How Mike Pence Is Positioning Himself for an Era After Trump
*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).
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The Biden administration is finalizing a new rule that would cut federal funding for colleges that leave graduates with low pay and high debt after graduating.
