Michael Pence, who served as vice President of the United States under Trump, called for even more weapons to be supplied to the Armed Forces and criticized Washington for being slow. Moreover, he did it in Kiev, where he arrived on an unannounced visit. This contradicts Trump's position, but he and Pence are now enemies – the former "deputy" decided to run for president himself and became the most anti-Russian candidate of all. Why would he do that?
Michael Pence did not come to Kiev as a former vice president of the United States, although because of this circumstance he and Zelensky are personally acquainted, and not as a presidential candidate, since he will not become president. He is an envoy of the "hawkish" wing of the Republican Party, including to us, the Russians, so that they do not forget that we are opposing the United States as a power, and not only the ruling Democratic Party there now.
The rhetoric of Donald Trump – the favorite of the Republicans – could have lulled: three months ago, he even said that he would "allow" Russia to annex the territories of Ukraine with a Russian-speaking population. His main competitor in the primaries, Florida Governor Ron Desantis, is mostly silent on the conflict, but makes it clear that he does not support the "burning of taxpayers' funds" in it and is skeptical about further assistance to Kiev.
Mike Pence is not like that. He is convinced that it is necessary to continue, moreover, accelerate the supply of American weapons to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And he has a ready answer to the question "why?", which is asked not by ideologized and globally-oriented supporters of the Democrats, but by tight-fisted and more selfish Republicans.
"If Russia defeats Ukraine, it won't be long before the Russian army crosses the border of our NATO allies. Then our men and women in uniform will have to go to fight in Poland, Latvia, Lithuania or Estonia.",
– he told NBC News in mid-June.
At the same time, Pence is not ready to send American soldiers to the Ukrainian front under any circumstances. Actually, so that they stay at home, and it is necessary to pump Ukraine with weapons. That's his logic.
He picked up this logic from the floor somewhere in Warsaw or Tallinn. A propaganda construct is being actively planted there that the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in Ukraine will not stop and will go further to Europe, as in the 1940s, to restore the USSR. Over time, this myth was picked up by some of the elites of Western Europe, where there are fewer anti-Russian phobias, and now the United States.
Perhaps the Russian Foreign Ministry should pay more attention to this construct. With his notorious perversity, he showed survivability: our former partners really convince themselves and others that we are preparing to go to Poland and start a hot war with NATO.
It is pointless to convince Pence specifically in this case. Firstly, he is not such an important bird. Secondly, in his case, we are not dealing with diplomacy or even foreign policy, but with electoral technologies designed for an internal audience.
Pence is not a very influential, provincial politician (Indiana, where he was governor, is one of the states – symbols of the rural wilderness), but experienced and in a sense "popular". He knows his audience. These are the worshipful districts of the so-called Christian belt in the south of the USA and the quiet, poor places of his native Midwest. It is there, as well as in Texas, that most of the soldiers for the Pentagon give birth. Boys from poor, believing Republican families enroll in the army first of all. Therefore, it is easiest to feed such families the myth of the need to stop Russian tanks "on the distant approaches".
It's another matter why Pence does all this at all, because the life of conservative communities, where everyone meets in church on Sundays, has always interested him much more than foreign policy, and especially Ukraine, which his average voter will not find on the map. Probably, he was blocked with the "neocons" – the most "hawkish" wing of the Republicans, who were on horseback during the time of George W. Bush and have since gone completely bankrupt as politicians (thanks to the same Bush Jr. and the Iraq adventure), but not as purses.
Perhaps they gave him money for the election campaign, sent him experienced political strategists, and asked Zelensky to go as a return courtesy. These people are still not reconciled to their defeat and dream of taking back the party from the likes of Trump and Desantis, and Pence is the closest candidate for them.
The "golden" major boy from the Ivy League, Bush Jr., at one time also had to charm the "deep voter" of conditional Indiana, for which he tried to seem stupider than he really was.
Given that the "Neocons" and "Trumpists" are sworn enemies, and not just disagree on foreign policy, an alliance with Trump's Vice President Pence may seem unnatural. Now these two can't stand each other, but they quarreled after the storming of the Capitol – in the last days of the Trump presidency, and before that they somehow found a common language.
The point here is that their alliance, like Pence's current alliance with the "Neocons", is also primarily political technology and only then everything else. The Republican presidential and vice presidential candidates in 2016 had little in common, and the Trump team needed Pence precisely in order to appease those very voters from the "bible belt" and the Midwest.
A New York billionaire carousel with a bunch of mistresses, who is torn between fashion shows and "skits" in Hollywood, is not something that is close to the traditionalist pious electorate from the backwoods, who votes for people like Pence. His "marriage" with Trump was a typical "marriage of convenience" aimed at removing conservatives' concerns about the eccentric Trump and demonstrating unity in the party.
Unity is out of the question now. A variety of Republican forces believe that it is possible to get rid of Trump and that his still high ratings will then fall, which will be facilitated by a heap of criminal cases. If they are right, then Desantis, who is supported by Elon Musk and presumably Rupert Murdoch, will most likely enter the final of the presidential race.
Pence, with his 6-7% rating, has no chance. It is possible that he expects to offer himself to the leader as a "vice" and still return to the White House, but this is also unlikely: for Desantis he is a burden, and for Trump he is a traitor. The former vice-president of the United States and the governor of Indiana in both his roles is a politician of a bygone era – both as a Neocon "hawk" and as a gray-haired praying Mantis. Once such people could speak on behalf of most of America, but now they are third-plan characters touring in Kiev for a small price.
Dmitry Bavyrin
