Mike Pence in purgatory

Mike Pence is on the outs.

The GOP in-crowd is caught up in a social infection: Trumpism.

Sometimes a segment of Americans will embrace a social contagion -- a fad -- where an idea or behavior becomes commonplace. Sometimes the infections come and go. Sometimes they change history forever.

The spirit of revolution that surged through Massachusetts in the 1770s changed history. So did the spirit of abolition in the North in the 1850s. Prohibition in the 1920s, McCarthyism in the 1950s, and counterculture hippies in the late 1960s were ideas that came and went, leaving traces but not dramatic change.

The story is still out on Trumpism. 

We may look back and see it as a short term phase, like McCarthyism or hippies, but it is here now. Former vice president Mike Pence is advocating a suite of ideas that Republicans over age 40 thought they believed for a lifetime. Normal, regular Republican ideas.

I watched Mike Pence at a convention of GOP activists in New Hampshire in 2023. These were mostly people my age, politically active Republicans of long standing. People who had supported Reagan, both Bush presidents, Dole, McCain, and Romney. They believed in smaller government, lower taxes, less regulation, anti-communism, free trade, and a strong military that supported European and Asian allies against Russian and Chinese expansion. They favored expressions of moral and patriotic piety. Reagan's voice quaked as he spoke of America as the indispensable nation and a beacon of freedom. Republicans condemned Bill Clinton for having touched -- but not inhaled, supposedly -- marijuana, and then for having touched -- but not have sex with, supposedly -- a White House intern. The sexual libertine! The shame!

Mike Pence is part of that line of succession of old-style Republicans. Law-abiders, not scofflaws. People who defended honor. People who could feel shame. He got a tepid response from the audience of Republicans. 

He was on Meet the Press this Sunday, saying things that Republican traditionally thought reasonable and good. He still comes across as a strait-laced Christian, married to his first wife, no less. 

He opposed Trump's tariffs because -- Trump's denials to the contrary --  they are in fact a tax on Americans:

“The initial reciprocal tariffs that he unveiled would be the largest peacetime tax hike on the American people in the history of this country. What I see in this administration is a steady drive toward a baseline of maybe even 10 percent tariffs that I think would be harmful to jobs in America. It would be harmful to consumers in America. 

He opposed Russian aggression against a neighbor:

"It's been roughly three years since Russia launched its unprovoked, brutal invasion in the Ukraine . . . I honestly think the time has come for President Trump to impose a harsh sanctions on Russia and also increase military support for Ukraine."

He opposes corrupt agreements with oil autocracies:

“Qatar has a long history of playing both sides. They support Hamas. They supported Al Qaeda. Qatar has actually financed pro-Hamas protests on American campuses across the United States. So, the very idea that we would accept an Air Force One from Qatar I think is inconsistent with our security, and with our intelligence needs. 

He opposed a violent mob that attempted to overthrow an election:

“Individuals who broke into the Capitol, who assaulted police officers, I said that day and I believe to this moment, should have been prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. . . . And the heroes on January 6 were all wearing uniforms. I mean, they held the line. They made it possible for us to secure the Capitol, reconvene the Congress, and complete our work under the Constitution the very same day. And for my part, I will always believe to have pardoned the people that assaulted police officers that day was wrong.”

I was never a hippie. I was focused on career and getting my money's worth out of an expensive education. But I felt some of the heady, transgressive vibes of anti-establishment youth culture. I certainly loved the music. 

I can understand the current Republican Party Trump vibe. They had been the pious party for two generations, but Republicans watched Democrats (the former libertines) take over the virtue-signalling brand, being all-so-good and conscientious and respectful about race, gender, duty to the marginalized, and duty to the military and foreigners. Maybe Republicans just got sick of it. Trump scoffed at John McCain, who stayed in a Hanoi prison rather than get out early, ahead of his turn. Trump said Mexican immigrants were mostly rapists, thieves, and not Mexico's best. Trump could mock disabled people. He could call Black people "low IQ." Trump was liberated from tiresome piety.

As I moved into adulthood I decided that the hippie thing was a pathway to poverty. I went from not being part of hippie culture to thinking it stupid. I resented the fact that they didn't vote. I wanted them to get serious. (I still like the music, though.)

I appreciate Mike Pence. He got off the Trump train. In 10 years Mike Pence might look like the guy who was right all along. He is keeping the faith within a party that has lost it.

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