A few weeks ago, we sought refuge from the Donald Trump sun on the Mike Pence moon, but now we must set out on Apollo 12. If our maiden voyage offered a Pence-eye view of the world, this journey offers a world-eye view of Pence. How does he look from all angles? Certainly, he has a warm smile and a nice glow, but there’s more. Pence keeps the seasons and tides manageable. It is one reason why he, not Trump, will be embarking on a three-month, cross-country tour to preserve the Republican majority in 2018. Pence continues to be Trump’s most reliable liaison to the Republican donor class, which in large part still shapes the fortunes of the party—and, in turn, Trump’s odds of facing party-line impeachment this time next year. The Republican Party and the Trump White House are fractured beasts, and the movements of Pence tell us a lot about what they're thinking, and why.

One thing thing they’re apparently thinking—although it’s separate from immediate donor-class worries—is that all is not lost on stopping North Korea. Pence has an imminent trip to South Korea, where he will drop by the Olympics and express his displeasure over North Korean athletes walking alongside South Korean athletes at the opening ceremony. As a White House spokesperson put it, “He’s going to ensure that from a messaging standpoint that it isn’t turned into two weeks of propaganda.” Never mind whether anyone likes a guest who shows up to lob insults at the host’s dinner date. The point is that Pence has the blessing of his boss and his party to do it. So he shall.

Second, Pence will keep sticking to the spoken word over other forms of communication, eschewing writing as much as possible. That is probably less because he’s sitting on dark secrets and more because he’s been around for a while. Nothing committed to electronic form stays secret in Washington, and you’re safer assuming your phone calls are tapped, too. Pence takes care of whatever he can through face-to-face words and winks. Reports from the Associated Press are that special counsel Robert Mueller can find nothing connecting Pence to White House malfeasance—nor even connecting Pence to the White House transition, which Pence supposedly led. Whatever. No one, it seems, has the heart to go after Pence in force, because somebody has to be around to take over if the boss makes an early exit.

Most important, though, will be Pence’s work on the campaign circuit. During last week’s Republican Party retreat in White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia, party leaders laid out a grim picture for November 2018, when the midterm elections will take place. Democrats are expected to retake Congress with all the gentleness of the Golden Horde, costing Republicans their agenda and breaking up the shield that currently protects Donald Trump from various investigations, including that of Mueller. With stakes so high, Plan A is to hold onto the House majority. And no one has a decent Plan B.

Holding onto that majority will require Pence to travel far and wide, stumping for candidates and raising money. One of the ironies of fund-raising is that the White House can spend millions of dollars on travel to harvest hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions. (It’s this way with all presidents: taxpayer money goes to the jets and the presidential entourage, while donor contributions go to political war chests.) The speeches or factory tours are billed as the official purpose of the trip, but an oddly large number of them take place in wealthy towns like Newport Beach. Look for Pence in such places.