It seems Donald Trump’s own former vice president has thrown down the proverbial gauntlet when it comes to the 2024 presidential race.
Donald Trump and Mike Pence have been very publicly on the outs since that fateful day in January 2021, when then-Vice President Pence refused to go along with an unhinged Trump’s plan to overthrow the 2020 presidential election that Donald so clearly lost. However, while Trump has launched numerous nasty attacks against his former right-hand man, Pence has notably played things a little closer to the vest.
That is, until now, it seems.
Axios broke reporting over the weekend on a new NBC interview with Mike Pence, in which the ex-VP made it very clear that he does not see a path forward for his old running mate and subsequent boss in the 2024 election. To make matters even worse for the former president, Pence also didn’t mince words when he made it equally clear that he doesn’t want to see a path forward for Donald Trump.
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Axios’ Shawna Chen reports, “Pence, who has made a break from Trump since the Jan. 6 insurrection, is still mulling a rare bid against a former running mate — a face-off that could get ugly if the Indiana conservative takes on the bombastic former president. ‘I think by the spring our family expects to have a very clear sense of our calling,’ Pence told NBC News’ Ali Vitali when asked when he will decide whether to launch a presidential bid.”
Pence himself said:
I think the times call for different leadership. I’m confident we’ll have better choices than my old running mate. want to see us and our politics return to the kind of civility and respect that Americans show one another every day.”
As mentioned above, Pence and Trump’s relationship was effectively shattered beyond repair following the then-VP’s refusal to use powers he didn’t even have to somehow stop the certification of the Electoral College vote that solidified Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential win. However, the former VP has been reluctant to commit to a full opposition of his old boss, infamously refusing his cooperation with any investigations into the scandal-ridden ex-president, including the January 6th House Select Committee’s probe, and has heavily pushed back against a subpoena issued against him by Special Counsel Jack Smith in the DOJ’s ongoing J6 investigation. Pence has cited the Constitution’s Speech and Debate Clause as his source of immunity against a sworn deposition by federal prosecutors.
Pence himself is eyeing a bid for the White House in 2024, among others such as Florida’s Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, who recently officially announced her candidacy.
Read the full Axios report here.
Featured image via DoD photo by U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Marianique Santos
