So this weekend we learned that, like every American with a brain, Mike Pence is hoping Donald Trump will be a one-term president. We learned this when The New York Times reported that the former Indiana governor and current vice president is acting like he's planning a run for president in 2020. Now, under normal circumstances, this would be borderline unthinkable. In fact, a sitting vice president hasn't run against a sitting president in the next election's primary since 1940, when John Nance Garner got whooped by Frankie Roosevelt seeking his third term. But all it takes is one look at the news, be it the actual news or Donald Trump's North Korean–style "Real News," to know that we don't live in usual times.

According to the Times, Pence (among other prominent Republicans) seems to be positioning himself to be ready for a 2020 bid, despite the whole "being a first-term vice president" thing. That Pence keeps a busy schedule of events around the country isn't that odd. After all, that's what a vice president does, but Pence has gone a bit above and beyond the typical "veep"-ing around the country. And it's not just that Pence is doing things differently, it's also how he's doing things differently.

The vice president created his own political fund-raising committee, Great America Committee, shrugging off warnings from some high-profile Republicans that it would create speculation about his intentions. The group, set up with help from Jack Oliver, a former fund-raiser for George W. Bush, has overshadowed Mr. Trump’s own primary outside political group, America First Action, even raising more in disclosed donations. Mr. Pence also installed Nick Ayers, a sharp-elbowed political operative, as his new chief of staff last month — a striking departure from vice presidents’ long history of elevating a government veteran to be their top staff member. Mr. Ayers had worked on many campaigns but never in the federal government.

Now this is interesting, but it's not exactly earth-shattering stuff, right? Speculating that Mike Pence might try to replace the current, polarizing nightmare of a president as his party's nominee makes a ton of sense, and the above details, though hardly definitive proof of anything, are certainly eyebrow-raising. Obviously, the right response from Mike Pence to a (honestly pretty thin) story like this is to keep your head down and say nothing. But Pence still is a member of the Trump administration, so I guess "the right response" was never really an option for him.

Nope, instead of playing this cool, Mike Pence—who has said nothing as Donald Trump has obstructed justice, supported racist justice and immigration policies, and tried to cover up his son's explicit attempt at colluding with the Russians—suddenly had something to say.

Have you ever heard of the Streisand Effect? It refers to an incident where a photographer had taken thousands of aerial photos of the California coastline to document coastal erosion, and Barbra Streisand flipped out when she discovered her house was visible in the photos. She sued to have the photos taken down, which only brought more attention to the photo. Prior to the suit, the photo had been downloaded a grand total of six times. I bring this up to say that Mike Pence's statement tells me two things. One, he is probably considering running for president in 2020, and is absolutely terrified that Donald Trump is going to find out and be mad at him. And two, Pence is unfamiliar with the Streisand Effect: If this story were actually not true, there would be no harm in Pence saying nothing. It's a speculative piece in an industry that churns out speculative pieces at a near-constant rate. It would be forgotten by Monday morning and we'd all move on and talk about whatever bonkers tweet Trump sends next from his golf course.

But because it seems this piece hit the mark, Pence felt the need to deny it, and because everyone is scared of Donald Trump, he did so with such vigor that it only served to call more attention to the Times report. This could have been a total non-story. Now? Someone doth protest too much.

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