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Mike Pence
MikePence
Living Person
Nationality: United States
Date of Birth: 1959
Religion: Evangelicalism (converted from Catholicism)
Occupation: Lawyer, talk show host, politician
Parents: Edward and Ann Cawley Pence
Spouse: Karen Batten
Children: Three
Political Party: Republican Party
Political Office: United States Representative from Indiana,
Governor of Indiana,
Vice President of the United States
Turtledove Appearances:

Michael Richard Pence (born June 7, 1959) is an American Republican Party politician and attorney who served as the 48th vice president of the United States, from 2017 to 2021. He previously was the 50th governor of Indiana from 2013 to 2017 and a member of the United States House of Representatives from 2001 to 2013. He and President Donald Trump lost their bid for re-election in 2020, losing to the Democratic Party ticket of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

After two failed bids for a congressional seat in 1988 and 1990, Pence became a local conservative radio and television talk show host from 1994 to 1999. He was finally elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, in 2000, serving from 2001 to 2013. He was elected Governor of Indiana in 2012.

Pence withdrew his gubernatorial reelection campaign in July 2016 to become the running mate of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who went on to win the 2016 presidential election. He was inaugurated as vice president of the United States on January 20, 2017. As vice president, Pence chaired the National Space Council since it was reestablished in June 2017. In February 2020, Pence was appointed chairman of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, which was established in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. However, Trump's own deliberate underplaying of the pandemic, aided and abetted by Pence, insured that Pence was ineffective in the position, and certainly played a role in the ticket's defeat in November, 2020.

Despite his sycophancy, Pence has proven just as disposable to Trump as every other person in Trump's life. Prior to the official counting of the electoral votes on January 6, 2021, Trump falsely claimed that Pence, as the president of the Senate, had the ability to overturn the electoral college and give the election to Trump. When it was clear that Pence would do no such thing, on January 6, 2021, Trump urged his supporters to march to the United States Capitol, which they then stormed, forcing Congress to temporarily evacuate and resulting in the deaths of five people. During the storming, groups of insurrectionists changed "Hang, Pence!" Even in the face of this horrifying event, Pence did not publicly break from Trump, taking the additional step of refusing to seek Trump's removal as permitted by the 25th Amendment to the Constitution.

Pence left office quietly on January 20, and was succeeded by Kamala Harris. His actions during the 1/6 insurrection have come under scrutiny; available evidence suggests other members of the administration and Republican members of Congress worked to prevent Pence from overseeing the certification of the electors.

He has since distanced himself from Trump, endorsing candidates in primary elections in opposition to those supported by Trump, and criticizing the latter's conduct on the day of the attack. In June 2023, he launched a bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, but withdrew by the end of October. He chose not to endorse Trump for the general election.

Mike Pence in "The Breaking of Nations"[]

Shared Universe Story
"The Breaking of Nations"
Future History
Type of Appearance: Direct (via television and webcast)
Political Office(s): Vice President of the United States (2017-2024);
President of the United States (2024-2033*)

Mike Pence became the 48th vice president of the United States on Republican ticket with Donald Trump in 2016 and in 2020. Trump received aid from Russian president Vladimir Putin.[1] At Putin's direction, the Trump administration laid the foundation for increased right-wing authoritarianism in the United States.[2] After Trump died in the second COVID-19 outbreak in 2024, Pence ascended to the presidency.[3] With Russia's help, he was elected in his own right in 2024 and 2028, and expanded a right-wing theocratic one-party state at the Federal level.[4]

In 2031, the situation in the country reached a fevered pitch when Pence ordered the arrest of the governor and lieutenant governor of Connecticut for treason after they refused to participate in federally mandated immigration sweeps.[5] In response, Governor Nicole Yoshida of California, Governor Dakotah Ng of Washington, and Governor Axel Lysbakken of Oregon unified into a single breakaway nation called Pacifica. Yoshida, as acting president, announced Pacifica's secession.[6]

Pence refused to acknowledge the secession of Pacifica, pledging to resolve conflicts between the U.S. government and the respective states peacefully.[7] While Pence certainly had the military might to strangle Pacifica in its cradle, he was a bureaucrat first and foremost, and so reacted with extreme caution.[8] His most aggressive move early on was to federalize the National Guard units in the seceding states, while reminding the leaders of Pacifica that secession was treason, and that death was a possible penalty for treason.[9] In response, several foreign governments recognized Pacifica, including the PRC and Scotland. Further after the seceding governors had weeded out federal loyalists, the National Guard largely ignored Pence's orders.[10]

