Donald Trump and Mike Pence had a tremendous four-year run as the America First team. The accomplishments the two achieved together were incredibly impressive and vastly more than good enough to merit a second term. That the two men are now so very far apart and haven’t even spoken to each other in two years is a terrible shame.

The Trump-Pence ticket didn’t win a second term because the 2020 election was rigged. But that also depends heavily on what you mean by rigged.

What we mean is that Democrats used COVID to rewrite the way elections are conducted, greatly expanding bulk-mail balloting, thereby capitalizing on the incredible motivator of Trump Derangement Syndrome and allowing an election that could not possibly have full integrity because of the way signatures on mail-in ballots were verified in so many closely contested states.

We also mean the Leftmedia put its collective elbow on the scales in favor of Basement Joe Biden by playing up COVID as somehow Trump’s failure and by suppressing the October 2020 story that Biden ran a family corruption ring through his influence-peddling son. Nearly three years later, we’re still learning just how deep that rot goes. We believe that if voters had been allowed to know what was already exposed in 2020, they wouldn’t have elected the “Big Guy.”

What Trump means by a rigged election is that he “won every state” and Democrats stole it — with the help of Mike Pence, who refused to exercise the power Trump insisted a vice president had to reject the electoral vote count in Congress on January 6, 2021.

“You know I don’t think I have the authority to change the outcome,” Pence told Trump during a Christmas Day 2020 phone call according to notes he was asked to turn over to federal prosecutors.

After more debate, cajoling, and threats from Trump, the president told his veep something that speaks volumes about the diverging paths of the two men: “You’re too honest.”

On January 4, 2021, Trump and Pence met with attorney John Eastman (likely co-conspirator 2 in Jack Smith’s horrendous indictment) to discuss whether Pence had the authority Trump wanted him to have. Pence asked Eastman if the plan was “defensible.”

“Well, nobody’s tested it before,” Eastman replied. Pence then said to Trump: “Did you hear that? Even your own counsel is not saying I have that authority.”

Inexplicably, no one on Trump’s team thought to call President Al Gore to ask how he had pulled off overturning the disputed election results in 2000.

Sarcasm aside, we’ve argued before that Pence was right — he clearly didn’t have the authority.

On January 6, Trump tweeted, “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done.” That same day, someone showed up to the Capitol with gallows to “hang Mike Pence,” and the vice president likely wouldn’t have had a great day if the violent mob had found him.

Fast-forward to this week, and, post-indictment, Trump and Pence are trading barbs.

“On January 6th, Former President Trump demanded that I choose between him and the Constitution,” Pence said in a statement about the indictment. “I chose the Constitution and I always will.” He added: “Our country is more important than one man. Our Constitution is more important than any one man’s career.” He continued, “Today’s indictment serves as an important reminder: anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be President of the United States.”

Later, he told reporters: “I’d hoped it wouldn’t come to this. I had hoped that this issue and the judgment of the president’s actions that day would be left to the American people. But now it’s been brought in a criminal indictment. And I can’t assess whether or not the government has the evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt what they assert in the indictment. And the president’s entitled to a presumption of innocence.”

Moreover, he added: “You know, I’m a student of American history. And the first time I heard in early December somebody suggest that as vice president I might be able to decide which votes to reject and which to accept, I knew that it was false. … I dismissed it out of hand. Sadly, the president was surrounded by a group of crackpot lawyers that kept telling him what his itching ears wanted to hear.”

Many Trump supporters hate Pence’s guts for January 6, and his comments only add to their ire. We dare say that’s why, despite being a good guy, the former vice president is stuck at about 4% in the polls and will himself almost certainly never be president.

Trump was absolutely right in 2016 when he said, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.” Cross him, and you’ll pay the price. Like so many other Trump administration officials, Pence clearly has paid, and he resents being thrown under the bus — maybe all the more after four years of steadfast loyalty at Trump’s side.

Trump hit back via Truth Social: “I feel badly for Mike Pence, who is attracting no crowds, enthusiasm, or loyalty from people who, as a member of the Trump Administration, should be loving him. He didn’t fight against Election Fraud, which we will now be easily able to prove based on the most recent Fake Indictment & information which will have to be made available to us, finally — a really BIG deal. The V.P. had power that Mike didn’t understand, but after the Election, the RINOS & Dems changed the law, taking that power away!”

As for proving beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump is guilty, Pence may end up being a key witness against Trump when Smith’s joke of an indictment goes to trial. Smith’s case hinges on whether Trump knew or believed he was lying, and the prosecutor clearly intends to use Trump’s “too honest” comment to make that case. Former Attorney General Bill Barr, for one, asserted yesterday, “He knew well he had lost the election.”

The former president and his right-hand man are at an impasse that in a way is a microcosm of the Republican Party.

Trump and his most devoted supporters will never forgive Pence for what they see as betrayal on January 6. Nothing else matters. Pence and many other Republicans believe Trump’s post-election behavior and statements were disgraceful and disqualifying. It’s nigh impossible to reconcile those two sides.

Naturally, Trump touts his enormous lead in the polls — he’s at 54% nationally. It’s a task of epic proportions for any other candidate to change that, though nearly half of Trump supporters do say they’re still willing to consider another GOP candidate.

The former president has the undying loyalty of many supporters going for him, and he can generate an awful lot of sympathy and outrage for the banana republic-style persecution he’s enduring. Right now at least, it looks like it’ll be enough to win him the nomination, no matter what Pence says.