According to Mike Pence himself, it was he who decided to sever ties with Donald Trump, especially after the former president had encouraged his supporters to challenge him, particularly when he refused to reject the results of the 2020 election — a power he never had to begin with. In fact, in the middle of the January 6 Capitol attack, Trump added fuel to the fire, seemingly undeterred by the rioters’ alarming chants calling for Pence’s hanging. “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution,” Trump tweeted at the time.
Pence, in his memoir “So Help Me God,” admitted that Trump’s persistent pressure on him to overturn the elections was the straw that broke the camel’s back. “When the president returned to the rhetoric that he was using before that tragic day and began to publicly criticize those of us who defended the Constitution, I decided it would be best to go our separate ways,” he penned. Meanwhile, in Bob Woodward and Robert Costa’s book “Peril,” the journalists claimed that Trump gave Pence an ultimatum. “I don’t want to be your friend anymore if you don’t do this,” Trump allegedly told Pence.
Trump, for his part, hasn’t denied their rift, telling The Washington Examiner that he still thought Pence was a “really fine person.” However, he expressed doubt that they would ever reconcile. “Mike and I had a great relationship except for the very important factor that took place at the end,” he said. “I haven’t spoken to him in a long time.”
