Donald Trump may win the Ethics Alarms Ethics Dunce of the Year title (he has several entries in the field, and the year is young) as well as the Unethical Quote of the Year distinction (ditto). He has already won Asshole of the Year in record time. But with this one, he has forged a new category entirely.
During a rally over the weekend, following Mike Pence’s inevitable withdrawal from the Presidential race he never should have entered, Trump said, “People are leaving now and they’re all endorsing me. I don’t know about Mike Pence. He should endorse me. You know why? Because I had a great, successful Presidency and he was the Vice President. But people in politics can be very disloyal. ”
As always with Trump, one has to wonder if he’s kidding, knowing full well how outrageous this statement is. Trump has called Pence every name in his linguistically limited book of denigrations for daring to oppose the crack-brained idea that the Vice-President has the power to hold up the certification of an election. Refusing to try it was the most significant act of Pence’s entire term, especially since Trump gave him little to do, reversing a trend toward a more active role for Vice-Presidents, who have very few official duties and no power at all.
Some of the rioters on January 6, 2021 (Note: CNN still lets its reporters call it an “insurrection,” and the network cannot be taken seriously as a news source until it stops) were chanting “Hang Mike Pence!,” allegedly with Trump’s encouragement. Sure, why wouldn’t the former Indiana governor endorse his old boss?
As for the argument, made by commenter Dwayne N. Zechman in response to the previous post about Pence, that he owes Trump for making him Veep and delaying the obscurity and irrelevance Pence deserved, I concede its limited validity. However, in single-minded exploitation benefits to the one exploited are incidental and unintended (Trump needed a neutral running mate who would endear the ticket to the Religious Right and otherwise wouldn’t make waves), and generally those who suggest that a loyal lackey should be hanged for not provoking a Constitutional crisis don’t expect that lackey to demonstrate gratitude. Trump really has no respect for Mike Pence at all, and that’s the real message of his brassy pronouncement.
Footnote: While so many on the Left are revealing their anti-Israel sentiments, I’ll be using as many Yiddish words as possible. What a Shande!
Ethics Alarms 
I did what?
Maybe this comment?
Yup, it was Dwayne, sorry. I always get the names “Dwayne” and “Michael” mixed up. Plus I was agitated by “A Friend’s” latest intrusion… Fixed.
I only had to be sure because my memory lately hasn’t been great.
The word “loyalty” to President Trump is always a one-sided definition. I don’t think he knows the meaning, to be honest.
What a tragedy all those good policy instincts came in such a defective package.
God playing dice with the universe, as Albert would say.
That assessment is about as accurate as could be made in fifteen words or less.
Bingo.
My guess. Trump is actually making fun of himself and politics in general by saying people in politics can be disloyal. He knows he isn’t loyal and everyone else knows it too. I find it kinda funny. It’s almost a snarky backhanded apology to Pence too. Almost like he is hinting that he shouldn’t have said things that he did to Pence.
That’s a good point. He can be an ironist and self-deprecating. Which gets washed out (eagerly?) by the media when reporting his words. He’s more than a bit of a standup comic, as Althouse has documented.
I wasn’t following Pence’s campaign closely, but the few times I heard him speak I thought he was, all things considered, quite charitable to Trump; he certainly mentioned the “Trump-Pence presidency” and its accomplishments regularly, giving Trump his due, as it were. With Trump, who knows whether he was being ironic/self-deprecating or not?