The assault on the U.S. Capitol enshrined the rift between Donald Trump and his loyal Vice President Mike Pence, who plans to attend the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden and seeks to facilitate the transition between the two administrations.
Trump announced that he will not go to the inauguration ceremony of whoever defeated him in the election, but Pence has already announced that he will be present.
While the outgoing vice president’s attendance isn’t a surprise – and Biden said he’ll be “welcome” – it’s a sign of the crack separating Trump from his right arm since Wednesday’s certification of the election victory. Democrat.
Trump and Pence have not spoken, according to press reports, since that day when a mob of sympathizers of the president broke into Congress in an action that left five dead and shocked the United States and the world.
‘Hang Mike Pence
“One of the most loyal to Donald Trump is now the number one public enemy in the president’s universe,” Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger told ABC on Sunday.
Despite pressure from Trump, Pence announced Wednesday that he would not oppose validating in Congress the results of the presidential election, unleashing the fury of the president and his supporters.
“Mike Pence did not have the courage to do what he should have done to protect our country and our Constitution,” Trump tweeted as his supporters invaded the Capitol.
Videos posted on social media show several of them singing “Hang Mike Pence” at the Capitol doors. Other militants roamed the corridors of the Temple of American Democracy shouting that the vice president was a “coward,” according to The New York Times.
During this chaos, the vice president was entrenched in a Capitol bunker with his family. Trump did not call him to take an interest in his safety, according to NBC.
faithful support
Impassive and discreet, Pence is considered one of Donald Trump’s most loyal supporters.
He has not yet responded to the orders of many parliamentarians who have urged him to activate the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, which allows for the removal of a president deemed “unfit” to perform his duties.
Before attacking him, supporters of the Republican president used to praise his loyalty, while his critics denounced his flatteries to the president.
“He’s rock solid. He was a fantastic vice president,” Donald Trump said of him last summer.
Pence, 61, was for four years a quiet presence amid the Trump storm.
Appointed to the front of the coronavirus crisis unit in March, he addressed the issue throughout the year with measured statements, far from the president’s tone-outs, assumptions and provocations. Although always careful not to contradict it.
Mike Pence and Donald Trump were not particularly close before he was appointed as a running mate in 2016.
Trump would have even thought about changing electoral partners, but preferred to finally bet on Pence’s close ties to white, mostly elderly Christian voters, who ended up playing a key role in the duo’s 2016 victory.