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Former Vice President Mike Pence is positioning himself as a “constructive power for the conservative agenda” throughout President Donald Trump’s second time period as one of many few Republicans keen to problem him.
“Nicely, for me, it’s all the time rules first. It’s not private,” Pence mentioned in an interview with the Related Press.
Regardless of publicly falling out with Trump within the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on the U.S. Capitol, Pence mentioned he would assist the brand new Trump administration on points he agreed with, however would problem others.
Pence’s political advocacy group, Advancing American Freedom, spent almost $1 million on advertisements opposing Trump’s newly confirmed Well being and Human Companies Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
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Former Vice President Mike Pence through the sixtieth presidential inauguration within the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2025. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Picture/Bloomberg by way of Getty Photos)
The previous vice chairman mentioned he and those that work for him acquired “a number of quiet encouragement” in opposing Kennedy. Pence described discovering it mandatory to talk out on discovering the “nomination of an abortion rights supporter to be secretary of HHS to be a dramatic departure from 50 years of sturdy pro-life management at HHS underneath Republican administrations.”
Requested why Republicans may be reluctant to oppose Trump publicly, Pence mentioned, “I by no means speculate on motives. You already know, I’m not new to city. I’ve waged lonely battles earlier than.”
“However you recognize, you must be keen to step out and lead,” the previous vice chairman mentioned. “My hope is that when the subsequent problem of life comes up, that folks may have been inspired, emboldened to know that they’re not alone.”
Relating to RFK Jr.’s nomination, Advancing American Freedom President Tim Chapman advised Fox Information Digital that the group believed “it will be an abdication of responsibility and duty if no person mentioned something concerning the life problem specifically, not to mention a few of the different considerations.”
“I feel it is extra doubtless now that he is higher on life than if we had not engaged within the problem in any respect,” Chapman mentioned. “A part of being constructive is weighing in and sending a market sign when the administration or Republican management would possibly attempt to go in a route that is not tethered to conservative rules. And so you are not all the time going to win all these fights. And actually, we do not even view it as our job to win all these fights. We view it as our job to begin the dialog.”
Within the second Trump time period, Chapman argued, “there’s a far stronger echo chamber on the skin that’s at present encouraging and generally, you recognize, doing greater than encouraging Republicans and outdoors teams to remain consistent with the administration.” He mentioned it is “creating an environment the place some individuals who could disagree with a nominee or with a coverage resolution are selecting to bide their time and never make that disagreement public.”
“Time will inform whether or not that setting stays everlasting and time may also inform whether or not that echo chamber serves the president properly or finally ends up not serving him properly. For varied causes, we do not really feel the stress from that echo chamber to remain silent if we disagree,” Chapman advised Fox Information Digital. “We’ll do our greatest to constructively, you recognize, make our factors. And after we disagree, attempt to pull the administration in the direction of our view on coverage. However then, you recognize, after we agree, be completely there working beside them and attempting to assist them push their priorities over the end line.”
Advancing American Freedom is now lobbying towards Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Trump’s decide for labor secretary, accusing her of being pro-union. Whereas Pence’s group plans to spend the approaching months pushing to extend army spending, shrink the deficit, and make everlasting the Trump 2017 tax cuts, in addition to attempting to persuade Trump to cease implementing tariffs on allies, the previous vice chairman and those that work for him insist they will not tackle the “By no means Trump” mantle.
Pence has been delivering speeches urging Trump to face with long-standing overseas allies and lobbying members of Congress, whereas his aides write letters and opinion columns. Advancing American Freedom says they intend to reward the administration once they agree with it, whereas elevating considerations once they do not, advocating for longtime conservative rules that they consider have taken a again seat to Trump’s “Make America Nice Once more” model of populism.
“We’re calling balls and strikes right here,” Pence advised the AP. “I feel that the way in which we wish to method that is with integrity to precept. And I’m very inspired. I feel the Trump administration is off to an awesome begin… I’m very happy concerning the president undoing Biden’s border insurance policies and placing again into place the insurance policies that we had negotiated and established that secured the border.”
