but it's great that he's saying it. so what does that do to mike pence? i would have said, before today, that mike pence had a very, very vanishingly small chance of being a seriously contender for the republican nomination in 2024. i know he thinks otherwise, but his position is wildly untenable for exactly the reasons that illustrate today. this is as much a defense of himself as it is a defense of the constitution. there's parts of this pence is basically trying to say, donald trump's attacking me. i did what i had to do. we've not heard a through going critique of trump's administration from mike pence, and we won't, because mike pence, if he runs for the republican nomination, will have to say, i was donald trump's loyal vice president, and i'm proud of everything that happened except for that day on january 6th, which was un-american, but don't blame donald trump, blame his followers. that's going to be the posture he's going to take. that's not going to satisfy anybody, not the maga base and not people who think donald trump needs to be purged from the party. and i think mike pence is not a first-rate political talent, so i don't think he's going to be the guy who's going to be standing up opposite mike flynn