Poor Mike Pence.
This week Pence told the Fox audience:
"The American people deserve to know that President Trump and his advisers didn’t just ask me to pause. They asked me to reject votes … essentially to overturn the [2020] election. And to keep faith with the oath that I made to the American people and to Almighty God, I rejected that out of hand."
Maybe this is a tragedy, the fall of a great man, waiting for a modern Sophocles to write it the play.
Maybe this is a farce, and Pence is a bumbling fool.
Maybe it is a country song.
It has the elements of a tragedy. As the Vice President, Pence was a man of stature, not the king, but equivalent to a prince. Hamlet was a prince.
Pence had a tragic flaw. He was the symbol of rectitude, giving cover to the king by defending him even when his behavior was venal, dishonest, and indefensible. He chose loyalty over virtue, right up until the king demanded he sacrifice all honor and do treason. Then, finally, he returns to virtue. He expects to be rewarded for this.
Instead, he is scorned and belittled by the leader: "Liddle Mike Pence." He is booed by the chorus. He is 2% in the polls.
Now he is experiencing reversal (Aristotle's peripeteia) and recognition (anagnorisis) of his error. He realizes he threw away virtue and reputation for nothing. His ambitions are doomed. And he did it to himself.
The public experiences catharsis. We see the consequence of Pence's errors.
I see it as tragedy.
Others tell me they see farce. Pence was always a laughable figure, they say. A prig. A goody-goody who called his wife "Mom." He loaned out his reputation for virtue to a flagrant rule breaker, making him a cheap whore. The humor comes from how blind he was to his degradation. And he is still blind.
Too honest??? No. His hat should read "Too little. Too late." He is a fool.
Or maybe the third choice. There isn't time or need for a bio-pic, not when America has a medium perfectly suited for the heartache of regret. I was a fool. It was my fault. I did wrong. America has country music. Pence has a story Americans understand and want to hear told. According to Billboard, Chris Stapleton makes over $900,000 a night singing songs with lyrics like these in "Nobody to Blame."
I got nobody to blame but me
She broke all my fishing rods
Put my guns in hock
Threw my clothes out in the yard
And changed out all the locks
And I got nobody to blame but me
I got nobody to blame but meI know right where I went wrong
I know just what got her gone
Turned my life into this country song
And I got nobody to blame but me
I got nobody to blame but me
Michael Pence could sing this, but he isn't. The tragic arc is still underway. He must sense his doom but he does not acknowledge it yet. His campaign website is still selling the hat. The hat is $27. The tee shirt is $30.
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One of my favorite "Up Close" reports. Thanks.
I appreciate this Pence story alot, as well as your writing in general. I chose to support you at this time because I can & I want you to know that your stories have always made a difference for me.
Thank you Peter!