Global Courant 2023-05-10 14:00:00
CINCINNATI — Mike Pence recalled Tuesday that he only later learned that insurgents had been singing “Hang Mike Pence” while hiding in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
As he spoke in a sunlit atrium of the Duke Energy Convention Center here, gay rights protesters serenaded the former vice president with chants of “F—Mike Pence.”
Screaming from the sidewalk outside and waving rainbow flags and homemade signs, the chorus was loud enough to briefly interrupt Pence’s exclusive interview with NBC News.
It was a reminder that almost everywhere the mild-mannered Pence goes, he finds Americans moved to deep anger by his mere presence. At a National Rifle Association conference last month, Pence was the only speaker to be greeted with a cavalcade of lewd boos.
But Pence, who is slowly making strides toward a 2024 presidential bid, seems undeterred by the vitriol — or by primary polls consistently showing him register in single digits with Republican voters. Instead, he sounds more and more like a candidate who has decided to enter the race, but is not yet ready to make it official.
“I expect that before the month of June is over, we will let people know about our decision,” he said. “If we choose to continue, this race won’t really start until the August debate in Milwaukee.”
What remains less clear is the path to the presidency for a candidate whose traditional conservative politics, bona fide establishment, and respect for Democratic institutions were all out of fashion for Republicans in the Trump era. Many of former President Donald Trump’s biggest supporters treat him as a traitor because he rejected Trump’s pleas to hinder the number of votes that sealed their fate in the 2020 election.
That helps explain why some veteran Republican operatives are speculating that Pence could eventually forego an offer, even if he travels across the country. He was in Cincinnati Tuesday to speak at a gala for the Center for Christian Virtue, and he has plans to visit New Hampshire — the site of the nation’s first primary — later this month.
But while most current campaigns have gathered staff on the sidelines, Pence’s core team hasn’t expanded, and agents in the early states say there isn’t much talk about his aides’ outreach to potential collaborators.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, on the other hand, who comes in second to Trump and well ahead of the rest of the pack in national polls, has a super PAC that has hired aides and aired ads across the country. DeSantis is expected to make his offer later this month.
Trump, considering skipping that first Republican National Committee-sanctioned primary debate, is the clear frontrunner in a race for the nomination he has already won twice before. And Pence was hesitant to attack his former boss.
Asked Tuesday if a jury verdict holding Trump liable for sexually assaulting and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll changed his view of his former running mate’s fitness to run for president, Pence stepped aside.
“I think that’s a question for the American people,” he said, adding that he had never seen Trump sexually assault anyone.
He has repeatedly said Trump acted recklessly on Jan. 6, but declined to say whether he felt in his gut that the former president had fueled the riot at the Capitol. He framed his stance on that around the legal question of whether Trump’s actions amounted to sedition, and he suggested that it may not.
“I’m just not convinced that taking bad advice from lawyers and then voicing that opinion in public rises to that level,” Pence said.
Along with the tightrope he would have to navigate between factions of the Republican Party, Pence seems determined to find ways to differentiate himself from Trump without throwing any hard punches. That could be a tall order given his public record of agreeing with Trump on pretty much everything from the day he joined the ticket in 2016 to Jan. 6.
“I think people will make their own judgments about the waning days of government,” Pence said.
Still, he outlined Trump assumptions that could form the core themes of a primary campaign.
“If I run for the Republican nomination for president, I’m going to talk about American leadership in the world,” he said. “I’m going to talk about the need to continue supporting the army in Ukraine until they repel the Russian invasion.”
Trump has said he will end the war immediately upon taking office.
Pence said he would push for national restrictions on abortion, referring to the issue as “the calling of our times” and said he should “seize every opportunity” to restrict the procedure. Trump has been coy about a national abortion ban, but recently pledged to do so “get something done” if he is elected president again.
He was very aggressive in criticizing Trump for promising to oppose Social Security and Medicare cuts.
“The former president’s stance on Social Security and Medicare is identical to Joe Biden’s,” Pence said. “Joe Biden’s position is insolvency. He says we will never talk about compassionate rights reform and the former president has taken exactly the same position.
Pence acknowledged that Trump is the distant front-runner for the nomination, but said this is “a reflection of how deeply concerned people are about President Biden’s failed policies at home and abroad.”
Therefore, he added, voters are “naturally drawn to the familiar in troubled times.”
What they don’t seem to gravitate toward right now — based on poll data and the anger of both the Trump base and Democrats — is a Pence campaign.
But the former vice president suggested the numbers don’t faze him.
“Regardless of what the polls show, I think Republican voters are looking for new leadership in our party and in the country,” he said.
