Even more chaos behind the scenes for Mike Pence
Although it’s received very little attention due to Donald Trump’s far bigger controversies, the past month has seen a series of chaotic and arguably panicked developments for Mike Pence. He canceled his Middle East trip at the last minute, and then offered a silly lie for why he did it. Then he canceled another trip. Now, key members of his staff are exiting the building without an above-board explanation.
The trouble began when Pence canceled his Middle East trip in December, claiming that he needed to remain in Washington DC in case there was a tie in the tax scam vote. Of course there were only 99 Senators in town for the vote, meaning a tie wasn’t possible. Once Pence was called out by the media for this lie, he tried to cover for it by suddenly turning up unannounced in Afghanistan. Was he protesting too much? Did he really cancel his Middle East trip because he needed to stay home and mount his defense in the Trump-Russia investigation?
Days ago, Pence indefinitely postponed his planned trip to Israel. So what’s going on here? No one knows for sure, except that Pence’s chief lawyer and domestic policy director just announced they’re resigning for no apparent reason (link). Some staff turnover is normal in any administration, but this comes within the context of several additional key resignations from Pence’s staff during his first year in office.
Put this all within the larger context of Donald Trump’s historic number of resignations and firings during his first year in the White House, and it all adds up to nothing short of total chaos. Considering all of the panic moves that are taking place within the Trump administration in general, and within Mike Pence’s orbit in particular, it points to something going on with Pence behind the scenes. Stay tuned.
