Mike Pence reveals his role model for the vice presidency is Dick Cheney

Impact

Republican vice presidential nominee and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence told the nation this Sunday who his role model for the veep role under Donald Trump is — the man who once said he was "honored" to be compared to Darth Vader.

That's right, Pence's role model is none other than Dick Cheney, George W. Bush's vice president who left office with the approval rating of just 13% after eight years of controversy over his aggressive backing of the Iraq War, possible conflicts of interest with defense contractor Halliburton, justification of torture, role in outing a CIA agent as an act of political revenge and expansion of the powers of his office.

Oh, also, Dick Cheney shot a guy in the face with a shotgun by accident once and never apologized (but did accept an apology from the guy who was shot).

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"I frankly hold Dick Cheney in really high regard in his role as vice president and as an American," Pence said on ABC's This Week. Like Cheney, he added, he would like to be a "very active vice president."

"Vice President Cheney had experience in Congress as I do, and he was very active in working with members of the House and the Senate," Pence continued. "... I would hope that my relationships over my 12 years in Congress and my four years here as governor of Indiana would help carry Donald Trump's vision to make America great again to people who would be crafting the legislation to put that into practice."

Earlier this year, former Republican presidential candidate John Kasich reported Trump's son, Donald Jr., had called him to float an offer of the most powerful vice presidential role in history — in charge of all domestic and foreign policy. If a similar offer was rolled out to Pence, then the Indiana governor is essentially proposing he'll be the upgraded Cheney 2.0. Perhaps he should be taken at his word.

But on the flip side, maybe Trump isn't very happy to hear Pence invoke Cheney's legacy; in a 2011 video post to his "From The Desk Of Donald Trump" series, the now-candidate labeled the former V.P. a  "very, very angry and nasty" individual, who did "a rotten job as vice president. Nobody liked him. Tremendous divisiveness."