(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Oh Poor Mike Pence. He Is Getting No Love From Politico. What's A Trump Sycophant To Do? [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-05 I have some signs of what I call “the canary in the coal mine” when it comes to political coverage from the establishment. And it looks like Mike Pence has a dead bird on his hands when it comes to Politico. There are two articles on Politico about Pence. The first is a pissing contest between his “campaign” and Nikki Haley’s. And the other is a character analysis of Pence that concludes he is Trump’s sycophantic gopher, and that is a nice interpretation of what is written. Let’s start with the campaign pissing contest between Pence and Haley: Mike Pence might harbor deep-seated resentment toward Donald Trump for his handling of Jan. 6. But it’s Nikki Haley who really gets under the Pence camp’s skin. Inside Pence’s orbit, staffers have begun privately complaining about a presidential contender who, like Pence, is polling in single digits — distressed that Haley is drawing what they view as more favorable media coverage than the former vice president receives. In recent weeks, they fumed about coverage that painted her as a fiscal conservative at a donor retreat in Florida and didn’t fully capture what they described as her tepid reception at CPAC, where Pence previously drew headlines for getting booed. The animosity hasn’t quite reached the level of hostilities between Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar in the 2020 Democratic primary, and Pence staffers appear to spend more time thinking about Haley than vice versa. But the tension surfacing between them has all the makings of the first, real undercard feud of 2024. “It’s like giving a shit about who wins the NIT tournament,” said Jeff Timmer, former executive director of the Michigan Republican Party and senior adviser to the Lincoln Project. “Everybody is watching the NCAA Tournament. To use a boxing metaphor, it’s like an undercard race that no one is even paying attention to. They’re all watching the heavyweight matchup between Trump and DeSantis.” Emphasis is mine. Both are Trump defenders. The only difference between them and Trump is that both Haley and Pence have shitty policies of either raising the age for Social Security or outright budget cuts. Trump has the sense to lie to his voters on this score. And it sure looks like Republican voters are aware that both are not worth spending any attention on. Both are in single digits among Republican voters. And as Politico points out, both are waiting to move up when DeSantis is knocked out by Trump. In the meantime, Pence is upset that Haley has gotten more attention. And I know what you are thinking. What attention is Haley getting?? Exactly my point. But the next day, Jack Shafer wrote this lovely piece about Pence: What’s the Matter With Mike Pence? Even after Jan. 6, he still can’t stand up to Trump. I had to chuckle when I read that headline. This is much better than those interviews Pence has given lately. In those, the reporters are so objective that none demonstrates the natural human reaction of asking Pence the obvious question, “What the fuck is wrong with you!? Trump tried to get you killed, and you won’t say anything bad about him?” Nobody — not Jared, not Ivanka and certainly not Melania — punched the Trump administration time clock more dutifully than former Vice President Mike Pence. Serving in a mostly ceremonial role, he would stand stiffly at Trump’s side as if paralyzed by a hefty dose of succinylcholine and listen unblinkingly as the president spoke. He never broke character during the entire Trump presidency, presumably mopping the White House floors when asked, casting tie-breaking votes in the Senate when needed, bundling up and taking out the trash, promoting the Trump agenda overseas and chasing dust bunnies as ordered. Even after Joe Biden won the presidency and Trump lied about the election being stolen, Pence remained mute and subservient, correcting Trump neither in public nor private. Not until January 2021, when Trump told Pence to overturn the election results, did the doughboy show some spine by saying no. But Trump didn’t take no for an answer, continuing to pressure Pence publicly to send the election back to the states — a power even some Trump advisers said Pence did not have. On Jan. 6, 2021, as we know, Capitol Hill rioters picked up on Trump’s ire for Pence, erecting a crude gallows outside the Capitol and chanting “Hang Mike Pence!“ and “Bring out Pence!” as they prowled through the building. The thugs got within 100 feet of the vice president. In a now-deleted 2:24 p.m. tweet, posted just as security found a secure location for Pence, Trump further stirred up the crowd by accusing Pence of not having “the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution.” Now, Trump’s valet wants to be president. Pence hasn’t announced his candidacy yet — that would be too assertive, too direct, too scrutable. Instead, he’s tracking the presidential campaign scent with visits to Iowa and New Hampshire, and his staff is complaining about the good press Nikki Haley’s campaign is getting. If he really covets more press, let’s give it to him. Mental image of a soulless man at this point. Robots have more character than Pence. And it doesn’t get any better either with Shafer. He runs through the litany of attacks by Trump on Pence since Jan 6th. And what does Pence do? So how has he answered Trump? With the grandest turn-the-other cheek mewling you have ever heard. In June 2021, Pence called Jan. 6 a “dark day,” but didn’t elaborate beyond saying the riot was quelled. Speaking on Fox News in October 2021, Pence called continuing media coverage of Jan. 6 a way to “distract from the Biden administration’s failed agenda.” In May 2022, Pence acknowledged that Trump was “wrong” for saying he could block ratification of the election but was mute on Trump endangering him. By November 2022, he was ready to call Trump “reckless” and to say he was “angry” after the riot, but is silent about who he was angry with. And that is just the start of Pence’s debasement. When given the chance in interviews to take on Trump, Pence deflects or states some BS about not wanting to do that on camera. And that brings us to the point of this article. If Pence is not willing to distinguish himself from Trump, why is he running for president? Oh yes, he has not announced yet, but he is making all the moves for running. And if you are running as not Trump, you have to show those differences and criticize Trump, which he absolutely refuses to do. The same can be said of all the other Trump policy loving Republicans who are running or plan to run, but last time I check, Trump didn’t try to kill Nikki Haley or Asa Hutchinson. He did try to kill Pence, and Pence won’t even acknowledge that Trump was at fault. Why should anyone want to support Pence for president? If Politico is noticing the cipher that is Mike Pence, you can bet this is a portrait that is hardening amoung the media. And that is truly a death sentence for the overly ambitious Mike Pence. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/story/2023/4/5/2162130/-Oh-Poor-Mike-Pence-He-Is-Getting-No-Love-From-Politico-What-s-A-Trump-Sycophant-To-Do Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/