How Mike Pence Vexed His Righteous Soul

Lot, as you will recall, was the nephew of the patriarch Abraham. We don’t know much about him, except for a few sketchy stories which would get the Bible banned in Republican school libraries. If it weren’t the Bible.

In any event, Lot decided to move to the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, the first of which has lent its name to another activity you can’t discuss in Republican circles, at least until you get caught doing it and feign repentance. They were the kind of place where money talked, and moral integrity was not to be found. Even if it’s in the Bible, the less said, the better.

To make a long story short, the Bible tells us that Lot “vexed his righteous soul” by dwelling amongst the Sodomites and the Gomorrahites. It didn’t turn out well, his wife being turned into a pillar of salt, and his daughters getting involved in stuff with their father which should, but doesn’t, get the Bible banned in Florida. But enough said about Lot.

Poor old Mike Pence on all accounts has always led a morally-upright life, at least on the sexual front, and appears once to have been possessed of a decent soul until he sold it. But like Lot, he went to live in the brothel that was the Trump presidency. Who knows what political and moral calculation he made, but what we do know is that he now has the worst of all worlds.

He’s not welcome in the pus-filled abscess which is Trumpism, but he’s also not welcome in polite society. His bridges, as they say, are all burned. He’s alone, and except for his moment of courage in staring down Trump’s coup, has nothing much of merit in his resume from 2016-2020, and precious little since. Perhaps he’ll rediscover his spine and his soul. I hope so. But you can’t undo history.

But to be fair to Mike, we all make our deals with the Devil.

I don’t know about you, but I have a whole office tower of filing cabinets in my soul, full of files I wish I could have incinerated. But it doesn’t work that way. The times I looked the other way, the times my motives were less than stellar, the times I kept silence when I should have spoken up, the times I stirred up trouble when none was needed, these and a million more.

But there’s one piece of really good news for Mike and for me. And for you. And that is that each today and tomorrow arrives pristine and untainted. We can’t eradicate the past, but we do get to redeem today and tomorrow.

Here’s to all your precious todays and tomorrows.