about it. Or as cool as you can be. And I’ll never forget that. And I think you also take a different role when you retire. You end up being very, I dunno, content in your position, and you also are supportive of the game as a whole. So if things are achieved, I see it in the sphere of: Okay, well, we’re competing not within the tennis-level sphere, but actually we’re competing in the sports sphere, putting tennis on the map on a bigger scale.
I have somehow managed to become America’s foremost stan for both Joe Biden and Mike Pence. I’m as surprised as you are.
Yeah, okay, I know. The final act would be for Pence to endorse Biden, which is what the logic of his position dictates. He’s said he won’t do that. We’ll see.
My God—the Times practically did “Pence refuses to endorse Trump, here’s why that’s bad for Biden.” WTF?
“The Media” isn’t a thing—it’s a giant, amorphous blob composed of tens of thousands of individuals and institutions, which operate independently of one another. Plus: The Bulwark is The Media! We can make our corner of The Media whatever we want.
But, speaking in the broadest sense, I hope you understand what I’m talking about here: The major papers, networks, and news services that do the bulk of reporting on American politics and, to some extent, shape the public’s understanding of what is happening in the political sphere.
I will die on this hill.
I dropped my subscription to the NYT because of their predictable reporting. Just as back in 2016 when, NYT took every opportunity to undermine Hillary Clinton with one basesless email story after another, now NYT is firmly fixation on Biden’s age and, of course, excessively “even handed” in reporting on trump. Surely, the headline should have been Pence won’t endorse Trump. How could you miss that? How, unless it’s deliberate.
"Mike Pence Should Be the Biggest Story of the 2024 Campaign"
YES! I talked about this - as much as could be tolerated by my dear friends and famly - this weekend:)