Thank Mike Pence

He stood up against Trump and his mob

On January 6, 2021, Donald Trump sat alone in a small White House dining room, watching TV coverage of the mob he had incited attacking the Capitol. An aide rushed in to inform him that Vice President Mike Pence, who was presiding over the certification of Trump’s 2020 election loss, had been rushed to safety by the Secret Service.

Having demonized Pence and directed his followers to march on Capitol Hill, Trump’s response was, “So what?”

After years of Trump’s bombast, his behavior no longer shocks us as it once did. Yet, there are still moments when his depravity has the power to startle. His callous response to Pence running for his life is one of those moments. “So what?” he said. Can’t you imagine him yawning?

This chilling anecdote appears in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s federal court filing in his conspiracy case against the former president. Pence plays a significant role in Smith’s narrative of the deadly January 6 attack and the events leading up to it. Smith’s evidence includes numerous witnesses and contemporaneous notes that Pence wrote as Trump pressured him to use his ceremonial role in the certification process to declare Trump the winner and send the matter back to the states.

According to Pence’s notes, Trump even used a Merry Christmas phone call to pressure him, despite being repeatedly told that his claims of fraud were baseless. Pence reportedly replied, “You know I don’t think I have the authority to change the outcome.”

On New Year’s Day, Trump, ever the salesman, pressed Pence again. When Pence reiterated that he lacked the authority to do what Trump wanted, Trump warned, “Hundreds of thousands of people are gonna hate your guts.” He added, “People are gonna think you’re stupid.” Finally, an exasperated Trump declared, “You’re too honest.”

Many others in Trump’s orbit had told him his claims of election fraud were groundless, and that Pence couldn’t legally do what was being asked. Trump dismissed their concerns, saying, “The details don’t matter.” On Air Force One, he said, “It doesn’t matter if you won or lost the election. You still have to fight like hell.” At another point, he made the absurd claim that he had “won every state.”

Smith’s filing repeatedly reveals the man we all know Trump to be: fully aware that his claims were false, yet relentlessly increasing the pressure. By the time he summoned his followers to the January 6 rally, Trump had abandoned his duty to the country, determined to block the certification of the election by any means necessary. This included stirring his supporters into a frenzy of anti-Pence sentiment. The result? Rioters at the Capitol shouting, “Where’s Mike Pence?” and “Hang Mike Pence!”

While Pence may be criticized for his silence before January 6, Smith’s record portrays him as a man who was ultimately too honest to defy the Constitution and plunge the country into chaos, despite Trump’s relentless bullying. Meanwhile, Trump’s ruthless drive for power appears even more despicable than ever.

Smith’s brief argues that as Trump conspired to defraud the nation, he acted as a private citizen—specifically, as a political candidate—and therefore his actions fall outside the legal protections for a president’s official acts. After reading the brief, I find it a compelling, if not bulletproof, argument for proceeding with the fraud case. It also paints a picture of a mild-mannered vice president who bravely stood firm against the storm as he defied a raging Trump.

Thank Mike Pence.