Both former Vice President Mike Pence and former President Donald Trump were back in Washington D.C. recently. I prompted some to draw a comparison between the two men.
A former member of their White House administration threw some pretty heavy shade on the former vice president. He wasn’t having what he thought was Pence’s “attempt” at looking like a viable presidential nominee, especially not a real competitor against Donald Trump in 2024.
Miles Taylor was the chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security. While speaking to CNN, Taylor said: “If you want to know what the Mike Pence vice-presidency was like, Mike Pence is a guy with an erect posture and flaccid conscience. He stood up tall but he did not stand up to Donald Trump.”
While Taylor was working for the Trump administration, he wrote a secret column for The New York Times under the name “Anonymous.” He followed that with a book called, “A Warning.” It was an insider’s account of the dysfunction within the Trump White House.
Julian Borger, the world affairs editor for the “Guardian,” reviewed the book. He wrote, “It fails to answer the question that hangs over almost every page: why heed the counsel, however urgent, of someone who is not prepared to reveal who they are?”
Well, Taylor has come out from hiding and identified himself as a conservative opponent of Trump. That position has put him on some national think tanks including Business for America and Renew America Movement.
Pence and Trump Return to D.C. at the Same Time
While Pence was in Washington D.C., he spoke to the Young America Foundation. Trump was there to speak to the America First Policy Institute. Pence took the opportunity to announce his new memoir, “So Help Me God.” It will be published in November.
Pence noted that the book will talk about the “severing” of his relationship with the former president. He did this because of Trump’s demand that he refused to certify the electoral college results in key states in the 2020 election between Trump and Biden.
Pence was clearly told by White House advisers that he did not have the authority to make that move, so he did not do it.
Some of those who attacked the Capitol was there because they said Trump told the crowd that the vice president “didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done.” Angry over this, some of the rioters came chanting: “Hang Mike Pence.” They even erected gallows outside of the Capitol.
In the public hearings in the House, the January 6 committee promoted Trump’s election subversion and hailed Pence as a brave and noble leader who was willing to defy the president. The committee also received testimony that suggested Trump approved of the chants calling for Pence to be hanged.
But that committee doesn’t seem to be swaying many people away from supporting Trump.
As the GOP field emerges for 2024, Trump keeps suggesting that he will announce a comeback very soon. He may do this to combat criminal charges that are looming. And Pence has to figure out how to corral members of a Party still loyal to Trump.
While in Washington, Pence said, “Some people may choose to focus on the past. But elections are about the future. And I believe conservatives must focus on the future to win back America. We can’t afford to take our eyes off the road in front of us. I truly believe elections are about the future. That is absolutely essential … that we don’t give way to the temptation to look back.”
After the speech by Pence, Taylor told CNN that the former vice president “stood up tall in that speech but he still – after people trying to assassinate him – could not stand up to Donald Trump…That tells you everything you need to know about Mike Pence.”
