Why Pence Can't Talk?

[kentuck]

Simply put, it was because he knew of their plans, their conspiracy, and said nothing. He failed the test, right up to the moment that he certified the election for Joseph R. Biden.

In the end, he knew it was wrong. He could not break tradition, law, or the Constitution by agreeing to such a plot.

Trump is afraid that Pence will talk. Today, it was reported from Jonathan Karl's book that he said he liked him. He liked his family. (It was somewhat a contrast from January 6th, when Trump was hoping for him to be hanged on the Capitol grounds.)

Pence could tell the Committee a lot about what was going on behind the scenes? Did they conspire to overthrow an election or did January 6th just happen spontaneously?

He could go down in history for simply telling the truth.

[vlyons]

1. Quote from Thomas Paine's "The Age of Reason"

" , , , it is necessary to the happiness of man, that he be mentally faithful to him-self. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what he does not believe. It is impossible to calculate the moral mischief, if I may so express it, that mental lying has produced in society. When a man has so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind, as to subscribe his professional belief to things he does not believe, he has prepared himself for
the commission of every other crime."

[panader0]

27. Great quote by Thomas Paine.

[Celerity]

29. Paine had 'Christianity' sussed out in 'The Age of Reason' as well

https://www.ushistory.org/paine/reason/reason2.htm



also:

On March 8, 1775, one month after Paine became the editor of The Pennsylvania Magazine, the magazine published an anonymous article titled "African Slavery in America," the first prominent piece in the colonies proposing the emancipation of African-American slaves and the abolition of slavery.

[vlyons]

30. The Christian Church was a Roman invention formally established ib 325 AD,

when Constantine the Great convened the 1st Council of Nicia. They were supposed to answer 3 main questions.
1. When to celebrate Easter. They based it on Jewish passover. The 1st Sunday, after the 1st full moon, after the 21st of March.

2. What was the nature of Jesus? Was he a god, a prophet, a son of god? How could he be divine if there was only 1 god? So they came up the Trinity, 3 in 1, Father, son, and holy ghost. How's that for some clever sophistry?

3. What should be canon, or church law? They basically adopted a lot of Roman pagan law. And they made the Bishop of Rome to be the Pontiff Maximus, which was an old Roman pagan office of high priest. "Pontiff" is a word derived from the Latin "pons," which means bridge. Once a year the pagan Pontiff Maximus went to a bridge over the river Po and sacrificed to the gods to protect the city of Rome.

When the Trinity became Church dogma, anyone who didn't sign on was labeled a heretic and run out of town or murdered. The gnostics were exhiled or went incognito.

[CentralMass]

2. Well that's not going to happen.

[Hav]

3. He knew it was wrong

and he was still trying to find a way to go along with it if it had been possible because he's a coward who was afraid to stand up against Trump. It was Dan Quayle who needed to assure him that what Trump wanted wasn't possible.

I think that's one reason why we don't hear much from Pence.

[DonCoquixote]

25. when Dan quayle is your conscience

You have let yourself go to rot, Mike.

[Hoyt]

4. If Pence knew trump's rubes were going to kill him, think he would have said something.

[gordianot]

5. Pence knew his life was in danger from the start.

I think he also knows if he talks the threat increases. As it is now he will spend the rest of his life watching his back.

[Hoyt]

8. Can't say it's not possible, but don't think so unless some Kyle Rittenhouse kills him.

[gordianot]

16. There are a few of them.

I know a couple potential candidates within a mile from my front door.

[Irish_Dem]

32. I agree with this. Pence knew from the start he was in danger.

So much so he was looking for a way to do what Trump wanted, but in the end, he realized he couldn't do it.
He cannot talk now, if he does so it is at great personal risk to him.

[FakeNoose]

6. Pence could have invoked the 25th Amendment at any time during Chump's term

... BUT HE DIDN'T!

That makes him pretty much a total loss. When Chump goes down, Pence goes too.
Maybe his prison sentence should be a little shorter, but not by much.

[TwilightZone]

39. Not alone, he couldn't.

He certainly wasn't going to get Trump's hand-picked lackeys to agree, and Pence didn't have power to invoke it alone.

[lastlib]

7. tfg likes him, his family? Makes sense.

"Nice family you got there, Mikey. Be a shame if somethin' was to happen to it...."

[2naSalit]

9. Wren't he and "mother"....

Couch surfing for a while? I thought I read somewhere that they didn't have a home and were kind of hiding for their safety to avoid mad J6ers.

[Captain Zero]

18. They came back to Indiana and stayed in a

Vacation lake home somewhere in the state owned by the Governor, Eric Holcomb.

I'm guessing Lake Wawasee.

My guess is state police were protecting along with whatever Secret Service came along.

[kentuck]

28. Exactly!

I think he is fearful for the lives of himself and his family.

He should be given extended Secret Service protection and guaranteed immunity if he testifies?

