Looking for heroes in the age of Donald Trump, many on the left have turned to conservative Republicans — deputizing the likes of Liz Cheney or her father Dick Cheney while using the famous notion that the “enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
Both Cheneys, old school non-MAGA Republicans, are avowed and vocal anti-Trumpers, so much so that Ms. Cheney hit the campaign trail with Democratic POTUS candidate Kamala Harris last fall — a strange bedfellows partnership that didn’t produce the desired results.
Vice President Harris: Liz Cheney possesses one of the qualities that I respect most in a leader. Courage. The conviction to speak the truth, especially when it is difficult. It is a profound honor to have her support pic.twitter.com/onedmSRKAd
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) October 3, 2024
So acute has been the liberal need to find anti-Trump sentiment among so-called “normie” Republicans that Democrats lionized former Vice President Mike Pence, especially after Pence refused Trump’s alleged directive to subvert the Constitution during the 2020 election aftermath, when Pence essentially defied his boss to preside over the certification of Joe Biden as the winner of the election.
Despite numerous calls by a insurrectionist crowd to “hang Mike Pence” on January 6, Pence made a decision he said was based on principle — a decision that made some Democrats claim that Pence, an unlikely liberal hero if there ever was one, had “saved democracy” with his actions.
[In awarding Pence the 2025 JFK Profiles in Courage Award for his Trump-blocking four years ago, the John F. Kennedy Library Association announced this week: “Despite our political differences, it is hard to imagine an act of greater consequence than Vice President Pence’s decision to certify the 2020 presidential election during an attack on the U.S. Capitol. Upholding his oath to the Constitution and following his conscience, the Vice President put his life, career, and political future on the line.”]
Pence is trending again today for his strident criticism of Trump’s second term economic actions, attacking the President’s “liberation day” tariffs as part of an agenda that is “spoiling America’s Golden Age.” Pence is again being praised by Democrats for his courage and iconoclasm amidst the MAGA policy deluge.
Pence derided the tariffs as “the largest peacetime tax hike in U.S. history.” He simultaneously sought to separate them from the smaller tariffs he supported during Trump 1.0, saying: “These Tariffs are nearly 10x the size of those imposed during the Trump-Pence Administration and will cost American families over $3,500 per year.”
The Trump Tariff Tax is the largest peacetime tax hike in U.S. history. These Tariffs are nearly 10x the size of those imposed during the Trump-Pence Administration and will cost American families over $3,500 per year. Check Out“Spoiling America’s Golden Age”@AmericanFreedom
pic.twitter.com/2NghyDc8c1
— Mike Pence (@Mike_Pence) April 2, 2025
Yet in response, Pence is being subjected to evidence of his long history as a Trump partner and enabler. Multiple commenters — from both sides of the aisle — are noting that Pence once supported Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, making his current stance self-serving and hypocritical.
Mike Pence is relentlessly attacking President Trump’s reciprocal tariffs. Here he is in his own words just 6 years ago championing President Trump’s tariffs during his first term. pic.twitter.com/6xFoQbT09d
— Bad Hombre (@joma_gc) April 3, 2025
Popular conservative social media account MAZE noted that Pence “literally spent a year going around the country arguing in favor of Trump’s tariff policies” — and shared video below showing Pence in action.
Mike Pence literally spent a year going around the country arguing in favor of Trump’s tariff policies.
What a despicable loser this guy turned out to be. https://t.co/TgQLRmJJKw pic.twitter.com/TtcvD2sckU
— MAZE (@mazemoore) April 3, 2025