'Butterfly effect': Reporter reveals how a single TLP ad poisoned Trump's relationship w/Pence

[catbyte]

Brad Reed
February 08, 2021

Former President Donald Trump in the last weeks of his term completely destroyed his once-close relationship with former Vice President Mike Pence -- and Axios reporter Jonathan Swan says that a single Lincoln Project ad set everything in motion.

In his latest "How It Happened" podcast, Swan explores the "butterfly effect" that occurred when the Lincoln Project began airing ads on Fox News in the Washington D.C. market late last year that taunted Trump for the role that Pence would play in overseeing the congressional certification of President Joe Biden's victory.

"On January 6, Mike Pence will put the nail in your political coffin," the ad informed him.

According to Swan, Trump had absolutely no idea that Pence would play a ceremonial role in certifying the election results before he saw the ad, and he immediately started "bullying" the vice president until he agreed to "refuse to certify the election."

Pence, however, understood that he could not legally refuse to certify the results, but he told Trump that he would ask his general counsel to look into it in the hopes that the former president would simply forget about his demands.

snip

https://www.rawstory.com/lincoln-project-2650400347/

[exboyfil]

1. By this reasoning Gore could have done the same thing

and became President in 2001.

[RussBLib]

14. We marched on DC to protest Bush's "win"

But we did not consider, once, invading the Capitol. Of course, Gore was not out there stoking us up either.

[Mr.Bill]

22. And Biden could have done it for Hillary Clinton. n/t

[gratuitous]

2. It's so nice to have a president who doesn't have to be treated like a cranky toddler

It's so nice to have a president who isn't baited by a tweet or a political ad.

[marble falls]

3. Poor Mikey.

[TwilightZone]

4. January 6th poisoned Pence's relationship with Trump.

I think Pence clearly understood how close he was to facing the mob and the "Hang Mike Pence" chants had to be, well, shocking to him. Understandably.

When the certification was resumed that night, he was clearly infuriated and could barely contain himself. I think that more than anything put a nail in the coffin of their relationship. Of course, the bullying didn't help.

Disagree with the guy vehemently on a political level, but he acted more presidential in four hours than Trump did in four years. The world's lowest bar, of course.

[Irish_Dem]

5. Yes he was clearly furious as he resumed the certification.

Facing death has a way of focusing the mind.
At long last he actually acted like a leader.

He and his family narrowly escaped worst case scenarios.

[obamanut2012]

10. Remember, his wife, daughter, and brother were also there that day

And, as evil as Pence is, he is a family man, so he had to realize how close his family also came to rape, torture, and death.

[Pantagruel]

11. I think it was poisoned before that

as I posited;
"I believe Trump asked Pence to pardon him if he resigned and Pence refused fearing it would destroy any of his future political ambitions. Pence could have refused the largely ceremonial presiding over the certification but I think he had already decided to separate himself from the Trump toxicity, especially after he angered Trump by refusing to commit political suicide for him."

[Demsrule86]

17. Yes, you are right. I agree with Pence on nothing. But he is not the monster Trump is and if

he had acted in a cowardly way and given in to Trumps illegal demands, I doubt it would have mattered as it was clear that would not be legal. But we would have had another week or so of bedlam, and it might have affected the inauguration.

[Mr.Bill]

23. Low bar indeed.

My dogs were acting more presidential than Trump at that time.

[peggysue2]

6. That ad was specifically designed to get into Trump's head

Like an ear worm, it wriggled its way into Donald's mushy brain and turned Pence into the enemy du jour. As Swan notes, I'm certain Trump had no idea that Pence would preside over the electoral vote certification. Until viewing that ad.

As they did during the election, a number of LPs ads were focused on a viewership of One, Donald J. Trump. They pegged him for the ignorant, narcissist he's always been, then modeled the ad copy to fit the target.

Trump blew himself up in the process revealing once again how utterly unfit he was for office.

[catbyte]

12. I think the folks at TLP read "The Art of War"

[MyOwnPeace]

13. You really nailed that, peggysue!

Absolutely dead-on target!!

[mr_lebowski]

7. I think we should ALSO be impeaching Trump for all the illegal shit

he tried to get other officials to do on his behalf.

Pence is far from alone.

[Pantagruel]

8. Without concrete evidence

I believe Trump asked Pence to pardon him if he resigned and Pence refused fearing it would destroy any of his future political ambitions. Pence could have refused the largely ceremonial presiding over the certification but I think he had already decided to separate himself from the Trump toxicity, especially after he angered Trump by refusing to commit political suicide for him.

[BarackTheVote]

9. "How it Happened" has been excellent so far

If you haven’t listened to the podcast, give it a go; listening to it reminds me of reading “All The President’s Men.”

https://www.axios.com/podcasts/how-it-happened/

[GoCubsGo]

15. I'm thinking his relationship with Pence wasn't very good to begin with.

If it was, he'd have been more receptive to Pence's attempts to explain that he couldn't do things that were not in his power to do. TLP didn't poison their relationship, because it was likely already toxic at that point. But, they did a great job of exploiting Trump's stupidity and fragile ego. Pence just kind of got caught in the middle.

[Mr.Bill]

24. Trump didn't even know who Pence was

until Manifort picked him for VP.

[ShazzieB]

28. No, not a good relationship at all.

They may have had a "cordial" relationship, but it was based on Pence being an obsequious toady and acceding to Chump's every wish, which is absolutely not healthy or good. As long as Pence was willing to bow and scrape and at least appear to go along with all of the Orange One's desires, he was able to stay in Chump's good graces. But sometimes even obsequious toadies have lines they won't cross. In Pence's case that line was doing something blatantly unconstitutional and committing political suicide thereby.

Chump was probably dumbfounded when Pence suddenly declined to do his bidding after years of subservience. Dumbfounded, and then enraged when he saw that Pence was really NOT going to back down. At that point, their relationship didn't go from good to bad. It went from toxic to OVER.

[David__77]

16. These are the facts that should be revealed about the coup attempt.

What did Trump ask be done to whom and when. The Capitol incident was just one aspect of a broader coup attempt.

[Nocturnowl]

18. Butterfly?

Nah, a butterfly is a hundred times tougher than Trump!

[fwvinson]

25. Butterfly Effect

(with reference to chaos theory) the phenomenon whereby a minute localized change in a complex system can have large effects elsewhere.

[Nocturnowl]

29. Yep

I read A Sound of Thunder a few decades back.

[electric_blue68]

30. Oooooo, yeah. (shudders)

[Mr. Sparkle]

19. With these group of republicans , i can image a day where

a mike pence does not certify the election results for political expediency.

Our party should really help the gop clean up their act for the greater good.

[msfiddlestix]

20. Swan is full of it. Trump never displayed a "close relationship" with Pence

Unless one views regarding your stooge as a "close relationship"..

I don't. But your view may vary.

This looks to me, more like laying blame on The Lincoln Project for Trump turning on Pence, rather than Trump as never loyal to anyone that doesn't fall in lock step to his every whim.

[Hekate]

26. Blame? TLP is very intentional, & many of their ads were designed to get under Trump's...

....notoriously thin skin. Which this one demonstrably did. Congratulations, TLP!

[flying_wahini]

21. And Pence is STILL in his bunker, somewhere.

[malaise]

31. Donald Trump is so fucking dumb

that he has UM in the middle of his surname