During last Tuesday’s vice presidential debate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence systematically denied that his running mate, Donald Trump, had said many of the controversial statements that have plagued the GOP nominee this election cycle. Pence painted a picture of Trump that simply didn’t exist ― one without the sharp policy edges and routine disparagement of minority groups.
It was substantively deceitful. But from a stylistic perspective, it was effective. The consensus of the pundits was that Pence won the debate. Public polls showed a narrow victory too.
Three days later, that debate is virtually irrelevant after video emerged of Trump, caught on a hot mic, discussing his propensity to force himself on women, even by grabbing them by the crotch. Once more, Pence has been forced to construct an alternate reality, one in which he only just became aware of Trump’s character flaws.
“As a husband and father, I was offended by the words and actions described by Donald Trump in the eleven-year-old video released yesterday. I do not condone his remarks and cannot defend them,” Pence said in a statement. “I am grateful that he has expressed remorse and apologized to the American people. We pray for his family and look forward to the opportunity he has to show what is in his heart when he goes before the nation tomorrow night.”
As elected Republicans begin to urge Trump to depart the ticket, Pence’s name keeps being mentioned as a savior. Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H) said she would be voting for the Indiana governor. Other Republicans have asked him to replace Trump on the ballot, arguing that it gives them a chance of actually winning.
The possibility of making such a switch is somewhere between nil and terribly remote. But the notion that Pence would somehow emerge from the trash heap of the Trump candidacy intact enough to defeat Hillary Clinton is also far-fetched. After all, he, as much as anyone else, enabled Trump.
It wasn’t just by creating a fantasy version of Trump’s candidacy and selling it to the American public during that vice presidential debate. Pence praised Trump well before he was chosen to be his running mate. When it came time to endorse a candidate in the Indiana Republican primary, Pence chose Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) ― but not before delivering a lavish throat-clearing praise of the real estate mogul.
When he was put on the ticket, Pence was tasked with serving as a character witness for the presidential nominee. And he did it with vigor.
Pence said Trump was fun to watch.
He said he was happy to defend him.
The day that the hot mic video surfaced, he praised Trump’s “leadership” and “vision.”
He said Trump was a “truly remarkable man.” He called Trump “a fighter” and “a winner” with whom he was “united.” When Trump was criticized for incendiary remarks, he called him “plain-spoken.”
“I’ve gotten to know this good man,” Pence said of Trump, calling him “like no American leader in my lifetime since Ronald Reagan. He’s never forgotten the men and women who work with their hands. ... Donald Trump gets it.”
Naturally, it goes on and on.
Now, Pence could conceivably argue that this was all an elaborate act ― a servile effort for the larger good of the party. He could correctly note that he comes from a different wing of the GOP than Trump ― one based around the tenets of social conservatism and not, say, white nationalism. And he would be right in pointing out that on a variety of critical policy points, he didn’t subscribe to Trump’s worldview.
But if Trump were to depart the race ― though he said he’s not going to ― and Pence try to grab the baton, the pushback will be immense, perhaps even un-traversable. He would have to contend with his past praise along with the reams of footage of him literally standing by Trump’ side. And he would have to answer the question of why it was that hot mic moment and not, say, a Muslim ban, birtherism, the attacks on a Mexican-American judge, the questioning of a war hero’s service or the repeated degradation of women that finally was too much for him and the rest of his party. More than that, he would have to answer why he got his judgment of Trump’s character so fundamentally wrong.
Pence, in short, faces the exact same hurdles now that the Republican Party writ large is bound to face in the aftermath of the election. The stench of Trump isn’t easily rubbed away; certainly not if, for months, you willfully did your best to help him get elected.
Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularlyincitespolitical violence and is a
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