The lines at the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse.

The Trump hush money trial has become a public grovelling pit for Republicans wishing to be Trump's running mate. These people have lost any remaining dignity they might have still had.

VP wannabees: Be careful what you ask for.

Discarded Tintype

The missing man.

May 16, 2024

At the Republican National Committee's spring donor retreat held at his Florida golf resort last week, Donald Trump mingled with a long list of potential running mates. Included were such reliable Trump toadies as senators Marco Rubio of Florida, J.D. Vance of Ohio and Tim Scott of South Carolina. Also in attendance were North Dakota governor Doug Burgum, South Dakota governor and puppy killer Kristi Noem, as well as New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik.

But little notice has been given to the fact that absent from this parade of flatterers and flunkies was Trump's former vice president, Mike Pence (pictured above leaving the MAGA formation). It's standard practice, of course, for presidents who are running for reelection to keep their vice presidents on the ticket. So why isn't Trump?

The answer to that is fairly straightforward: Pence refused to join in Trump's illegal fake electors plot to overturn the 2020 election and return him to office. It seems that when Trump incited thousands of armed rioters — some chanting "Hang Mike Pence!" — to attack the US Capitol in January 2021, that was the last straw. From then on, the once faithful veep was a committed never-Trumper. Said Pence later, "President Trump asked me to put him over the Constitution. But I chose the Constitution, and I always will."

Naturally, Trump never called Pence on or after January 6 to see if he was all right. And never apologized for putting his dependably loyal #2 in danger. Instead, Trump's response was about what you'd expect from a weak, petty individual who never forgets or forgives a slight. Last August, he wrote on his failing social media site:

WOW, it’s finally happened! Liddle’ Mike Pence, a man who was about to be ousted as Governor Indiana until I came along and made him V.P., has gone to the Dark Side. I never told a newly embolded…Pence to put me above the Constitution…He’s delusional, and now he wants to show he’s a tough guy.

Last year, Pence entered the presidential race himself, calling for a rejection of Trump's "siren song of populism" and for a return to the solid conservative policies of "limited government, free enterprise, fiscal responsibility and traditional moral values." But his words fell on deaf ears with a party mired in MAGA madness. He dropped out in October 2023.

And so it is that, with former VP Pence omitted from the Mar-a-Lago auditions, Trump's squadron of those who could serve as his campaign wingman has a noticeable vacancy.

Fake noose.

I understand people being disappointed and furious with Biden because I am too, but he is not the same as Donald Trump.

He did not start an insurrection against the capital-

Like you need to vote Democrat I know they’re terrible but Trumps supporters literally tried to hang the former vice president of the United States and republicans are still defending them. If all that can happens to politicians and again the actual vice president what do you think they’re going to do to minorities, trans people, poor people, people with less power?

Yall they tried to hang the VP-

We need to get democrats to do something about all of the issues we care about but letting republicans get into power isn't going to help that. And even if we form a better party, y'all won't have a democracy anymore if Trump gets back in. It is much easier to fix a broken democracy then it is a dictatorship.

Rioters Chanted 'Hang Mike Pence' During Capitol Attack

All of This is So Goofy

Fellow friend of the pod :)

Ahhh hi!!

Up until the moment of its collapse, the cult of Reagan appeared as strong as ever. In the Bush administration, the son of Reagan’s vice president let Dick Cheney, one of Reagan’s earliest supporters in 1980, and other Reagan alumni steer the country. At the same time, then-congressman Mike Pence even co-sponsored a bill to boot Franklin D. Roosevelt off the dime in favor of Reagan. It became tradition for GOP presidential contenders to hoof it to the Reagan presidential library in California for a debate beneath Reagan’s glistening Air Force One jumbo jet. Two decades later, Cheney is persona non grata in the GOP, exiled for the cardinal sin of criticizing Donald Trump. Also gone is Cheney’s daughter Liz, primaried out of Congress in 2022 by furious Trump-aligned voters. Pence had to flee the Senate floor as a mob of MAGA zealots threatened to hang him. None of those Jan. 6 rioters cared that Pence had been a good steward of Reagan Republicanism during his long political career. They only knew that he had betrayed Trump, and that alone merited execution on the Capitol steps.

Wednesday’s Republican primary debate might as well be a funeral

Some of the Halloween costumes for sale at Walmart, this afternoon.

Remember they wanting to hang Mike Pence-your not taking it out of context