Pence’s Faustian Bargain

I just finished reading a sympathetic article in The Guardian by Sydney Blumenthal on former vice president Mike Pence.

Rejected by the Trumpist part of the Republican party, with no political future, I suspect that Pence is finally being forced to deal with the Faustian bargain he entered into a little over four years ago. While I don’t expect him to have read Goethe’s Faust, I believe he may now be getting an inkling of what it means to make a deal with the Devil.

Pence, from his newsletters as US representative and his behavior as vice president, doesn’t seem to be a reflective person. In fact, he comes across as an inflexible religious fundamentalist, incapable of deep reflection. There is little room for reflection when you already know the absolute truth.

If I knew his mailing address, I would send him a copy of Faust as a gift, with the suggestion that he read Part 1 at a minimum, because it explores the meaning of a Faustian bargain and its usual infernal outcome. If he cannot see himself in light of Goethe’s hero, he is hopeless.