It would be easier to let Pence “take the fall” if the president got out of the way and, well, let him fall. Throughout his tenure as vice president, Pence has proved himself adept at evading blame by vanishing during politically sensitive moments. Then he avoided the issue as much as he could, staying out of the White House and away from meetings that tended to draw investigators’ attention. When Trump put Pence in charge of the coronavirus response, the media promptly rediscovered his mishandling of the HIV outbreak in southern Indiana in 2015. On Monday, just before their regular press briefing on the coronavirus, White House staff took down the flag of the vice president and removed the VP’s official seal from the lectern in the White House briefing room.

Source: Washington Post March 12, 2020 14:48 UTC