Two days after saying he would not endorse a second Donald Trump presidency, former vice-president Mike Pence on Sunday declared his esteem for fellow Republicans who plan to vote for his former boss anyway – and he declined to rule out eventually following suit.
Pence reiterated on CBS’s Face the Nation that he “cannot in good conscience endorse Donald Trump” in November’s election for a number of policy-related decisions that he insisted were not personal between him and the former president whose supporters chanted for Pence to be hanged publicly as they attacked the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.
Yet Pence also told Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan, “I respect the right of Republican voters who have made it clear who they’re for, who they want to be our standard bearer” as Trump has dominated the GOP’s presidential preference primaries in various states to lock up the party’s nomination to challenge Democratic incumbent Joe Biden.
He twice ignored Brennan when she asked Pence: “Would you vote for [Trump]?” And he explicitly said he did not want to suggest prominent Republicans such as Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell and US House speaker Mike Johnson were walking away from their conservative principles by endorsing Trump, whose stance on abortion is less rightwing than that of his former vice-president.
Trump “and I [just] have different styles”, Pence said as Brennan pressed him to elaborate on his disposition toward the man whom he served as vice-president after the 2016 election. “We’re different men. … And as I said before, it’s not personal.”
Pence’s exchange with Brennan came after he confirmed to Fox News on Friday that he would refuse to lend his endorsement to Trump, though he also said he would not vote for Biden.
Some pundits pointed to the statements as a potentially powerful if symbolic stand against the former president – at least until Pence clearly delineated their limits on Sunday.
Friday’s remarks from Pence marked a reversal because last April he had promised to endorse Trump even if the former president was convicted in connection with any of the four criminal indictments pending against him for subversion of his 2020 defeat by Biden, retention of government secrets and hush-money payments.
During his appearances on Fox News and CBS, Pence said he could not vouch for a second Trump presidency in small part because of the January 6 attack – though he avoided mentioning how Trump reportedly told aides that he agreed with his supporters who chanted for Pence to be hanged after refusing to block Congress’ certification of BIden’s electoral victory.
Pence also alluded to the national debt – which ballooned during Trump’s presidency – and abortion rights. Trump has claimed credit for appointing three rightwingers to the US supreme court whose conservative majority eliminated federal abortion rights in 2022. But Trump has also warned that Republicans who support extreme state-level abortion bans have suffered a series of defeats against Democrats at the ballot box, a position that Pence on Sunday characterized as uncommitted to the “sanctity of life”.
Furthermore, Pence criticized how Trump recently expressed his opposition to TikTok’s China-based parent company being forced by the US government to sell the platform.
“The reason why I won’t endorse Donald Trump this year is because I see him departing from the mainstream conservative agenda that has defined the Republican party … and still has the best hope for the future of the country,” Pence said.
Pence – Indiana’s former governor – at one point sought the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. But the ex-congressman polled poorly and suspended his campaign in October, months before the first votes in the party’s primary were cast in the Iowa caucuses.
Source: US Politics - theguardian.com
