In the days leading up to the infamous Capitol riots, Donald Trump delivered a stern warning to his vice president, Mike Pence. Trump told Pence that if he didn’t halt the certification of the 2020 election, people would “hate your guts” and “think you’re stupid.” This exchange marked just one instance of Trump pressuring Pence in his attempts to overturn the election results. What became known as “Operation Pence Card” was a weeks-long campaign where Trump continuously urged Pence to help him remain in power.
“You’re too honest,” Trump told Pence during a phone call on New Year’s Day. Shortly after, Trump took to Twitter, encouraging his followers to come to Washington for a “BIG Protest Rally,” which would later become the January 6th insurrection. According to special counsel Jack Smith’s court filings, this pattern of pressure was just part of Trump’s extensive efforts to challenge the 2020 election results. As Trump prepares for another presidential run, he and his current running mate, JD Vance, still refuse to accept the results that declared Joe Biden the winner.
During this week’s vice presidential debate between Vance and Democratic nominee Tim Walz, Vance notably avoided confirming his acceptance of the 2020 election results. Walz, in a pointed response, remarked, “That’s why Mike Pence isn’t on this stage.”
A Shift in Strategy
Special counsel Jack Smith’s filing also outlines the tumultuous months after the election, during which Trump, along with allies such as Steve Bannon and Rudy Giuliani, sought to cling to power despite their legal challenges failing. In the days immediately following the election, Trump instructed Pence to review the claims of voter fraud, particularly in states they had won in 2016. Pence recalled Trump’s direction to “study up” during their November 4th call.
As Biden was declared the projected winner, Pence tried to comfort Trump, praising him for revitalizing the Republican Party. “You took a dying party and gave it a new lease on life,” Pence told him. However, as legal challenges continued to mount without success, Pence gently attempted to guide Trump toward accepting the results. On November 12th, Pence advised Trump not to concede but to acknowledge that the process was over.
Trump, however, was not ready to give up. By early December, his focus shifted to Congress’s role in the election process. For the first time, Trump mentioned to Pence the possibility of challenging the results in Congress, initiating what would become a relentless campaign against his own vice president.
