So, news outlets have been noting that Mike Pence has been taking a number of interesting political maneuvers in recent weeks. There has been some open tension between Pence’s aides and Trump’s and Pence seems to be leveraging his own political movement from inside the White House. He’s even recruited Trump’s former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, as the new leader of his PAC. Multiple reports use the term “Political apparatus” in reference to what Pence is trying to do, and the idea of him being a shadow candidate in the 2020 election seems to be the primary assumption in media speculation. But the weird thing is that with this White House, this administration, none of this seems shocking or out of the blue. Duplicity and cynicism have become far too normal for comfort.