V26, N42 Thursday, July 22, 2021 Books recount Trump/Pence chaos 3 new books describe the weeks and hours leading up to the Jan. 6 insurrection By BRIAN A. HOWEY INDIANAPOLIS – Mike Pence’s Washing- ton career began in January 2001, highlighted by his refusal nine months into his first House term to abandon the U.S. Capitol as al-Qaeda terror pilots had just assaulted the Pentagon and Flight 93 was aimed toward the citadel of American democracy. In the Sept. 13, 2001 edition of Howey Politics, Pence described the anger he felt pumping adrenaline through his veins on Sept. 11 as F-16s crisscrossed the sky over the U.S. Capitol seeking the rogue airliner. He defied an order to evacuate and walked back to the landmark edifice just before 10 a.m. “I couldn’t walk away from the moment,” Pence thought as smoke billowed from the Pentagon. “I heard how frightened she was; I was really overcome.” had to report to duty. It was like standing on the shore of Pence’s Washington career may have come to an Pearl Harbor. I did not feel any emotion but resolute anger end a little less than 20 years later, on Jan. 6 as the vice until I heard the voice of my wife at 11 a.m. That’s when I Continued on page 3 Pence in his twilight zone By BRIAN A. HOWEY INDIANAPOLIS – As the smirking Donald Trump fi- nally gave Mike Pence his deliverance at the late, late hour of 11 a.m. July 15, 2016, tweeting that he was annointing the Indiana governor to his longshot ticket, I channeled “This just goes to show how par- Rod Serling: “This is a portrait of an exposed governor named tisan this effort was all along, that Mike Pence, who feeds off his self delusion, who finds himself Nancy Pelosi would take me and perpetually hungry for greatness Jim Jordan first off of this com- in his diet. He searches for some- thing which explains his hunger mittee, she knows we were pre- and why the world passes him by pared to fight to find the truth. without saluting. It is something he looks for and finds at a na- She doesn’t want to go down that tional convention, in his twisted and distorted lexicon he calls it path.” faith, strength and truth. But in - U.S. Rep. Jim Banks Page 2 just a moment Mike Pence will ply his job as vice president,” and he called trade on another kind of corner, at the vitriol directed at him “kind of the strange intersection we call the nutty.” Still, he said, “I don’t see him twilight zone.” overcoming the negatives.” Pence has found his political And this from Sean Walsh, twilight zone, coming to a head during a GOP strategist who worked in the Howey Politics Indiana the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection. Reagan and Bush41 White Houses: WWWHowey Media, LLC Unless you’re an ardent supporter of “He’s got to justify to the Trumpistas c/o Business Office Trump and back his efforts to under- why he isn’t Judas Iscariot, and then PO Box 6553 mine the American election process he’s got to demonstrate to a bunch and the Electoral College, you know of other Republicans why he hung Kokomo, IN, 46904 that Vice President Pence ended up out with someone they perceive to www.howeypolitics.com doing the right thing, refusing in be a nutjob.” the final days to participate in Brian A. Howey, Publisher Trump’s coup d’etat. Mark Schoeff Jr., Washington But his deal with the devil – often described as Mary Lou Howey, Editor Pence’s “Faustian bargain” – is Susan E. Howey, Editor starting to come into focus. Trump has expressed Subscriptions distinct disdain for his former sidekick, as the recent spate of HPI, HPI Daily Wire $599 books reveals. And there will be HPI Weekly, $350 even more books and documen- Lisa Hounchell, Account Manager taries about the chaotic end of (765) 452-3936 telephone the Trump presidency over the (765) 452-3973 fax year or so when more of the [email protected] same will come to the surface. Pence was heckled at a Contact HPI Family Leadership conference in [email protected] Florida last month with calls of Howey’s cell: 317.506.0883 “traitor.” And during an appear- ance at a Sioux City, Iowa GOP Washington: 202.256.5822 event last weekend, he earned Business Office: 765.452.3936 this dubious Politico headline: “Pence flatlines as 2024 field © 2021, Howey Politics takes shape.” Indiana. All rights reserved. The quotes in reporter David There are signs that Twilight Siders’ story were devastating. Zone realities are sinking into Pence Photocopying, Internet forward- “Who?” asked Doug Gross, World. Former gubernatorial chief ing, faxing or reproducing in any a former