Pence rules out support for Trump
Former vice-president critical of ex-boss
Former US vice-president Mike Pence says he will not be backing Donald Trump in the 2024 election. “It should come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year,” Pence said in an interview with the Fox News Channel yesterday, weighing in for the first time since the former president became the presumptive GOP nominee.
Pence ran against Trump for their party’s nomination but dropped his bid before voting began last year.
The decision makes Pence the latest in a series of senior Trump administration officials who have declined to endorse their former boss’ bid to return to the Oval Office.
While Republican members of Congress and other GOP officials have largely rallied behind Trump, a vocal minority has continued to oppose his bid.
It also marks the end of a metamorphosis for Pence, who had long been seen as one of Trump’s most loyal defenders but broke with his two-time running mate by refusing to go along with Trump’s unconstitutional scheme to try to remain in power after losing the 2020 election.
In the Fox interview, Pence said he was “incredibly proud” of his and Trump’s record in office.
“[However,] during my presidential campaign I made it clear that there were profound differences between me and President Trump on a range of issues, and not just our difference on my Constitutional duties that I
exercised on January the 6th.
“As I have watched his candidacy unfold, I’ve seen him walking away from our commitment to confronting the national debt. I’ve seen him starting to shy away from a commitment to the sanctity of human life.”
Pence also referenced what he called Trump’s “reversal on getting tough on China and supporting our administration’s effort to force” the sale of the popular TikTok app.
“In each of these cases, Donald Trump is pursuing and articulating an agenda that is at odds with the conservative agenda that we governed on during our four years.
“And that’s why I cannot in conscience endorse Donald Trump in this campaign.”
Pence declined to say whom he would be voting for — “I’m going to keep my vote to myself,” he said — but made clear it wouldn’t be the incumbent Joe Biden.
“I would never vote for Joe Biden,” he said. “I’m a Republican.”