Some Sunday Show BS With Mike Pence (And Also Some Paul Ryan Too!)

Former vice president Mike Pence has been trying really hard to rewrite Trump presidency. But Pence struggles to balance two things: his supplication to Donald Trump and his weaselly attempts to spin his one moment of goodness and decency on January 6 into a good reason he should be a presidential candidate. He has neither the intelligence or charm to pull off.

But goddamn it if he’s not gonna waste our time trying anyway. Pence was given nearly an hour on both NBC’s “Meet The Press” and CBS’s “Face The Nation” on Sunday.

We’ll focus mainly on his NBC News appearance with Chuck Todd.

Faced with Chuck Todd, any shrewd or charismatic politician could have gained a real advantage. Pence instead made Todd look like a semi-decent journalist.

When Todd asked Pence if he believes Trump committed crimes on January 6, Pence minimized Trump’s actions and tried to dismiss them.

PENCE: I don’t know if it is criminal to listen to bad advice from lawyers.

It is a crime if the advice is to break the law.

Todd asked Pence if he saw Trump as unfit to serve as president again, after citing several former Trump administration officials saying so. The coward Pence tried to not answer whether the man who incited people to literally murder him was fit to serve.

PENCE: I really do believe that’s a decision for the American people. And President Trump has now announced his intention to seek reelection —

Pence later tried to say that Trump respected the law and institutions, a statement so absurd even Chuck Todd had to push back.

PENCE: I never had reason to believe that he didn’t respect the men and women who serve in law enforcement at every level […] They saw in our administration a reflexive willingness to support law enforcement, to seek the facts, to find justice, make sure justice was served. But in all the time that I served in the Trump/Pence administration, I think it was very clear our administration stood with the men and women on the thin blue line, whether they were federal law enforcement or the rank-and-file serving on the streets of our cities. […]

TODD: Okay, but you did just hit the FBI pretty hard yourself in some accusations you made about politicization. You know, how do you square the two?

PENCE: Well, I think the men and women that serve in the FBI, the rank-and-file, are some of the best people in the United States.

Gotta love how Pence keeps referring to it as the “Trump/Pence administration.” Very subtle. Pence then went on to show how much he “backs the blue” by attacking the FBI’s raid of Mar-a-Lago.

Pence also tried to blame the Biden administration for all the COVID deaths in 2020, despite who was running the COVID task force when the pandemic actually started.

The interview ended with Todd pressing Pence on his extremist anti-abortion views:

TODD: Do you think the unborn have constitutional rights?

PENCE: I believe in –

TODD: They don’t in our law right now, but do you believe they should?

PENCE: I believe in the right to life. And I believe –

TODD: Do you believe that an unborn fetus has a constitutional right?

PENCE: Look, we are protected in this country from being denied life or liberty without due process of law. And I believe those protections should extend to the born and the unborn.

Can’t wait to see an amicus brief filed by a zygote.

Over on ABC’s “This Week”, former Speaker Paul Ryan, another relic of the Republican establishment that genuflected to Trump for temporary gain, made an appearance. Ryan has an opinion on exactly why the GOP blew the 2022 midterms.

And while Ryan might be right about this, he also thinks this time GOP base primary voters will choose someone besides Trump as the 2024 presidential nominee. We think that may be overly optimistic.

Good luck with that!

Have a great Thanksgiving week.

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