Mike Pence may not have pulled the trigger, but that doesn't mean he wasn't party to the crime

When it came right down to it on Jan. 6, Mike Pence didn’t pull the trigger. Whether that was a demonstration of some sort of wisdom gleaned by consulting guru Dan Quayle or whether it just a fit of pique after several thousand Donald Trump supporters tried to lynch him, we don’t know. We likely never will know. But the sheer fact that Pence didn’t put a bullet into democracy when he had an opportunity has burnished his image as a Boy Scout who brushes his teeth with milk and Bible verses.

That image is not deserved. Before he picked up his shiny tiara as the man who saved the Republic, Pence was neck-deep in the plans to end the Republic. That doesn’t just include participating in White House meetings with Trump and Republican members of Congress to plot how they could throw a wrench into the process. It included, by Pence’s own admission, calling governors across the country as part of Trump’s scheme to reverse the outcome of the election.

And now Pence wants everyone to believe those calls came with “no pressure.”