Donald Trump is too toxic (and lazy) to send on the road campaigning for Republican candidates, so his suck-up sidekick is doing it instead. Mike Pence is on the road trying to shore up Republican hopes for November—and, as a side benefit that may be the real benefit, earning IOUs for his own future political hopes. Or is the side/real benefit that Pence isn’t anywhere near the White House while Trump is melting down? Or that he gets a breather from all that ass-kissing? Whatever is the top reason, this trip is a win-win-win-win for Pence:
Pence will travel to Iowa, Nebraska, Kentucky and Ohio this week for a mix of official and campaign events, a White House aide said. The trips reflect a strategy of mixing official events to promote tax cuts with campaign events for Republican candidates. [...]
Pence will have held more than 30 campaign events this year by the end of April, the official said. Pence is also raising money for GOP candidates through a leadership PAC.
Pence will do very serious tax policy events in Iowa, Kentucky, and Ohio with an outside group called America First Policies, while campaigning for candidates in Nebraska, Kentucky, and Ohio. And while those tax events are official and all about policy, the reality, of course, is that Republicans need to prop up public opinion on their tax scam to boost their November prospects, so Pence is doing double duty here.
And hey, it all works out for Mike Pence because not only does it get him out of Washington during Trump’s meltdowns, but if and when Pence gets the chance to run for president, be it 2024 or—for some strange reason—2020, a whole lot of Republicans all across the country will feel like they owe him for having helped out in 2018 when things were looking rough.
Take back the House! Can you give $1 to the Democratic nominee fund in each Daily Kos-targeted district?
Or how about helping take back the Senate by giving $3 each to the Democratic nominee funds for Senate in Arizona and Nevada?