Mike Pence has won praise for defending his refusal to overturn Donald Trump's election loss, but his past actions helped put democracy in such a precarious position in the first place.
The former vice president resisted pressure from Trump, Republican lawmakers and the mob that assembled at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 that called for his hanging, and Pence calmly defended that action to a skeptical Iowa voter in a widely circulated video clip on the 2024 presidential campaign trail, but Salon columnist Amanda Marcotte blamed him for the delusional fervor that infects the GOP base.
"Pence's willingness to stand firm on this point has drawn him praise in the mainstream media, especially from the legion of never-Trump Republicans who are well-represented on cable news but not much elsewhere," Marcotte wrote. "Certainly, Pence has distinguished himself from most Republican leadership, especially people like Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, who voted in favor of overturning the election even after Trump sent a bloodthirsty mob to the Capitol on January 6. Pence did hang in and make sure the election was certified that day, which showed a sense of duty lacking in most of his party."
"What all this praise fails to take into account, however, is just how much responsibility Pence bears for getting the GOP to a place where January 6 was even possible," she added.
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Marcotte details some of the hateful and hurtful lies Pence told as a talk radio host, congressman and Indiana governor about global warming, contraception and reproductive medical care, LBGTQ people, and a number of topics Republicans have used to advance their agenda.
"Even by the GOP's low standards, Pence spent his career as an especially dishonest operator," Marcotte wrote. "He even did his time as a Rush Limbaugh-knockoff in the 90s, hosting an AM talk radio show in Indiana, where he would frequently rail on about how adulterers had no right to be in political or military leadership. Of course, he would later be the vice president for the most unapologetic adulterer in America's political history."
"Pence loved every flavor of B.S. on offer by corporate lobbyists and Christian zealots," she added. "It would almost be easier to make a list of topics he didn't lie about, except for the very real threat it would be an empty set."
Conservatives have spent decades training their base that lying was justified to advance the GOP's goals, and Pence was an eager participant, Marcotte wrote -- so it's no surprise the supposedly pious Christian buddied up to a moral degenerate in Trump.
"It would be one thing if Pence had renounced his lying ways and was reckoning with how his own disinformation laid the groundwork for the Big Lie," Marcotte wrote. "But either he's too stupid or cynical — likely, a bit of both — to think about how his own contributions to the GOP culture of lying made Trump possible. Now Pence has to squirm, as Republican voters voice feelings of betrayal that Pence finally found a line he wouldn't cross."
"It's a pleasure knowing that Pence will finish his political career hated by everyone across the political spectrum," she concluded. "It's far less punishment than he deserves, of course. But when so few Republican politicians have to reap any of what they sowed, it's nice to see at least one of them brought lower by the immoral culture he cultivated."