He could validate whether or not it was a conspiracy.

It would be devastating.

[Irish_Dem]

33. Right, if anything happens to Pence, it is not personal, just business.

[Grasswire2]

10. That's what I said about many people who fell into Trump's orbit.

There's opportunity to be a hero. To redeem oneself by telling the truth to the American people.

Lindsay Graham could have done that. Flipped on Trump.

It's not too late.

[calimary]

12. I'm not holding my breath ...

[ShazzieB]

11. I don't think Pence wants to talk if he can help it.

Like most of the Republicans in Washington (and a lot of other places oin this country), he's scared to death of Trump.

He still has political ambitions, and if he does anything to antagonize Trump (more than he already did on 1/6), he knows Trump will trash him and turn the MAGA crowd against him. He really does NOT want that to happen.

It would be interesting to see how he'd react to a subpoena. As much as he doesn't want to talk about Trump, I don't think he would be comfortable defying a subpoena, either from Congress or a court of law. He proved on 1/6 that (unlike Bannon and certain other people), he's not totally oblivious to the existence of a thing called law that we are all expected to obey. So I hope he does get subpoenaed and we all get to see his response.

[global1]

13. Do You Think The Committee Will Subpoena Pence?...

Is he one of them that they'd wait till they've talked to all the others?

[canetoad]

24. I think they have to

The committee investigation will be incomplete without talking to Pence. He would make a good final witness.

[ShazzieB]

41. I think they'd wait, yes.

I can't imagine them not wanting to talk to him eventually. But they'll have a lot more stuff to ask him about after they've heard from some of the others.

[OnDoutside]

14. You have to imagine that he will get called to testify, and I suspect

that he will, maybe reluctantly, but he has less to fear than the others.

[Progressive Jones]

20. Scared of Trump, or scared of Trump's violent trash base? nt

[NYC Liberal]

21. Probably the MAGAs, but it's Trump who would rile them up.

[monkeyman1]

15. not going to happen ! their all scared of their own shadowy past now !

TFG is finished ! over 700 insurrection idiot 's that now have felony record's !

[dchill]

17. Perhaps he only wants to go down in history....

...for having a fly on his head.

[whathehell]

19. Just one thing..

I don't know that it's accurate to say Trump was actually "hoping" that Pence would be hanged on January 6, his later "understanding" attitude toward the rioters calling for it aside.

[Irish_Dem]

34. Trump recently said that killing Pence was only "common sense."

[whathehell]

35. I think he said

that the anger of the rioters was only "common sense".

[Irish_Dem]

37. The angry rioters were trying to find Pence to kill him.

So I took it to mean he was defending their feelings and behavior.

[whathehell]

40. That's what they said, but

I wonder, actually, if that wasn't more for " show". I did, in any case, take Trump's statement to mean he was defending their feelings...This isn't to say, of course, that the entire event wasn't hideous and disgraceful.

[Maraya1969]

22. Why haven't they subpoenaed him? I would pay money to watch him testify.

[Poiuyt]

36. That's what I was wondering

He may not know everything about the coup attempt, but he could sure reveal a lot.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

23. Republicans have a mortal fear of blowback from criticizing other Republicans.

That seems to be like law to them, sort of enshrined in their secretive Rethug Bible.

Reagan was the first to dare speak of it in public, otherwise known as the 11th Commandment: Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican.

History

While popularized by Reagan, "The Eleventh Commandment" was created by California Republican Party Chairman Gaylord Parkinson. In his 1990 autobiography An American Life, Reagan attributed the rule to Parkinson, explained its origin, and claimed to have followed it:

The personal attacks against me during the primary finally became so heavy that the state Republican chairman, Gaylord Parkinson, postulated what he called the Eleventh Commandment: Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican. It's a rule I followed during that campaign and have ever since.

The goal was to prevent a repetition of the liberal Republican assault on Barry Goldwater, attacks which contributed to Goldwater's defeat in the 1964 presidential election. East Coast Republicans like Nelson Rockefeller labeled Goldwater an "extremist" for his conservative positions and declared him unfit to hold office. Fellow Republican candidate for Governor George Christopher and California's liberal Republicans were leveling similar attacks on Reagan. Hoping to prevent a split in the Republican Party, Parkinson used the phrase as common ground. Party liberals eventually followed Parkinson's advice.

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eleventh_Commandment_(Ronald_Reagan)

I often get the impression that many of them take that as seriously as the Biblical commandment against murder! From a practical view, they know the Republican cult machine will grind their lives into dust if they dare break the rules.

KY

[Mike Nelson]

26. Also...

... he needs the Tea Party turned Trumpster voters. They can't win a Republican Primary without them.

[harumph]

31. Mike "Bare Fucking Minimum" Pence.

[oasis]

38. "Jellyfish Mike" needs to fade into obscurity.

[Blue Owl]

42. He's a potted plant, dammit!