Mike Pence believes in God and his religious convictions are getting stronger, he says.
The former vice president of the United States also professed blind faith in Donald Trump, whom he served in the White House without doubt or questioning, except when he demanded that he be an accomplice in his coup.
Now it has been shown that, in this earthly case, his faith was not indestructible.
Pence is taking off his shackles and seems to be less and less afraid of the judgment of the Trumpist bases, which experts say are in retreat, and an imminent bid to fight to be the Republican candidate in 2024 can be seen.
This weekend he issued the most severe rebuke of the former president, who he vehemently criticized for his role in the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, in his attempt to steal Joe Biden's victory.
"President Trump was wrong", he insisted. "I had no right to annul the election results. His reckless words put my family and all of us in the Capitol that day in danger," he said. "And I know that history will hold Donald Trump responsible," he emphasized.
The comment was shocking to say the least. It came after his lawyers filed a motion last week asking the judge to block a federal grand jury subpoena, at the request of the Justice Department's special prosecutor, to testify by Jan. 6. Pence has already publicly stated that he will resist appearing because he considers his subpoena to be "unconstitutional and unprecedented."
The barrage against Trump, an attitude radically opposed to his usual flattering behavior, came as a surprise during the annual Gridiron Club dinner in Washington. This is an event classified as "white" (for light) organized by journalists, full of jokes and parodies on political matters.
A man with a serious and rather sad face, with an inscrutable sense of humor, Pence entered the joke game. "I once invited President Trump to a Bible study - he pointed out -. He liked the passages about wounding and eliminating enemies”.
He also made fun of the secret papers they found in his possession, Ron DeSantis, who is the fashion conservative, or his possible run for the presidency. "I will support the Republican nominee, if it's me."
But in an unexpected twist, Pence got serious. There are things, he said, that are no joke, like "the tragic day" of the assault on Congress, the role of his ex-boss in the insurgency and Fox's revisionist attempts.
Its star, Tucker Carlson, is manipulating the material gathered by the lawmakers' commission on January 6 to imply, against all evidence and common sense, that the assailants were peaceful and not insurgents.
"This was not, as some want us to believe, something of tourists enjoying a visit to the Capitol", remarked Pence, without citing Carlson, Fox or Trump, apologists for the new version. "Tourists don't injure 140 policemen simply by looking. They don't break doors to attack the president of the House, tourists don't threaten public positions", he stressed. "Citizens have the right to know what happened, but we are not mistaken, what happened that day was a misfortune and it is a mockery of decency to portray it in another way", said the former vice president.
In addition, with his defense of the press as an element in favor of democracy, he also broke with Trump's narrative, for whom the free media are "the enemies of the people".
There was a doubt floating in the air. Pence knew which auditorium he was playing. Will he be able to go to Iowa and attack Trump?
