Truth Social users are putting former Vice President Mike Pence on blast following the indictment of former President Donald Trump on charges related to his role in attempting to overturn the 2020 election.
As of Thursday morning, the number one trending topic on the Trump-backed social media platform is the hashtag “JudasPence,” followed by “mikepence.”
Many Trump supporters have been vocal critics of Pence since Jan. 6, 2021—when Pence broke from Trump and helped certify the 2020 election.
As a result of his decision, some furious Trump supporters at the Jan. 6 riot broke out into chants of “hang Mike Pence.”
And Trump slammed his ex-VP on social media after he certified his loss, writing that he “didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify.”
Federal prosecutors on Tuesday indicted Trump on charges of conspiracy to defraud the U.S., conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights over his actions following the 2020 election.
Pence commended the indictment in a tweet Tuesday, writing that it serves “as an important reminder: anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be President of the United States.”
Trump has fumed over t he charges online, which he has dubbed as a “fake” case and an “unprecedented weaponization of ‘justice.’”
In an interview on Fox News after the indictment, some people felt Pence implied that he could have rejected votes on Jan. 6. leading to the charge that he turned on Trump.
Trump supporter on Truth Social are just as upset, and many are pointing their anger toward Pence with the hashtag #JudasPence, a reference to the biblical story of Jesus’ betrayal.
“Mike Pence should be referred to from now on as Judas,” posted one user, who added that there could be a hashtag for former Attorney General Bill Barr (who has voiced his support for the indictment) as “two-faced back-stabbing Barr).
“Pence is a coward … I’m done with him,” wrote Trump influencer Seb Gorka.
Similar sentiment reigned on Twitter.
“Please quit telling People that you are a Christian! Judas Iscariot made that claim also and you are his modern day equivalent!” replied one person to an old tweet of his praising God.
Pence is currently running for the 2024 Republican nomination against Trump. Other candidates, like Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R-Fla.) criticized the decision to indict Trump.
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*First Published: Aug 3, 2023, 11:19 am CDT
Katherine Huggins
Katherine Huggins is a New York-based journalist and freelance contributor to the Daily Dot’s tech and politics section. She helps cover the United Nations for the Japanese newspaper Mainichi and previously reported on the 2022 midterm elections for Marketwatch. Her work has appeared in USA Today, Forbes, OpenSecrets and more.
