MIKE PENCE IS THE NEW LIZ CHENEY

The mainstream media is very excited about Mike Pence.

* AP: "Pence Hits Trump: No Room in GOP for ‘Apologists for Putin’

* Bloomberg: "Pence Deepens Rift With Trump Over Putin Praise, 2020 Obsession"

* NBC: "Pence Draws Contrasts with Trump on Putin, 2020 Election in Speech to GOP Donors"

* USA Today: "Former Vice President Mike Pence: No Room in Republican Party for 'Putin Apologists'

And because it's a journalistic truism that "three's a trend" ...

This may have happened regardless, but there's now more of a group of people - Christie, Barr, Pence - who are trying to put daylight between Trump and the GOP, in various ways https://t.co/aDj8f4oaQk

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) March 4, 2022

Here's the problem: The Republican Party rank-and-file isn't interested. In polls of a possible 2024 GOP primary field, Pence loses to Ron DeSantis if Donald Trumpisn't included and is utterly crushed by Trump if Trump is included, with DeSantis invariably running second. DeSantis spends every waking moment of his life looking for ways to own the libs, and that's why he's the future of the party rather than Pence, even though that future won't arrive until Trump is gone from the scene.

The Republican Party doesn't want Pence. The mainstream media does -- it's looking for a new Liz Cheney, a new Lincoln Project, a new "resistance" "hero" who's a hero only to the media and to upmarket socially liberal but fiscally right-centrist Morning Joe watchers.

And, of course, Brave Sir Pence, as AP notes, "did not directly reference the former president" in his speech to donors. So this isn't even a direct, in-your-face challenge to Trump.

Despite the multiple headlines, this isn't newsworthy. The media is simply trying to will a new, respectable Republican Party into existence, ignoring the fact that Republican voters have no interest in being that kind of party.