There were people at the Capitol that were trying to kill him. Not metaphorically or in the abstract. They were there to kill him. They brought guns, they stormed the Capitol and they got very close to Pence. But Pence understood his ceremonial role and certified the election. Trump now hates him. The people that were trying to kill him are still trying to kill him. Trump hasn't spoke n to Pence since this happened. Why would he? Now that Pence is no longer useful to him, there's no point.

Pence has some choices. He could remove the president under the 25th amendment, he could do nothing or he could something in between. His options are there but he's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. He cannot pretend that honor and love of country is now his motivation after he let trump separate babies from parents at the border or watch our Kurdish allies left in the wind or too many other amoral decisions to count. He can't just sit and watch as the cosplaytriots gin up for round two at the inauguration. What will he do?

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"One of the reasons why propaganda tries to get you to hate government is because it's the one existing institution in which people can participate to some extent and constrain tyrannical unaccountable power." Noam Chomsky.