As if Trump alone wasn’t bad enough, his running mate, hardcore conservative Mike Pence shared his thoughts on what kind of vice president he would like to be. If the unthinkable happens and they are elected, Indiana’s’ governor and former congressman apparently wants to be another Dick Cheney. He recently expressed his deep admiration for George W. Bush’s former vice President.

Said Pence: “I frankly hold Dick Cheney in really high regard in his role as vice president and as an American.”

Dick Cheney’s approval ratings have improved since he left office in 2010 but at the end of his eight years as VP he had “earned” a shockingly low 13% approval rating. He accomplished this feat in a variety of ways, not the least of which was seizing the  lead role in deceiving the country into the disastrous war in Iraq, expanding government monitoring of US citizen phone calls, and supporting torture. Some international war crimes experts now recommend Cheney (and his former boss George Bush) should be charged and tried for war crimes.

The conservative record that Pence established in Indiana has failed to get much attention with running mate Trump dominating the daily election news. An article in Rollcall.com spotlights some of his controversial efforts, including one that his hero Darth Cheney would just love. Governor Pence established an official state of Indiana news bureau — to be called “JustIN” – overseen by his administration, and to hire a “managing editor” to assist in the production of “news stories.”  Despite quickly abandoning the plan, Pence’s project set the media world ablaze, and drew comparisons to government-backed news outlets in communist countries.

Trump is supposed to have kind of a short attention span, and may want a VP to handle the “details.” But it seems unlikely, if elected president, that he would allow VP Pence to wield as much power as Cheney did — I doubt the Donald would share center stage that much. But it remains alarming (though not surprising) that ultra-conservative Pence would journey to the dark side and channel Darth Cheney’s spirit  as a role model.