Mike Pence is trying to balance a certain line to both appeal to conservatives and go against Trump at the same time. He said in a recent interview that Trump and his advisers had tried to pressure him “essentially to overturn the election”; he also stated that “The president specifically asked me and his gaggle of crackpot lawyers asked me to literally reject votes.” But he also hasn’t emphatically stated that Trump is deserving of a criminal sentencing, stating: “I don’t know if the government can meet the standard, the burden of proof beyond reasonable doubt for criminal charges… But the American people deserve to know that President Trump and his advisers didn’t just ask me to pause. They asked me to reject votes, return votes, essentially to overturn the election.”

At this point, it doesn’t matter if Pence isn’t stating straight up that Trump deserves to be in prison; the fact that he is accusing Trump of pushing him to overturn the election means that the majority of conservatives (who are on the side of Trump) will be against Pence and Pence will be known as a traitor. Remember, the mob in the January 6th Capitol riot were screaming “Hang Mike Pence!”, and this hatred is only going to grow worse.