Matthew Tully

Indianapolis Star Opinion

What must Mike Pence be thinking?

If I had to bet, it’d be this: It will all be worth it. All the drama and all the craziness, as well as the close proximity to scandal and the spot forever etched in history next to an inept, mean-spirited president — it will all be worth it. Yes, there’s a decent chance Mike Pence will someday be president — perhaps sooner rather than later — and for many, winning trumps everything else.

Still, there must be a part of our former governor that has regrets.

There must be a piece of the vice president that wonders if he’d be better off in his old job as governor, announcing new road projects in Terre Haute and holding press conferences in Indianapolis. With every passing day, the decision by Pence to join forces with Donald J. Trump looks even more cynical, more hypocritical and ickier than it did last summer. And to be clear, it looked quite cynical, hypocritical and icky then.

But that’s ambition. It can take you to strange places. And Pence is certainly in a strange place these days.

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This week, a vice president who by all accounts has been a model of loyalty issued a loftier-than-thou statement that, to those of us who covered him as governor, sounded very much like Mike Pence. The statement came after Donald Trump’s Jr. outrageous dalliance with the Russians came to light and quickly overshadowed everything else going on in American politics.

Here’s what Pence said, through a spokesman: “The vice president is working every day to advance the president’s agenda, which is what the American people sent us here to do. He is not focused on stories about the campaign, particularly stories about the time before he joined the ticket.”

Classic Pence.

Start with flattery. Then act as if your administration actually has a coherent agenda. Scoff at the notion that you’d ever spend one moment focused on something as petty as politics. Portray yourself as above it all. Then make sure everyone knows that whatever shenanigans went on occurred before you joined the team.

As Donald Trump Jr. would say: I love it.

The statement left many of us chuckling for a few reasons. First, as a politician Pence has always been more about campaigns and insider politics than policies and legislative agendas. Second, once you team up with a guy like Trump you have forever surrendered the right to portray yourself as above the petty messiness in politics. Finally, there’s that popular video of him speaking to CBS’s “Face the Nation” in January.

“Did any adviser or anybody in the Trump campaign have any contact with the Russians who were trying to meddle in the elections?” he was asked.

Pence didn’t pause.

“Oh, of course not,” he said, pursing his lips, shaking his head from left to right, and squinting as he often does when shooting for sincerity. “And I think to suggest that is to give credence to some of these bizarre rumors that have swirled around the candidacy.”

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Pence then talked about “media bias,” just as his President Trump did Wednesday after egg was splattered all over the face of his administration and his family.

Blame the media if you want, but here’s the bottom line: Pence once again looked either disingenuous or out of the loop. In this administration, with all of the scandals and investigations swirling, out of the loop is obviously the far better option. That reality explains the final line of Pence’s statement, the one making clear this latest scandal preceded his time in the Trump orbit.

Much was made of Pence’s distancing himself from the White House. “Is Mike Pence betting it will all come crashing down on Trump?” one The Washington Post columnist asked, raising questions about whether President Trump will survive the Russia investigations. “Is Mike Pence the next president?” Newsweek asked, noting the many recent steps by Pence to bolster his own political future.

Those are good questions. They boil down to this: What is Mike Pence thinking? Well, he must be thinking that this is all going to be worth it. But even he must have doubts.

Matthew Tully is a columnist for The Indianapolis Star, where this piece first appeared. Follow him on Twitter: @matthewltully

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