Mike Pence is the loyal wingman, the ever-discreet figure who rises above the Washington fray. But as the Russia scandal encroaches ever further on Donald Trump’s White House, the vice-president is also walking a political tightrope.
The 58-year-old former governor of Indiana is currently the man closest to the US presidency — either as Trump’s immediate successor should his term end prematurely, or as his heir apparent in 2020 or 2024 elections, depending on how many terms Trump serves.
As the troubles of his boss grow deeper by the day, ensnared in a widening investigation into his campaign ties to Russia, experts say the 48th US vice-president remains compelled to stand by his man — at least for now.
“Pence is in a very difficult position,” Joel Goldstein, an expert on the vice presidency at Saint Louis University School of Law, said.
“A vice president is expected to be loyal to the president, but President Trump imposes a heavy burden on his subordinates by saying and doing things that often are hard to defend.”
The two men could hardly be more different: where Trump likes to blur ideological lines, Pence is a committed Christian conservative, as stiff and disciplined as his boss is exuberant and unpredictable.
While Trump tweets about a high-stakes health care bill, it is Pence who has been shuttling between the White House and Congress in a behind-the-scenes effort to rescue the imperiled legislation.
Pence offered a glimpse of his guiding principles as he rides the political rollercoaster, during a speech on leadership delivered to students at American University.
“You need to keep your arms and legs in the ride at all times,” he told them.
Yet Pence has taken low-key steps that suggest he could be laying the groundwork for his political future.
In an unusual move, two close advisors to Pence have founded a political action committee, The New York Times reported.
He has also begun hosting Republican mega-donors at his Washington residence, according to the daily.
As federal and congressional investigators dig deeper into allegations that Trump’s camp colluded with Russia to tilt the 2016 election, a handful of Democrats are now calling openly for the president to be impeached.
Should Trump eventually be forced from office, Pence would become the 10th US vice-president to assume the presidency without being elected — the first since Gerald Ford succeeded Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal in 1974.
When Donald Trump Jr recently acknowledged that he and campaign aides met a Russian lawyer last year in hope of obtaining dirt on Trump’s Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, Pence distanced himself from the snowballing scandal.
But he has not emerged entirely unscathed so far.
As head of Trump’s transition team, he publicly backed Michael Flynn during the uproar about contacts with the Russian ambassador which cost the newly-minted national security advisor his job.
And having flatly denied any Trump campaign contacts with Russia, Pence’s credibility is further rocked with each new revelation.
Pence’s defence will look increasingly questionable, especially if Trump’s troubles worsen. But it is survivable, said Michael Munger, director of the politics programme at Duke University.
Yet Pence’s close ties to the president may yet prove an albatross around his neck.
Striking the balance between loyalty to an embattled leader and avoiding getting caught up in scandal is a fierce challenge.
Pence has “juggled” well, said Paul Beck of Ohio State University.
“But if this Russia controversy really gets the Trump administration into deep, deep trouble... then Pence is kind of trapped out there as one of the team.”
— AFP
Michael Mathes
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
