Pence just can’t get Trump’s boots shiny enough
by digby
Gabe Sherman in Vanity Fair writes that Pence may be on the way out:
On Monday, Trump hosted a 2020 strategy meeting with a group of advisers. Among the topics discussed was whether Mike Pence should remain on the ticket, given the hurricane-force political headwinds Trump will face, as demonstrated by the midterms, a source briefed on the session told me. “They’re beginning to think about whether Mike Pence should be running again,” the source said, adding that the advisers presented Trump with new polling that shows Pence doesn’t expand Trump’s coalition. “He doesn’t detract from it, but he doesn’t add anything either,” the source said. Last month, The New York Times reported that Trump had been privately asking advisers if Pence could be trusted, and that outside advisers have been pushing Nikki Haley to replace Pence. One veteran of Trump’s 2016 campaign who’s still advising Trump told me the president hasn’t been focused enough on 2020. “What he needs to do is consider his team for 2020 and make sure it’s in place,” the adviser said. “He has to have people on his team that are loyal to his agenda.”
Trump’s doubts about Pence are surprising given Pence’s frequent public encomiums and professions of loyalty. “Trump waxes and wanes on everyone,” a prominent Republican close to the White House explained. Part of what’s driving the debate over Pence’s political value is Trump’s stalled search for a chief of staff to replace John Kelly. According to a source, Kelly has recently been telling Trump that Pence doesn’t help him politically. The theory is that Kelly is unhappy that Pence’s 36-year-old chief of staff, Nick Ayers, has been openly campaigning for Kelly’s job. “Kelly has started to get more political and he’s whispering to Trump that Trump needs a running mate who can help him more politically,” the source said. (The White House did not respond to a request for comment.)
It’s hard to believe that Trump would ditch the most servile, bootlicking supplicant on his team but he doesn’t care about anyone but himself so if he’s convinced Pence is a drag on the ticket, he’ll probably have John Kelly tell him to pack up in a heart beat.
On the other hand, Pence may be just smart enough to be relieved. His career is probably dead no matter what. So why submit ourself to either a humiliating defeat or four more years of groveling mortification? It’s possible that Trump will be removed from office but Pence is so damaged the best he can hope for is to be a short term caretaker. He’s done either way.
But you have to love this White House. No matter how much of a brown-nosing doormat you are, it’s never enough.
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