The (what-if Jan 6th) fate of Mike Pence

As we creep ever closer to election season and Trump somehow still manages to hold a prominent place in discussions if not exactly #1 after being neutered by Twitter and Facebook, I wonder if perhaps...

I want to be careful in how I phrase this so that I do NOT imply that I wish Mike Pence bodily harm - I do not. But maybe the country would be better off right now if the January 6th rioters and insurrectionists had actually succeeded and managed to cause serious harm to Mike Pence?

Would that have caused the spineless wastes in the Senate to actually impeach Trump and punish him with a bar from ever running for public office again? I like to believe so, though honestly I'm not 100% sure. Lindsey f-ing Graham stood up to say he was done with Trump after traveling a long way with him or whatever insincere nonsense dribbled out of his mouth that day and look where he is now.

Would it have burst the bubble of the minority of Republicans that manage to lie to themselves about the true nature of the animal they have unleashed? Could that minority be enough to sink the electoral fortunes of the GOP for a generation? I don't know. It wouldn't take much on the margin for either party to become a semi-permanent minority.

And briefly circling back to Lindsey Graham with a related thought though in some ways far more dangerous. Perhaps we should just shrug at Graham's implicit threat of violence if Trump is arrested/prosecuted… maybe we should let that happen so we can finally see a) who these violent insurrectionists are and have them all arrested and prosecuted or b) discover that the statements are sad, pathetic mewlings of a sycophant and the mob is just a bunch of mouth-breathing basement dwellers. Think the same crowd that showed up for Jan 6th and is now being prosecuted and jailed is going to show up and riot again because Trump is arrested for stealing compartmented intelligence on state nuclear capacity? That Graham apparently believes so and is willing to make very thinly veiled threats is astonishing. Perhaps as a nation we should call him on it and tell them to "bring it on."

Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 19, 2025 at 3:44 PM

    It's always fun to read a much more expanded, polished version and uhh... finished thought, like this one in the Atlantic, "American Fury." (https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/09/trump-butler-assassination-attempt-pa-rally/679153/) Here we have an article that starts its second paragraph with: "What if? becomes a haunting question."

    And it goes even further to include this line: "What if, he went on—“I almost hesitate to say this”—but what if the rioters actually had hanged Mike Pence or Nancy Pelosi on January 6?" (https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/25/trump-expressed-support-hanging-pence-capitol-riot-jan-6-00035117)

    It's worth a read. We are heading on a dangerous path.

    (The Blogger)

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