Former Vice President Mike Pence is underappreciated. He has even been maligned. He does not deserve it. On the contrary, he is an unsung hero. He was probably chosen to be Mr. Trump’s running mate in 2016 because he was a humble, unassuming, following-order-to-the-letter type of man. 

    Once the real estate tycoon from New York took the seat behind the desk in the Oval Office, everything had gone smoothly like clockwork as meticulously designed by the MAGA Republicans. The FBI director was unceremoniously fired. A new U.S. attorney general was in place to dismiss the Mueller Report. The Supreme Court was stocked with not just five but six safely conservative Republicans. The Department of State was already led by a “we lied, we cheated, we stole” former CIA director. Very well organized and ready for any contingency in case the incumbent president would lose the next election. It was unlikely because he was very popular with the Republicans. But the election could not be left to chance. One more term, then the MAGAs would have their revolution to turn the country upside down. Just one step at a time but soon MAGA Republicans would be forever!  

    Then, the incumbent lost. But MAGA did not panic because they had already had a plan: They would clamor loudly and even violently that the election was rigged by the Democrats. Members of Congress would launch investigations. Legal experts would support the theory the vice president had the power to reject the state certificates, disqualify the Biden electors, send them back to the states for recertification, and the Trump electors would replace them and declare the incumbent the winner. Patriots would flock to the Capitol to demand Congress to declare the election to be fraudulent and the vice president to do his job to reject the Biden electors. A perfect plan.

    History has had a quirky way of making unlikely men a hero such as Michael Keaton being Batman. Mike Pence suddenly found himself in a unique and historic position to decide if the country would remain constitutionally democratic or become a monarchy or a dictatorship or forever MAGA Republican. 

    He had every reason to go with the latter. He would be a hero in the MAGA world. He would receive the highest accolade wherever he went. The incumbent would even reward him with a partnership in the Bedminster Golf Course for his good deed because if he refused to certify the Biden electors, he would eventually create the biggest fortune on this earth worth millions of times the value of a golf course. He would give the real estate of America to just one man, or one family. Then, an executive order would change the State of Indiana to the State of Pence. All was possible and all was so powerfully seducing.

    Then, imagine what would happen next. Anti-woke people would go look for woke people, and anti-woke states such as Florida and Texas would send national guards to subdue woke states such as California or New York. The ensuing chaos spiraling out of control would justify strong measures. The new president would declare a National State of Emergency and suspend the Constitution. Congress would shut down. He would form a new emergency cabinet with at least four heads of department named Trump. He would demand the AG, also named Trump, to issue warrants for the arrest of Biden, Biden family, Harris, Harris family, Pelosi, Pelosi family, Schumer, Schumer family, and so on, anyone perceived as disloyal to the new president. The nation would descend into another civil war.

    Any anti-democratic regime could follow to replace the Democratic and Constitutional U.S.A.

    Another outcome would logically result based on the theory advocated by MAGA legal experts that the vice president has the authority NOT to certify the Biden victory. That perverted interpretation of the Constitution would leave the government forever in the hands of the Republicans because the next, and the next, and the next vice president until the Constitution, so interpreted, would somehow be amended or canceled, would always be Republican who would of course certify a Republican slate.

    Faced with such humongous seduction of wealth, power, and glory, and real serious threat of bodily harm and even death, Vice President Mike Pence did not waver. He put his signature down to certify that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election and was, and is, the legitimate president of the United States.  

    For such a deep-rooted sense of what is right or wrong, the honorable discharge of his duties to the Constitution and the Nation, and his heroic stand against all threats of harm or death, Vice President Mike Pence deserves the respect of all Americans and the people in the world who cherish and appreciate the God-given concept of Democracy.

    He deserves to be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Nobel Prize.

JOHN P. LE PHONG, ESQ.

IS IT POSSIBLE TO FORM A TRUMP-DESANTIS TICKET

The obstacle is the former President himself.

He would no doubt consider three factors before he would choose the governor as his running mate. First, whether Mr. Trump would feel comfortable with Mr. DeSantis who is so energetic, youthful, and more importantly, as ruthless as the boss.

Second, could his publicity machine overcome the comparison between the First Ladies. The Florida First Lady is convincingly charming in public. She has a good brain too. In contrast, the former First Lady seems a little stiff and un-smooth in public. The former President would not like that. He has always wanted to tell the nation that he possesses the best. His woman has to be the most charming and beautiful in any setting. Anyone who upstages his wife is upstaging him, something he won’t tolerate.

The third consideration is probably the deal-breaker. With a Ron DeSantis VP, much younger, more energetic, and much more experienced than the President Donald Trump, the party would not indulge in Mr. Trump’s antics any longer. They would want to move on. The possibility of being replaced during his term would never be overlooked by the former President. Thus, his VP could only be someone like congresswomen Marjorie Taylor Greene or Elise Stefanik whom the party would be scared to death to see either one of them occupying the Oval Office. So, it would do anything and everything to keep him sitting behind the Resolute Desk for the full term.

The Governor could play humble, meek, and always walk three steps behind the boss, just like VP Mike Pence, who was a natural Trump Vice President. But that is something more easily said than done because it has to be real. The governor has a rather stiff personality, and a proud man; he wouldn’t play that role well. And a pretender could not escape the former President’s experienced and sharp eyes when it comes to pretending.

JOHN P. LE PHONG