Trump is ‘stepping up’ all efforts to kill the political career of Mike Pence

Former President Donald Trump’s efforts to publicly hurt the electoral chances of his once-vice president, Mike Pence, were analyzed by CNN political analyst David Chalian on Wednesday.

“Listen, we know there is no love lost here this year since January 6th between Donald Trump and Mike Pence,” said Chalian. “And Trump has been out there sort of questioning, still smarting over the fact that Pence didn’t go through with his attempted coup plan that Trump had devised for him, that Pence followed the constitutional order, probably, in terms of counting the electoral votes. What I find amazing about this is that now Donald Trump is stepping up this game. He’s trying to ensure Mike Pence doesn’t have a political future in the Republican Party. He is, by saying he’s ‘mortally wounded.”

“By the way, Trump’s analysis, it could be right,” added Chalian. “There are few people who sort of understand where the base of the Republican Party is, then Donald Trump. So his analysis may be right that this may be too tough a bridge for Mike Pence to cross, with the modern-day Trump Republican base in a potential 2024 Republican primary. But Donald Trump’s point here is to make sure he muddies up Pence as much as possible, should Pence move forward with what many people expect to be a bid for the presidency.”

Donald Trump’s efforts to sabotage the 2020 presidential election are well-known to Mike Pence.

When Vice President Mike Pence refused to block the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the election, Trump allegedly called him a “p***sy” and threatened to cut ties with him.

“I hope Mike is going to do the right thing,” Trump said later at a rally before the January 6 insurgency. I’d like to think so. “I’d like to think so.”

And, “All Vice President Pence has to do is send it back to the states to recertify and we become president and you are the happiest people,” and “Mike Pence is going to have to come through for us, and if he doesn’t, that will be a, a sad day for our country because you’re sworn to uphold our Constitution,” he said.

He droned on, “Mike Pence, I hope you’re going to stand up for the good of our Constitution and for the good of our country. And if you’re not, I’m going to be very disappointed in you. I will tell you right now. I’m not hearing good stories.”

When Pence refused to do anything other than certifying Biden’s victory, a crowd of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, yelling “hang Mike Pence!” and requiring the V.P. to be evacuated to a secure area owing to very serious threats on his life.

Despite Trump’s insistence that Pence deserved to die, Pence has been surprisingly forgiving of his former boss’s incitement of a mob that screamed for his death, saying only that he doesn’t believe the two would ever see “eye to eye” on the events of that day.

The former Vice President is unlikely to tell what he knows about the events leading up to, during, and following January 6, 2021, if he is pressed by the committee investigating the matter. Those closest to him, on the other hand, seem unconcerned about doing so.

“A big breakthrough that will give investigators insight from one of the highest-ranking Trump officials,” according to three people familiar with the issue, is the cooperation of Marc Short, Pence’s former top of staff.