Still, Pence continued to push back. In addition to speeches, he sent jets over the governor's mansions of all three states. He then tightened his grip on New York, New Jersey, and New England in response to their increasing defiance.[11] He also tightened control on news coming out of Pacifica.[12] Finally, Pence ordered Yoshida's arrest, sending a team of special forces in a helicopter to grab her while her motorcade made its way along Interstate-5. Yoshida's detachment dispatched the extraction team after a brief and explosive gun battle near Vacaville. Yoshida immediately called and confronted Pence, who denied any involvement.[13]

After this incident, Pence didn't take any further direct action against Pacifica while it established itself,[14] instead using ICE to place checkpoints on I-5 in Nevada, Arizona and Idaho. Nevada, which had tried to maintain neutrality, was particularly alienated by the move.[15] State officials in New York, New Jersey, and all of New England refused to cooperate with federal officials. When the governor of Massachusetts announced that federal laws enacted from 2017 on were void because Trump's election had been illegitimate, Pence claimed that "socialist" elements in Pacifica conspired with those in the Northeast to initiate another secession movement. In response, Pence federalized the National Guard units in New York, New Jersey, and New England. He also warned Pacifica that direct support of further secession movements would be deemed an act of war.[16]

The climax came when Patrick O'Donnell, a senior FBI official in Los Angeles defected to Pacifica, bringing with him information that exposed the Pence Administration's ties to Putin and Russia.[17] Pence demanded Yoshida return O'Donnell to the U.S. for trial, but she refused, instead bracing for invasion while sorting through O'Donnell's info.[18] Pence began preparations for invasion, militarizing the border states, toppling the intransigent governor and lieutenant governor of Nevada, and filtering out military officials who were insufficiently loyal. He ordered aircraft carriers to move off the coast of Pacifica.[19] However, as invasion seemed imminent, Vladimir Putin of Russia announced his country's recognition of Pacifica.[20] Putin pressured Pence into recognizing Pacifica. Pence acquiesced after Putin's announcement, calling off the invasion and extending recognition to Pacifica.[21]

Literary Comment[]

"The Breaking of Nations" ends in 2031. In "The Purloined Republic", James Morrow's contribution to And the Last Trump Shall Sound, we learn that Pence worked around the Twenty-second Amendment by running as vice president on the bottom of the ticket with Devin Nunes in 2032. Nunes and Pence won, and Pence was sworn in as the 50th vice president of the United States. Shortly after being sworn in as the 47th President of the United States, Nunes resigned, and Pence became the 48th President appointing Rick Santorum as VP. Pence has an extensive direct role in Morrow's story, where he is still President in 2036. In the book's final story, "Because it is Bitter" by Cat Rambo, Pence's role is limited to references. As Turtledove did not participate in writing either work, this wiki will not incorporate further information from those stories.

Administrator's Note[]

On November 7, 2020, this article became the 9000th at the Harry Turtledove wiki. It was added to commemorate the historical election of Democratic Party candidates Joe Biden as president and Kamala Harris as vice president, and the defeat of Donald Trump and Mike Pence. Biden and Harris took office on January 20, 2021, retroactively making the events of "The Breaking of Nations" an alternate history.

See also[]

References[]

  1. And the Last Trump Shall Sound, pg. 71, loc. 1071, ebook.
  2. Ibid., pg. 5-83, loc. 24-1260, ebook.
  3. Ibid., pg. 12, loc. 24.
  4. Ibid.
  5. Ibid., pg. 5, loc. 24.
  6. Ibid, pgs. 8-10, loc. 66-88.
  7. Ibid., pg. 10.
  8. Ibid., pg. 12.
  9. Ibid., pg. 17-18.
  10. Ibid. pgs. 18-20
  11. Ibid, pg. 24.
  12. Ibid., pg. 28.
  13. Ibid., pgs. 28-35.
  14. Ibid., pgs. 35-64.
  15. Ibid., pgs. 61-64.
  16. Ibid., pgs. 64-65.
  17. Ibid., pgs. 67-68.
  18. Ibid, pgs. 68-76.
  19. Ibid., pg. 76-79.
  20. Ibid., pg. 79-81.
  21. Ibid., pgs. 81-83.
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