*By Carlo Versano*
So far, Vice President Mike Pence has struck a remarkable political balance: portraying a seemingly limitless devotion to the president, sidestepping all the administration's controversies, and also seeding his own base of support for the possibility that Trump will leave office before his term is up.
Such is the argument of "Shadow President," a new book by political journalists Michael D'Antonio and Peter Eisner.
"Mike has a history of plausible deniability," Eisner said Monday in an interview on Cheddar, adding that the VP had "no reason" to pen the anonymous op-ed roiling the Capital.
Trump's second-in-command has calculated that blind allegiance to the president is in his best political interest, said Eisner, who added that Pence often appears to look at his boss with a "loving gaze," an observation that prompted George Will to [call] (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-is-no-longer-the-worst-person-in-government/2018/05/09/10e59eba-52f1-11e8-a551-5b648abe29ef_story.html?utm_term=.8d24abadf3d5) him "America's most repulsive public figure."
"He has been in lock step behind the president on every point," Eisner said.
One of Pence's main roles ー something that's always a central part of the VP gig ー has been to act as a surrogate for Trump, traversing the country and speaking to the president's grassroots supporters, often whipping up the crowd by saying, "I come here with greetings from the president of the United States."
In this case, Pence hopes he can turn that base of support into his own, should the time come, Eisner said.
If Pence becomes president, either by Trump's downfall or the rise of his own campaign, Americans should expect a continuation of Trump policies and an extreme ideological bend, said Eisner, who referred to Pence as "the most successful Christian supremacist in American history."
"Shadow President: The Truth About Mike Pence" is available in stores and online.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/what-would-a-pence-presidency-look-like).
The Department of Justice has informed former Vice President Mike Pence 's legal team that it will not pursue criminal charges related to the discovery of classified documents at his Indiana home.
Fending off a U.S. default, the Senate gave final approval late Thursday to a debt ceiling and budget cuts package, grinding into the night to wrap up work on the bipartisan deal and send it to President Joe Biden's desk to become law before the fast-approaching deadline.
He wasn't hurt and later joked that he "got sandbagged."
Canada will soon become the first country in the world where warning labels must appear on individual cigarettes.
Vice President Kamala Harris said Thursday that federal agencies are taking new steps to stop racial discrimination in appraising home values by proposing a rule intended to ensure that the automated formulas used to price housing are fair.
Centrist Democrats and Republicans pushed it to approval over blowback from conservatives and some progressives. The Senate is expected to act quickly by the end of the week.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that two state laws banning abortion are unconstitutional, but the procedure remains illegal in the state in nearly all cases except life-threatening situations.
A New York City police officer is speaking out against the use of “courtesy cards” by friends and relatives of his colleagues on the force, accusing department leaders of maintaining a sprawling system of impunity that lets people with a connection to law enforcement avoid traffic tickets.
A Pennsylvania restaurant owner who screamed death threats directed at then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi while storming the U.S. Capitol was sentenced on Tuesday to more than two years in prison.
Hard-fought to the end, the debt ceiling and budget cuts package is heading toward a crucial U.S. House vote as President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy assemble a coalition of centrist Democrats and Republicans to push it to passage over fierce blowback from conservatives and some progressive dissent.
