part of me wondered if Pence let Abbott know that he has dirt on him and offered him two options:  1. Go full retard so that you will be naturally voted out 2. Stay in and pretend all is well and all your skeletons will be let out Or, (and this is what I'm hoping is the reason), Pence is getting him to use COVID as a reason to keep as many people as possible home and not gathered to avoid a FF. But honestly, at this point, if they know of bad guy plans, they ought to take them out, so I'm less inclined to believe this is for our own good.