Over many years, Mike Pence compiled a stellar record as a conservative Republican, most recently as a faithful servant of former President Donald Trump. When he refused to try to block Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's election victory, his decision was bound to alienate many former allies. But it did more than that. It provoked some of them to thoughts of murder.

When armed insurrectionists stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, they saw Pence as the enemy. They had set up a gallows outside the Capitol. Fighting with cops, they swarmed through the building chanting, "Hang Mike Pence!"

Had a few things gone differently, they might have done it. Pence lived through a trauma that is bound to haunt him — one provoked by his own boss. You would think what he went through might prompt Pence to repay Trump's betrayal in the most dramatic and effective way possible.

As the danger became apparent, the vice president was escorted from the Senate chamber and took refuge with his family in a nearby room. Video provided by House impeachment managers showed him and others leaving that room to flee down a staircase on their way to a secure site. At one moment, members of the lynch mob were only 100 feet away from Pence.

He has to ponder what would have happened had the evacuation been slower or the rioters quicker. He must have nightmares of him and his loved ones being injured or slaughtered. A near-death experience is not soon forgotten.

His terrifying ordeal must be especially bitter because of its source. Pence, a disciplined and knowledgeable veteran of government, may have often despaired at Trump's ignorance, incompetence and malice. But through tireless kowtowing, the vice president managed to stay on good terms with him through it all.

Until, that is, Jan. 5. That day, the vice president met with Trump in person and told him he lacked the power to block certification of the Electoral College results. For this simple admission of fact, Trump immediately turned on him. According to The New York Times, he told Pence, "You can either go down in history as a patriot, or you can go down in history as a pussy."

At the following day's rally near the White House, Trump put a target on his back. "Mike Pence, I hope you're going to stand up for the good of our Constitution and for the good of our country," he said. "And if you're not, I'm going to be very disappointed in you."

Later, after the vice president was evacuated, Trump tweeted that "Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution." If the mob needed any more reason to find and kill him, that statement provided it. Had they succeeded, it's hard to imagine Trump shedding a tear.

Now Trump is on trial in the Senate for everything he did to bring about the horrifying, deadly invasion of the Capitol. One police officer died after being beaten; two took their own lives; and more than 140 were injured. One cop lost three fingers, impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin told the Senate, and another is expected to lose an eye.

The great majority of Republican senators, however, show not the slightest inclination to hold Trump accountable for putting elected lawmakers and their aides — and a Republican vice president — in mortal danger. At this point, it appears, nothing could change their minds.

Or maybe there is one thing: for Pence to step up, publicly recount what he and his loved ones endured that day and ask the Senate to convict his former boss of high crimes and misdemeanors. Having done his constitutional duty, he is in a uniquely strong position to persuade senators to do theirs.

Unlike Trump, he is someone most Republican senators like and respect. The idea that Pence could have been executed by a mob must appall even the most stubborn Trump loyalists. If he were to say, "This must not go unpunished," it's just possible that 17 of them would heed his call.

Pence could go down in history as a victim of Trump's vile subversion of democracy. Or he could go down in history as a hero.

Steve Chapman blogs at http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chapman. Follow him on Twitter @SteveChapman13 or at https://www.facebook.com/stevechapman13. To find out more about Steve Chapman and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.