Jan 6: A Pivotal Moment?

By Don Varyu

June 16, 2022

Take a close look at the picture above. It was taken in the midst of the Jan. 6 terrorist attack on the Capitol. Vice President Mike Pence has been rushed from his office down a back staircase to this loading dock under the building. Witnesses testified that the mob came within 40 feet of Pence before he escaped. Outside, the frothing crowd was screaming, “Hang Mike Pence!” On the Mall, gallows had already been erected.  
 

In the photo, Pence stands holding a phone in one hand checking the screen, and another at his ear. Although it’s impossible to specifically verify, some said this was the moment that Pence discovered that Donald Trump had not yet called off the mob…not said anything in defense of his embattled Vice President.

The only person shown with Pence here is a young woman, apparently a staffer. But she has no phone; no pad of paper; no apparent reason to be that close. The reason is simple. She’s no staffer; she’s his 28-year-old daughter, Charlotte. She, too, was nearly trapped by the mob. The look on her face seems to communicate something between, “Dad…I’m concerned,” ….and, “Daddy—I’m scared!” Either response is entirely valid.

But in this moment, I’m guessing some sort of epiphany was running through her dad’s mind. For more than four years, through all of the acts of aggression and ridicule and illegality that Trump committed, Pence publicly stood by him. Pence knew the drill. Before politics, he worked as a right with radio talk show host. You stick to the talking points. Thus, for years he may have bitten his lip and swallowed bile…but that’s a VP’s job.

However, in this instant, maybe something became all too clear: Trump loyalty goes only one way. Trump was willing to risk Pence’s death—and even that of his daughter—if it meant he stayed in power.

This photo is frightening and poignant in its own right. But there is a wider political aspect, as well. Whispers have begun among leading GOP mavens that maybe the party would be better off in 2024 if Trump did not run. Maybe the best thing would be for the Committee and the Justice Department to sideline Trump. Republicans could run without having to defend him. Some might step up to make this happen. Yes, that would take courage. And yes, it would pose risk. But maybe the biggest threat would be an even more humiliating defeat for Trump—and the entire party. What would there be left then?

This can be quietly debated behind closed GOP doors…and maybe leaked a little to the media. But the honest part—the one they may never want to speak out loud—is this: if the monster returns to power, after shown willingness to literally sacrifice his own VP, who could ever hope to be safe?

In the moment when that photo was snapped…maybe things started to change.
 

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