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Gail: Wow, great analogies. Plus, it is indeed possible you spend more time thinking about Pence than you ought to.

Bret: Heres a guy who makes his career on the Moral Majority wing of the Republican Party, until he hitches his wagon to the most immoral man ever to win a big-ticket presidential nomination. Phyllis Schlafly deciding to elope with Larry Flynt would have made more sense. Then Pence spends four years as the most servile, toadying, obsequious, fawning, head-nodding, yes-sirring, anything-you-say-boss vice president in history. Hell do anything for Trumps love but not, as the singer Meat Loaf might have said, attempt to steal the presidential election in broad daylight.

For this, Trump rewards Pence by throwing him to a mob, which tried to hunt him down and hang him. But even now, Pence cant get crosswise with his dark lord, so the idea of him ever taking the party in an anti-Trump direction seems like a fantasy.

Gail: You have convinced me that Pence is too much of a wimp to rebel. But you can never tell look what happened to Mitt Romney.

Bret: Unlike Pence, Romney is a true Christian, with actual principles. As for Nikki Haley, I just dont see her winning the Republican nomination. Shes just not Trumpy enough. My bet is on the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, with Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina as his vice-presidential nominee. Crazy?

Gail: Oh, God. What a combo. l hear theres a Ron Be Gone movement in Florida. Maybe they can combine it with a Tim, Dont Get In. Or just Not Scott.

Bret: DeSantis is a very shrewd guy. Hes made a point of staying close to Trump, personally, and hes also been very good at baiting the media. His handling of the pandemic was better than most liberals will ever give him credit for, because, unlike Andrew Im still standing Cuomo, he made a point of protecting nursing homes. With Scott on the ticket, he could also peel off some of the Black vote or at least make white suburban voters feel comfortable about voting for a G.O.P. ticket that progressives will inevitably attack as racist.

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Opinion | The Mike Pence Saga Tells Us More Than We Want to Know - The New York Times

President Donald Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis in October caught the White House so off guard that it was left with no plans in place to swear in Vice President Mike Pence if Trump died or became severely ill, a new book says.

More of the internal panic and scrambling around Trump's COVID-19 illness was detailed in an excerpt, published in The Washington Post on Thursday, of "Nightmare Scenario: Inside the Trump Administration's Response to the Pandemic That Changed History." The book, written by The Post's reporters Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta, is set to be released next Tuesday.

Trump was diagnosed with COVID-19 on October 1, throwing the functions of government and the 2020 presidential election into chaos and the White House into a tailspin, with aides unprepared for the possibility of Trump dying or becoming too sick to carry out the duties of his office, the book said.

Read more: Entire paychecks going to daycare, swiping free food: 8 congressional staffers break down how they stretch their salaries in expensive DC

Trump was at high risk for severe illness and death because of his age and weight. And his condition was said to be far more serious than the White House let on at the time.

Under the Presidential Succession Act, Pence would have taken over as commander in chief if Trump had died.

A president can also temporarily transfer the powers of the presidency to the vice president under Section 3 of the 25th Amendment. President George W. Bush briefly handed the reins to his vice president, Dick Cheney, when he went under anesthesia for colonoscopies, for example.

The book excerpt also detailed the White House's frantic behind-the-scenes efforts in October to secure a "compassionate use" exception from the Food and Drug Administration to use a monoclonal antibody, an experimental treatment not available to the public.

After treatment with antiviral therapies and steroids during a short stay at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Trump returned to the White House and recovered. But the episode did not, as many aides had hoped, help Trump take the virus more seriously in the White House's coronavirus protocols and policy response.

Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, prayed that Trump would recover and that his illness would make him turn a corner and "show some humility," the book said. But when Trump returned, he walked up to the Truman Balcony and defiantly took off his mask, shoving it in his pocket, and gave a thumbs-up to the cameras below.

"Right then, Redfield knew it was over," Abutaleb and Paletta wrote. "Trump showedin that moment that he hadn't changedat all. The pandemic response wasn't going to change, either."

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WH had no plans to swear in Pence if Trump died of COVID-19: book - Business Insider

Former Vice President Mike Pence has called for the elimination of critical race theory during a speech in which he outlined his vision for the future of the Republican Party.

Pence said on Thursday that the GOP "must stop the efforts to rewrite American history through initiatives like the 1619 Project," referring to the New York Times project aimed at examining the legacy of slavery in the U.S.

"The Republican Party in the years ahead must work to make school choice the right of every American family," Pence told the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.

He said that the GOP must look to "restore the classics to education in our schools," adding that "we must eliminate critical race theory at every level," referring to the theory which examines how race and racism intersect with politics, culture and law.

"Critical race theory teaches children as young as kindergarten to be ashamed of their skin color. It represents a full-throated assault aimed at the heart of the American experiment," Pence said.

"It is nothing short of state-sponsored and state-sanctioned racism. Our party must ensure that critical race theory is expelled from our schools, our military, and our public institutions," he said to applause from the audience.

Pence has become the latest GOP voice in condemning critical race theory, which is gaining momentum within the party as a hot button culture war issue.

Earlier in June, Pence had promoted speculation about a 2024 presidential run during a speech in New Hampshire in which he took aim at the theory, and said that "America is not a racist nation."

Also this month, Texas Senator Ted Cruz said critical race theory is "every bit as racist" as the Ku Klux Klan.

