A man of inordinate, self-proclaimed piety and purity who claims (endlessly) to religiously follow the Good Lord’s leading, Mike Pence at this point must assuredly be waiting for the cock to crow.
His betrayal of Donald Trump – and the entire American electorate for that matter – is now a matter of historical record. And any utterance from him at this point other than a simple, shameful mea culpa only adds to his now epochal ignominy.
On January 6, 2021, Michael Richard Pence had the rare opportunity – indeed, in fact, a constitutional responsibility – to prevent the consummation of the single most corrupt election in American history. Joseph Robinette Biden, a smarmy lifelong politician long infamous for crooked dealings, moral laxity, and intellectual vacuity could not have garnered 81 million votes worldwide let alone among the US electorate.
And everyone knew it – especially those in the Halls of Congress where more than half of those present had participated in the chicanery, a majority of the remainder sat stultified in stunned silence, and a small handful hoped and prayed that for once in his life, Mike Pence would display a level of intestinal fortitude and personal integrity he had never before exhibited in his entire political life.
Alas, the latter group was sorely disappointed, as Pence once again took the easy way out and rubber stamped bogus ballots he knew were fraudulent. Now, of course, he continually claims he had no choice, adding insult to the injury he supinely inflicted.
The truth of the matter, of course, is that Mike Pence did have a choice – a choice that was clearly mandated by the Constitution, by federal election law, and by legal precedent. He had the choice to respect the wishes of responsible elected officials in six separate states (Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Nevada) where election results were legally contested and thereby empower the House of Representatives to do its job and determine the final election outcome.
That is what the 12th Amendment of the Constitution mandates – in no uncertain terms:
The person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. [Emphasis added]
And here is what Section 15 of the federal election law clearly states:
Where there are conflicting electoral certificates from the same State [as there were in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Nevada],, the two Houses during the joint session may by unanimous consent determine which certificate is to be accepted as valid. The tellers may then be directed to count the votes in the certificate deemed valid.
And here is the legal precedent (as taken from the National Constitution Center blog), which a man of Pence’s political erudition (and who tells us God directs his every move), certainly must have known and even more certainly should have applied:
In January 2005, Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones and Senator Barbara Boxer objected to Ohio’s electoral votes for George W. Bush, alleging “they were not in all known circumstances regularly given.” The House and Senate met separately as required and using a roll call vote the objections were widely rejected. The House denied the objection in 31-267 vote, and the Senate denied it in a 1-74 vote.
Let’s be clear: Mike Pence had every justifiable – in fact, overriding – reason to reject the contested electoral college ballots on January 6, 2023, and throw the election to Congress. But, as he had so often done throughout his political career (e.g., his kowtowing to the homosexual lobby as governor of Indiana), when the heat turned torrid, he melted like wax. He spurned the entirely remissible adjurations of the man who had rescued him from the dung heap of history. He betrayed the trust of the American people.
And somewhere, the cock can’t stop crowing.
But, even as the foul flourishes over Mr. Pence’s weak knees and spineless performance, one can’t stop there. Because to equate Pence’s perfidy with Peter’s panic is to be too harsh with the latter and too lenient with the former.
Peter, after all, was trapped in a life and death situation. To admit his association with the crucified Christ could have nailed him to the cross. Literally. And so he betrayed his mentor, master, and friend.
Pence, on the other hand, had no fear of impending death. Pelosi, et. al., weren’t wielding hammers and nails. They were fawning over their fair-haired foofa like the posturing political Pecksniff he actually is.
And so, Michael Richard Pence betrayed his mentor, former master, and erstwhile friend not just out of fear -- but, far more egregiously out of raw, repugnant, and far more damnable, unbridled personal ambition.
He wanted to be esteemed by his grasping, greedy political cronies. He wanted to hear their applause, He wanted to see the evil admiration in their eyes as he sealed the deal on their stolen election. In his mind’s eye, he wanted to be hoisted to their shoulders and paraded through the aisles like the quarterback who threw the winning touchdown – even if he threw it to the wrong team.
Most of all, this political hack whose entire life had been devoted to furthering his own sordid career even at the expense of his own self-proclaimed religiosity, disposable principles, and easily expendable friends wanted to preserve whatever fleeting chance he had to one day be president. However remote.
And so, not only out of supine fear, but in a shameless pursuit of power and glory, this man who parades in public espousing his own purity and piety betrayed his oath of office (“bear true faith and allegiance” to the Constitution), betrayed the man who had elevated him to unprecedented prominence, and betrayed the trust of the American people.
This self-proclaimed man of God eagerly abandoned the words of Joshua: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
He callously discarded the admonition of the Apostle Paul: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.”
And he, instead, embraced the enticements of Beelzebub himself: “Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain and he showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence and he said to him, “All these I shall give to you if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.”
I believe it is safe to say that for Michael Richard Pence, the cock will never stop crowing.
And he will enter eternity knowing that on January 6, 2023, and forever thereafter, he sold his own soul and did not come even close to gaining the whole world.
