Once upon a time, Mike Pence was one of the most prominent politicians in America. He served as vice president during Donald Trump’s first presidential administration, and he mostly seemed to be on good terms with his boss. That all changed in 2020, when Pence surprisingly refused to certify false election results. This ensured that the true winner, Joe Biden, became president.
Things moved quickly and bitterly after that, with some of those who stormed the Capitol on January 6th protesting Pence’s decision. Some of those protesters set up gallows and threatened to execute Pence, and some darkly speculated that Trump would have been happy to see that happen. Regardless of how he felt, Trump later stridently criticized his former VP and made it clear that Pence was no longer welcome in MAGA circles.
What has Pence been up to? The answers will definitely surprise you. Keep reading to find out!
Becoming a professor
Many people see offices such as vice president as the apex of a political career. After all, it’s hard for someone who has been a heartbeat away from the presidency to settle into a lesser job in the field, such as Senator or Congressman. Therefore, we always assumed Mike Pence would find a job outside traditional political circles. We just never thought he’d become a professor!
That’s right: Mike Pence will soon be working for George Mason University. There, he will work at the Schar School of Policy and Government and serve as Distinguished Professor of Practice beginning in 2026. He will be teaching seminars about almost every aspect of political philosophy and draw upon his lifetime of public service to help teach the young minds of tomorrow.
In this way, Mike Pence is still helping to shape the future of our country. And he’s also found some other, much more unconventional means of staying in the public eye.
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Mike Pence, media maven
Even if you don’t pay close attention to Mike Pence’s career, you’ve probably been seeing him around quite a bit in the past few years. That’s because when he’s not busy getting ready to teach or giving advice about modern political affairs (more on this soon), the former VP is making a surprising number of media appearances. For example, he has been a guest on podcasts such as The Russell Moore Show and The Trey Gowdy Podcast. Pence even hosts his own podcast, named American Freedom With Mike Pence.
On top of that, Pence has given many unexpected interviews to a variety of sources. Recently, he made appearances on CNBC, Ceasefire, The Firing Line with Margaret Mitchell, and more. This has given Pence the opportunity to carve out his own political image, something he couldn’t really do while he was in the shadow of Donald Trump. Speaking of which, Pence found the time to give Trump VP JD Vance some advice about serving as vice president.
Giving advice to JD Vance
Nobody seemed more surprised than JD Vance when he was chosen by Donald Trump as a running mate during the 2024 election. After all, Vance had previously been one of Trump’s biggest critics. But despite taking his own lumps from Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence offered Vance some surprising advice about serving as vice president. On Constitution Day earlier this year at Middle Tennessee State University, Pence summed up his advice to the younger man with two words: “be prepared.”
Some thought Pence was offering loaded advice that boiled down to “be prepared, your boss can act a bit crazy from time to time.” But surprisingly enough, Pence didn’t mention any of his profile clashes with Donald Trump, including the January 6th attack in which the president’s supporters called for the VP’s death. Instead, he simply urged Vance to be prepared to take over in case anything ever happened to Donald Trump.
Considering that Trump is the oldest person to ever run for president, some might say this is pretty solid advice!
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Going after his former boss, Donald Trump
People sometimes describe Mike Pence and Donald Trump as having “fought,” but that’s not entirely accurate. Mostly, Trump hurled one wild insult after another after his former colleague, but Pence rarely ever snapped back. That’s why it was so surprising in May 2025 when the former VP decided to cast some serious shade on Donald Trump.
This was during Pence’s interview with Kaitlin Collins. At one point, they began to discuss the heated argument that occurred between Trump, JD Vance, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Pence summed up his thoughts by saying, “I’ve been in a lot of contentious meetings in the Oval Office, just usually not on camera.” While this is a very mild rebuke, it certainly seems like Pence is suggesting that Trump likes these televised meetings so he can always be the center of attention.
Aside from this, the most surprising part of the interview came from Pence sharing his thoughts on Donald Trump pardoning thousands of January 6 protesters. “I was deeply disappointed to see President Trump pardon people that engaged in violence.” Considering that some of the protesters’ violence included very specific threats to kill Pence, we’re not surprised he has deep feelings about those pardons!