An Economist/YouGov poll in June showed that a majority of Americans (58 percent) had an unfavorable view of critical race theory, which opponents say sows divisions between ethnic groups. Some 38 percent of respondents viewed critical race theory favorably.

Pence also used his speech on Thursday to defend himself for certifying the Electoral College vote on January 6, the day when loyalists of ex-President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol.

In a comment that was seen as his strongest attempt yet to distance himself from Trump, Pence said there is "almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president."

Newsweek has contacted Pence's office for further comment.

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Mike Pence Brands Critical Race Theory 'State-Sanctioned Racism' - Newsweek

Rudy Giuliani repeatedly but falsely assured former President Donald Trump that Vice President Mike Pence had the power to overturn the 2020 election in the days leading up to January 6, a new book said.

An excerpt of author Michael Wolff's forthcoming book, "Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump Presidency," was published on Monday in New York Magazine. It detailed the White House's moment-by-moment reaction to the January 6 insurrection. Wolff is the author of two other books about the Trump White House: "Fire and Fury" and "Siege."

Read more: Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville is a vocal critic of China's government. He also owned stock in a Chinese company with Communist Party ties.

By January 6, Wolff wrote, many core administration officials and White House staffers had left or largely distanced themselves from the action, leaving only a small circle of aides who were still involved in Trump's day-to-day activities and, with the White House counsel's office largely checked out, leaving Giuliani as Trump's main legal confidant.

Giuliani, Wolff said, "was drinking heavily and in a constant state of excitation, often almost incoherent in his agitation and mania" in the lead-up to the deadly riot. Giuliani was obsessed with the idea that Pence could somehow preclude Congress from affirming President Joe Biden's election victory, the excerpt said.

"There is no question, none at all, that the VP can do this. That's a fact. The Constitution gives him the authority not to certify. It goes back to the state legislatures," Giuliani said continuously on the phone to Trump and anyone else who would listen, Wolff wrote.

In reality, Congress does not "certify" slates of electoral votes, but counts and affirms the Electoral College votes submitted by states. There is no constitutional or legal avenue for the vice president, who only performs a ceremonial role, to categorically reject slates of electors or "send back" electoral certificates to states for further review, as Trump has repeatedly suggested.

On Thursday, a New York court suspended Giuliani's license to practice law in the state for two years, making him the first attorney to experience professional consequences for perpetuating lies about fraud in the 2020 election.

The court found "uncontroverted evidence" that Giuliani had "communicated demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers and the public at large" in lodging unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud while representing Trump.

Giuliani pushed false and unfounded claims of fraud in Arizona, Georgia, and Pennsylvania in both official legislative hearings and in the media, in addition to misrepresenting the nature of the Trump campaign's federal court litigation in Pennsylvania.

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Giuliani falsely assured Trump Pence could overturn election: book - Business Insider

Former Vice President Mike Pence was briefly heckled Friday as a "traitor" at a conservative conference in Orlando seen as a stop for Republicans honing stump speeches for a possible presidential run in 2024.

As Pence kicked off his remarks to the Faith and Freedom Coalition, the organization founded by political consultant and lobbyist Ralph Reed, several audience members greeted him with boos.

"It is great to be back with so many patriots," Pence said as the jeering continued, "dedicated to faith and freedom and the road to the majority."

As he thanked Reed, who introduced his speech, multiple audience members yelled out, "Traitor!" and continued to try to drown him out. Security personnel quickly removed the hecklers from the crowd, and Pence was able to continue his remarks without further incident.

The tension between supporters of former President Donald Trump and Pence remains palpable more than five months after a violent mob seeking to block the Electoral College certification of Joe Biden's election victory stormed the U.S. Capitol, chanting, "Hang Mike Pence!"

Pence oversaw the certification, and Trump, speaking at a rally before the riot, urged him to block it.

"I hope Mike is going to do the right thing. I hope so. I hope so," Trump told his supporters on Jan. 6. "Because if Mike Pence does the right thing, we win the election."

Former Vice President Mike Pence. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

Later in his speech, Trump again commented on Pence.

"And Mike Pence is going to have to come through for us, and if he doesn't, that will be a, a sad day for our country because you're sworn to uphold the Constitution," Trump said.

As the rioters breached the Capitol that afternoon, Trump again took aim at his vice president. "Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify," he tweeted. "USA demands the truth!"

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With recent moves such as announcing a book deal and returning to the speaking circuit at Republican gatherings, Pence has seemed to signal that he intends to mount a White House run in 2024. If so, that would set up an inevitable clash with Trump supporters, especially if the former president decides to seek a second term.

"You know, President Trump and I have spoken many times since we left office, and I don't know if we'll ever see eye-to-eye on that day," Pence said at a GOP dinner in Manchester, N.H., in early June, referring to Jan. 6.

On Friday, however, Pence continued to walk the fine line of linking himself to Trump's legacy while continuing to occupy a place of scorn among his supporters.

"You know, for the past four years, President Trump taught us what Republicans can accomplish when we stand firm on conservative principles and don't back down," Pence said. "Our administration was four years of consequence, four years of results. As we like to say, it was four years of promises made and promises kept."

To that line, anyway, the former vice president received warm applause.

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Mike Pence called 'traitor' by hecklers in Florida