chief of staff to Iowa Gov. of staff Bill Smith has closed the DC form, whole or part, is a violation Terry Branstad when asked about office he opened in 2017 to reap the of federal law without permission Pence’s chances in 2024. financial advantages of Pence’s veep from the publisher. “It’s just, where would you orbit. place him?” Gross continued. “With Pence is plodding ahead, Trumpsters, he didn’t perform when going through the 2024 motions Jack E. Howey they really wanted him to perform, so while laying out “policy markers” for editor emeritus he’s DQ’d there. Then you go to the a national race. 1926-2019 evangelicals, they have plenty of other But as I observed in July choices.” 2016: “A spot on the ticket is not a And there was this merciless slam dunk for success for the Indiana quote from Scott County Republican governor. Vice presidential nominees vice chair Raymond Harre: “I don’t on tickets losing in a landslide often imagine he’d have a whole lot of sup- find themselves sliding into political port. There are some Trump support- oblivion. Jack Kemp, Joe Lieber- ers who think he’s the Antichrist.” man, Sarah Palin, Geraldine Ferraro, Harre said Pence “did a good and Sargent Shriver never became Page 3 presidential-level power houses. A Trump/Pence victory The next two years where the 2024 presidential certainly would place Pence into the vice presidential race will gradually be coming into focus is an eternity in realm, though Walter Mondale, Dan Quayle and Al Gore politics. Right now the 2024 presidential nomination is never reached the White House on their own.” Donald Trump’s for the taking. He has a cult-like following While Pence has moved back to Indiana, buying a with the 25-35% of the GOP who would decide the pri- Carmel mansion for $1.9 million and has a book deal with mary cycle. Trump can keep the field narrow ... unless he’s Simon & Shuster, his political options are getting scarce. indicted and convicted on tax fraud charges in New York (a Pence has turned his back on Indiana, except la Capone) or election fraud charges in Georgia or Arizona. for an occasional fundraiser. Pence’s brightest prospects appear to be to write HPI asked several Hoosier Republican insiders if his two books and hope the Trump fever subsides. He could Pence could to revive his career in Indiana, as Richard follow the Nixon playbook over the next three election Nixon did in California two years after losing the 1960 cycles, and hope that an element of redemption comes into presidential race, and the consensus isn’t promising. Could play in 2026, positioning him for 2028. Pence win a 2024 U.S. Senate race, if Mike Braun decides The potential pitfall there is whether a Ron DeSan- to run for governor? tis or another Republican rising star becomes the next big No, particularly if Trump were to endorse Gov. thing. v Holcomb or Attorney General Todd Rokita. It would take a grand clearing of the field for that to happen, and the Howey is publisher of Howey Politics Indiana. Fol- dominant Indiana GOP is teeming with ambitious fresh low him on Twitter @hwypol. faces. At 2:13 p.m. on Jan. 6, Pence’s Secret Service Trump/Pence, from page 1 detail removed the vice president from the Senate floor president presided over what had been known as “the and took him through a side door to his ceremonial office peaceful transfer of power,” or the congressional count- nearby, along with his wife, Karen, their daughter Char- ing and certification of Electoral College ballots before the lotte, and his brother, Greg, a congressman from Indiana. building was overrun by domestic insurrectionists inspired The Pences were hurried across one of the Capitol’s many by his boss, President Donald Trump. ornate marble hallways to get there, but the path proved Three books released this past week have high- eerily close to danger. One or two minutes later, maraud- lighted the final months, days and hours of the Trump ers chanting Pence’s name charged up the stairs to that presidency and have cast precise landing in front of Vice President Pence’s role the hallway, and a quick- in two ways: As a savior of thinking Capitol policeman, American democracy when Eugene Goodman, led the he refused to subvert the rioters in a different direc- will of 82 million American tion, away from the Sen- voters; or as a subservi- ate chamber. Had Pence ent enabler who passively walked past any later, the watched for nearly two intruders who called him a months as Trump sought to traitor would have spotted “overturn” the 2020 elec- him.