Most people who follow American politics are well aware of Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS). The term pretty much covers all of the left that hates President Donald Trump so much that it will side with terrorists, murderers, and communists just because Trump opposes them. But there’s an equally common dynamic at play that becomes more obvious the deeper the Trump administration gets into its second term. Let’s call it the “Pence effect,” named after Trump’s former disloyal vice president Mike Pence, who famously turned on Trump on Jan. 6, 2021.
Ever since, based on the fact that he burned his bridges to Trump and the conservative movement in the process, Pence has essentially betrayed whatever sincere conservative standing he may have once had. He’s now swung far enough to the “moderate” wing of the Republican party to qualify as a Republican in Name Only (RINO).
What makes the Pence effect a thing is that it centers on someone who was once a Trump ally, perhaps a member of his inner circle. This is not garden-variety never-Trumpism. Over the years, a number of people in Trump’s universe have been experiencing the Pence effect for themselves as he weeds out the posers, the incompetents, the impostors, and the saboteurs in his circles.
Joe Kent may be the most recent example of someone dealing with the Pence effect. Kent was the administration’s National Counterterrorism Center director until he tendered his public resignation this past week. CBS News reported that the FBI is investigating Kent, “in connection with alleged leaks of classified information,” saying that “multiple sources with direct knowledge of the matter” informed the network.
Our Catherine Salgado reported on Kent’s departure, saying that in his resignation letter, Kent resigned on March 17 “over Operation Epic Fury, asserting that Israel wrongly convinced America to strike Iran’s regime, the same regime that has been killing Americans for half a century.”
Catherine provided details, saying “a clue as to why Kent made this decision — so contradictory to many of his previous stated views — could come from his second wife’s past connection with a virulently anti-Israel, pro-terror website.”
In other words, it’s possible Kent didn’t resign for his stated reasons, and the legacy media’s narrative may be a cover for other things that could be at play. As a result, Kent has been very popular in recent days with leftist media, from Reuters and NPR to CNN and some of the more click-baity “conservative” interviewers out there. And why not? If I’m a leftist or a cynical opportunist and I don’t like Trump, and you leave the administration on bad terms, you’re going to be welcome on my show, right?
Kent is not alone. The growing list of people who couldn’t maintain loyalty to Trump and paid the price includes: former generals and White House staffers John F. Kelly and James Mattis, John Bolton, Anthony Scaramucci, Bill Barr, and others.
It’s not clear to me where Tucker Carlson stands these days. So much of what he’s been doing can easily be read as something more than just criticizing Trump’s policy on Iran, but rather trying to undermine the administration, one that Carlson helped get elected.
Even Elon Musk, one of Trump’s greatest champions in 2024, became one of the president’s most vocal critics and enemies last year – that is, before the two made up and moved on after the memorial service for the late Charlie Kirk.
If you study Trump, for better or worse, he views many of his business and political relationships as transactional. I’d never attempt to speak for his personal relationships. So, in that spirit, if he can help you, and you can help him, you’ll get along just great. To get on his bad side, publicly demean or criticize him. The rules are pretty clear. He views such behavior as disloyalty, and he’s not alone. Most people do.
In my line of work, which has been crisis and issues management, if any client ever said to me, “I’m going to publicly criticize my former boss, my current boss, or my friend,” my answer would 100% of the time be, “Show some respect.”
In other words, none of us agree with everything done or said by the people we love, like, or just work with. That doesn’t mean the right thing to do is find the nearest microphone and go public with your grievances. If you do, not only will you make a new enemy, but you will show the world what disloyal, untrustworthy, and conniving person you are.
Still, people who have felt slighted by Trump sometimes can’t help themselves.
Conservative pundit and author Ann Coulter may have been the first person to go through what we’re dubbing here “the Pence effect” years before Pence himself did. In 2016, she even wrote a book titled In Trump We Trust: E Pluribus Awesome! That alone would have given her a lifetime hall pass to the White House as long as Trump occupies it.
But when two years into Trump’s first term, she started to publicly chastise the president over the pace with which he was tackling illegal immigration, which she felt was too slow, and she earned Trump’s ire. In February 2019, Politico published Trump’s response to Coulter’s public detractions, basically saying she was nothing to him at that point.
Rather than seek to rekindle some form of productive relationship with Trump, Coulter went the other way and said she might even consider voting for Joe Biden in 2020.
Ironically, if my research is accurate, the last book Coulter wrote was in 2018. It was titled, Resistance Is Futile!: How the Trump-Hating Left Lost Its Collective Mind. How can you write a book like that and then marginalize yourself by taking on Trump himself? I can’t figure that out.
This is not to say that Trump’s an easy guy to please. I mean, prior to becoming president, his reality-TV catch-line was, “You’re fired.” The man is a hard-charging force of nature. If you can’t help him, the best advice is to get out of the way.
Other world leaders would be wise to heed this advice as well. Spain’s President Pedro Sánchez may be the next one to feel the Pence effect. Did he feel slighted when Trump appeared to humiliate him in public when this happened?
Donald Trump told Pedro Sánchez to sit… and he plopped down like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. 🤡 pic.twitter.com/mJvKbSeIht
— Anne (@Ann1365750Ann) March 11, 2026
That was at the G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan, on June 28, 2019, during Trump’s first term. You don’t have to be a body language expert to see that Sánchez felt slighted and perhaps humiliated here.
Now, Sánchez is one of Trump’s most vocal critics on the war in Iran, but it’s even more than that. He’s actually siding with America’s enemies, not remaining neutral.
BREAKING : Spanish 🇪🇸 PM Pedro Sánchez refused to bow down in front of Trump’s warning
“My stand is clear, i can’t support war and i am with people of Gaza & Iran. I am getting letters from across the world praising the stand of Spain” 🔥
He goes on to showing messages he got… pic.twitter.com/IKfMzsXPzf
— Amock_ (@Amockx2022) March 18, 2026
Anyone who watches Trump knows this won’t end well for Sánchez and Spain. But you have to wonder, is Sánchez doing this for the good of his country, or is this a private beef over that 2019 encounter? Is he feeling the Pence effect and can’t get past it?
Those of us who speak or write on political topics and count ourselves as conservatives are not obligated to support the Trump administration 100% of the time. Certainly, we should be independent-minded, and we’re allowed to have our own takes. But there’s a right way and a wrong way to disagree, particularly when dealing with people who are in the same tent as you.
You have to always remember who the real enemies of America are, and they’re mostly on the left. Friendly fire only helps the left and guarantees misery for 330 million Americans. When you’re on the same team, the best way to deal with disagreements is to do so respectfully, in private when possible, and in such a way that would not undermine your allies. Never forget that anything our side does to hurt each other only helps the left.
If you happen to be in the thick of it with Trump himself, it would be best to do what most senior-level presidential advisors have done for close to 250 years – keep your own counsel. Don’t do anything to make it look like you never stood for the things you say you did. Don’t do anything to show disloyalty. In the end, Americans will not remember that thing that you felt was so important. They won’t remember any of the words you said or wrote. But they will remember that you are not a loyal person, which means that you cannot be trusted. This is the inevitable conclusion people will draw if you decide to let your personal issues and feelings dictate your public statements and decisions.
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