THE CASE FOR PENCE AS OP-ED AUTHOR
Earlier, I said that I thought the author was unlikely to be Pence. My reasoning was that the author surely knows he will be found out. Pence is the one person for whom the op-ed would be seen as completely self-serving. In other words, it would be revealed that Pence was trying sabotage the president in order to get him impeached and install himself as president.
If Pence is the author and he is discovered soon, I wouldn't be surprised if Pence is the one facing impeachment.
But on the other hand, Pence may be planning to run against Trump in 2020. After all, Pence has already formed a PAC to fund a presidential run. This is a very odd thing for a VP to do in a president's first term.
So if Pence is planning to run in 2020, he could come out and admit to being the author of the op-ed some time late next year. He could say, "See, I've been saving the country from Trump all along. I've already had to serve as the shadow president."
Now, I still think Pence authorship is unlikely. But it would be a stroke of political genius as long as he isn't discovered too soon. Things are bound to get much worse for Trump in 2019 with the Mueller investigation wrapping up. And Pence would definitely need a way to distance himself from the president in order to have a shot at the 2020 nomination.
Pence casting himself as "Hero of the Republic" would certainly provide that needed distance.