The events of the past several months — culminating with Trump’s statements Sunday and Monday — show Trump isn’t going to let this go any time ahead of 2024. He even suggested Monday that Pence should be investigated (for what, it’s not really clear).

Pence would’ve been kidding himself to think that this would all blow over one day, but the continued focus on Jan. 6 — by Trump and by the House’s select committee, which has significantly ramped up — has apparently made Pence realize he can’t keep hoping against hope for that.

It seems highly unlikely that Republicans will ever take his side in this or any other clash with Trump, but Pence’s political future rests on them at least understanding where he was coming from — and no longer pretending that this is something that can be put to bed with a few offhand comments. Trump certainly hasn’t let it lie, even as Pence had avoided directly going after him.

Pence declining to go along with Trump’s gambit on Jan. 6 was surely him clearing a very low bar when it comes to political courage; such was the extreme nature of what Trump wanted him to do. And now, at least, Pence is acknowledging with a little more clarity just how ridiculous and “un-American” what Trump asked him to do was.