Pence on the verge of angering Trump after avoiding his ire for years: CNN

On CNN Saturday, New York magazine correspondent Olivia Nuzzi noted that Vice President Mike Pence — who has largely escaped President Donald Trump's wrath over the years — will now inevitably face it as he is required to perform his constitutional duty and count the Electoral College votes confirming Joe Biden the winner of the election.

Trump and his supporters have suggested Pence can throw out or challenge these votes, but he actually has no constitutional power to do so — setting them up for disappointment and anger.

"It certainly isn't new, but that's stunning that [Republicans] think it's short term easier to assault the democratic traditions and that the American people will have a memory of a firefly," said anchor John Avlon. "One person not in that position of a luxury is Mike Pence. Here's somebody who has done everything he could to support the president uncritically, his own ambitions going forward. That relationship must be at a straining, if not a breaking point."

"We have seen this, Mike Pence put in a damaging position and managing to get by without having to say anything that harms his relationship with the president, said Nuzzi. "Obviously that's a bit different this week."

She added, however, that "I don't think we're going to see an outright feud between the vice president and the president in the final days of the administration. It would go against everything that we know to be true about Mike Pence's personality and kind of his anti-conflict way of existing in this administration for that to happen."

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