Pence would take a great risk to his own aspirations should he engage with Trump, but he continues to take a risk by not engaging. He cannot avoid making a clear statement on 2020’s legitimacy if he decides to run for president himself. Nor could he avoid the risk of alienating Trump’s acolytes with that statement. Better, then, to move first when he has the time to make his case. This also would give him the aura of bold action, a presidential prerequisite but not exactly a characteristic that normally applies to the cautious Hoosier.

Pence is a devout Christian, and he is surely intimately familiar with Jesus’ prayers in the garden of Gethsemane. Before he was arrested and tried, Jesus went to the garden knowing his fate. He prayed that his father would take the cup of death from him but also that if he could not be spared, that God’s will be done. The cup would not pass. Jesus’ crucifixion — and, for believers, his resurrection and the world’s redemption — is what followed.

It is blasphemous to equate Pence with Christ, but it is not blasphemous to note that sometimes one must courageously accept one’s fate. Pence has two choices in his life: Shrink into private life entirely or someday meet his fate as the man with the conviction and stature needed to engage with Trump in this battle. That political and personal cup will not pass, no matter how fervently he might pray that it does.