Former Vice President Mike Pence already stood no chance of being Donald Trump’s 2024 vice presidential running-mate, but he sealed his fate on Friday during an interview with Fox News.
Pence told host Martha McCallum that he “will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year,” a decision he said “should come as no surprise.”
The former Veep explained that Trump “is pursuing and articulating an agenda that is at odds with the conservative agenda that we governed on during our four years,” and added, “That’s why I cannot, in good conscience, endorse Donald Trump in this campaign.”
Although Pence had been a dutiful supporter of Trump, they fell out in 2021 after the Jan. 6 insurrection because Pence wouldn’t block the certification of electoral votes for the winner, Joe Biden.
The fact that Trump seemed to support the chants of Jan. 6 ralliers to “hang Mike Pence” probably didn’t help things either.
“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,” Pence said Friday.
Pence tried running for the GOP presidential nominee last year, but quit the campaign in October after he said it became “clear to me, this is not my time.”
Pence’s decision earned him some respect from never-Trumper conservatives and others.
Well, good for Mike Pence. I mean that. Amazing that it seems brave not to endorse the guy who supported the mob trying to kill you, but in the GOP cult, it’s actually something. https://t.co/9SAzQPBLwJ
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) March 15, 2024
But not everyone was impressed by the non-endorsement.
CNN’s S.E. Cupp claimed Pence’s explanation was “mealy-mouthed” and “impotent,” because he based it on “policy disagreements,” and not on Trump’s own behavior.
“It’s just crazy to me that Mike Pence can’t say — after all of this time, now that he’s made it official he’s not endorsing him — “It’s because Donald Trump is dangerous. It’s because he led an insurrection. It’s because he’s corrupt. It’s because he’s facing criminal indictments. It’s because he’s anti-America and anti-democratic.′ He can’t say all the very obvious things he has to say.”