NYT:. On J5, Pence COS alerted Secret Service that trump could turn on him

[Laura PourMeADrink]

Link to tweet

?s=20&t=nVMFDt4lt4gvUaUInHPJ5g

[RussBLib]

1. Pence staff must have caught wind of T****'s plan

T****'s staff leaked like a sieve. Could explain why Pence did not get in that vehicle. He suspected they might ship him off to Alaska, and Grassley was ready to preside over the Congress in Pence's absence. If true, Grassley has some 'splainin' to do.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

7. But these are the same people they called to warn. Hmmm

That's even weirder. Double double cross

[Laura PourMeADrink]

12. Put Grassley under the light!

[ecstatic]

2. I still don't understand why pence didn't go all the way

He did the right think on Jan 6, no freaking doubt, but when the nation was BEGGING him to 25th tfg, nothing. He refused to do it. Instead, he allowed the entire country to remain in harms way while Democrats scrambled together a 2nd impeachment. WHY??? To me, it indicates that he didn't do what he did on Jan 6 for the good of the country. It was for his own selfish reasons.

Same thing with the refug senators. They had the chance to make sure tfg could never again abuse this country and our institutions again. They truly are traitors. All of them.

[Takket]

3. you need the cabinet for the 25th. Pence didn't have those votes.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

5. I remember reading something too about Trump replacing people

Who would typically vote on the 25th amendment with "acting" heads who couldn't vote.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

13. What you wrote, I think you're right. He didn't ever demonstrate a desire to pick the right

path for the country before. That is a good indicator that whatever happened on one six was not for the good of the country! Very good observation.

[UTUSN]

4. Seems like this should be a thing in the news.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

6. Agree. It should be huge. Sounds so Shakespearean

[Boomerproud]

8. Anderson Cooper had a long segment about last night with

John Dean and Woodward and Berstein. For once, Woodward looked gobsmacked and didn't do bothsideridm.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

14. Can you expound on that more? Segment about pence

and not going with SS? Wish I could have seen it.

[Hortensis]

9. Could THIS help bring tRump down? A VP believing he was in danger

from a renegade president?

[Laura PourMeADrink]

10. Exactly what I was thinking. But pinpointing an actual

crime? May sound ludacris, and I've only seen it growing up on TV, but is there such a thing as truth serum? If there was anyone on this universe I would like to see put under that spell it would be pence.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

11. How far is pence willing to go as far as revealing the truth?

I have heard him say that the reason why he didn't get into the secret service limo on J6, was because he knew they would take him to a safe location and he did not want to NOT be at the House assembly.

Obviously this is a cover for a much bigger story.

You have to admit, however seemingly door-matty he is, he's got to have balls? First of all those magats want to kill him! With a K. Literally hang him! He didn't flow with their program. Secondly, he decided to run against the biggest magat of all!

[Hortensis]

16. Yes. Perhaps this might be one to move the court of public opinion,

aside from evidence. It's easy to understand, like a thriller novel or movie plot, but shockingly real.

As for getting in the limo, seems to me both the need to make sure he was there to complete the certification of the election and a horribly real threat from tRump of being held or worse seem credible reasons why he wouldn't leave the Capitol. Whatever, he needed balls that day.

The hearings are supposed to present new information about a broad and well organized conspiracy. AND, the Republican insurrectionists don't have speaking roles. Wonder if they'll hoot and holler anyway. Thursday evening.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

17. True. And understanding the whole picture on pence

is a true mystery at this point without more evidence. Maybe his COS knows?

Scenario 1 - pence just wanted to save his own skin

As far as a secret service goes, he's the one that actually called them to tell them something was amiss with trump. I wonder what the hierarchy is? For instance could the secret service protect him but then be overridden by trump? So let's just say that he didn't care about anything except his own skin he had to have a reason not to go with the secret service. He must not have thought that was the safe path.

On the other hand, he had to have known at some point, the crowd where he was wanted to hang him.

That means going with the secret service was scarier than a hanging

Scenario 2 - pence wanted to make sure he concluded his constitutional duty to finalize the election and grassley didn't take over.

If this is true, pence truly did risk his own life. He avoided the potential trump danger of going with
the secret service BUT placed himself where mob was trying to hang him.

[Hortensis]

21. Yes, a mystery all right. :) Look forward to reading the book someday.

Remembering that the Koch alliance was reportedly considering running Pence, who was in good with them for years and with the religious right, for president someday. Pence was their guy, joining both giant power blocs.

tRumpism's authoritarian-populist, potential fascistic dictator elements make their kind of RW extremism look comparatively normal; they managed to manipulate tRump to real benefit, but with more power he could become an extremely serious threat to them.

They were able to stack the succession, though; almost everyone in line was one of theirs, including of course VP Pence. tRumpism got control of Republicans in congress, though, who protected him instead of removing him from office.

So, my speculation is Pence became VP with a very different potential future in mind, one that included succeeding an obviously outrageously corrupt and incompetent tRump to the presidency -- not trying to survive what looked like it could become a tRump (semi-)dictatorship.

It would be much safer for Pence and company to stand on the VERY considerable gains they made from the tRump presidency and, once he was no longer dangerous, to continue their own more cautious power grab.

How's that for a plot for a political thriller? "I'm not getting in the car" is in it for sure, no matter what.

[pecosbob]

15. Maggie Gaslight Haberman...

[Laura PourMeADrink]

18. COS didn't really notify the secret service?

[jcgoldie]

19. If Trump normalizer in chief Haberman is dripping this...

Something tells me Thursday is going to be eventful...

[Laura PourMeADrink]

20. Yikes. Never heard that trump said this. What a weird comment

“You’ll never take back our country with weakness,” Mr. Trump told his supporters. At another point, he said: “Mike Pence, I hope you’re going to stand up for the good of our Constitution and for the good of our country. And if you’re not, I’m going to be very disappointed in you. I will tell you right now. I’m not hearing good stories.”