Pence mentioned he believes “a few of the outstanding voices within the celebration have embraced a extra populist pondering” however that “the overwhelming majority of folks that ever vote Republican assume any in a different way than they thought throughout our administration after we hewed to a conservative agenda or the years earlier than or since.” To assist his opinion, the previous vice chairman recalled an interplay he had with a farmer at a marketing campaign cease in Iowa within the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, assaults in Israel.
President-elect Donald Trump greets former Vice President Mike Pence on the state funeral for former President Jimmy Carter at Washington Nationwide Cathedral on Jan. 9, 2025. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Photos)
Regardless of the farmer saying he agreed with “completely all the things” that Pence stumped about concerning “sturdy American assist for Israel, sturdy American management on this planet, continued assist for Ukraine of their battle and restricted authorities and bringing about reforms to place our fiscal home so as and proper to life,” the previous vice chairman recalled how the farmer mentioned he couldn’t vote for him in 2024 and that “I acquired to be for Trump this time.”
“And he goes, ‘However I’ll see you in 4 years. You’re going to be an awesome president sometime,'” mentioned Pence, who briefly pursued the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. “I mentioned, ‘Would you thoughts telling me, you recognize, why?’ And he mentioned phrases I by no means forgot, which was in impact: He lamented Biden’s failed report. And I noticed that he was drawn to the necessity for a rematch. After which he mentioned, ‘Plus, if they will try this to a former president, they will try this to me.’ And the ‘lawfare’ stuff went into increased aid.”
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“So I didn’t see on this final election a Republican Celebration that was embracing huge authorities or a imaginative and prescient to tug again from America’s commitments on the world stage or marginalizing the best to life,” Pence advised the AP. “I didn’t see that touring everywhere in the nation and I nonetheless don’t see it. I feel there have been different components that gave the previous president a determined benefit within the election. He’d earned it. He’d received it. After which he received it within the fall. However I don’t assume the celebration’s modified.”
In his interview with Fox Information Digital, Chapman agreed. “I feel he is seen firsthand, and all of us have who’ve traveled the nation, if you have a look at Republican voters and what they consider simply on the problems, there’s not a number of change happening within the celebration,” Chapman mentioned. “The typical Republican voter nonetheless feels very strongly about restricted authorities, feels very strongly about conventional values and about pushing again towards the left’s, you recognize, progressive assault on conventional values and feels very sturdy a couple of sturdy nationwide protection. Like these are baseline ideas for conservative voters that haven’t modified in any means, form or type.”
“Most of the causes that they wished Trump again have been due to how profitable the primary Trump administration was on these points,” he continued. “The coverage set has not modified… there was a response to the left’s uncontrolled lawfare and uncontrolled cancel tradition and that Trump was seen as the thing of that. And so there was a really, very pure and really frankly, commendable intuition from the American folks and Republican voters to say, you recognize what? We’ll stick it to him. We’re not taking this anymore.
Pence advised the AP that he went to Trump’s inauguration final month and “was very moved within the outpouring of form phrases and expressions of appreciation from former colleagues, together with many members of the brand new administration who I encountered in hallways.” When he noticed Trump’s new secretary of state, Marco Rubio, Pence mentioned he gave him a hug and “advised him how proud I used to be of him.”
“We had praised him from right here when he was chosen,” Pence advised the AP. “I should have seen or interacted with about half the incoming Cupboard.”
On the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter, Pence mentioned he had a “very cordial alternate” with Trump. When Trump was coming down the entrance row of the Nationwide Cathedral in Washington, D.C., Pence recalled him saying, “Hello, Mike.” Pence mentioned he prolonged his hand to Trump and mentioned, “Congratulations, Mr. President,” and “I might see his countenance softened. And he mentioned, ‘Thanks.’” Pence mentioned he additionally congratulated first girl Melania Trump.
Al Gore, Mike Pence and Karen Pence sit behind Invoice and Hillary Clinton, George W. and Laura Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald and Melania Trump on the state funeral for former President Jimmy Carter. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Photos)
“You already know, the folks that know me realize it’s not private,” Pence advised the AP. “I’ve lengthy since forgiven the president for any variations that we had on the finish of our administration. We nonetheless have these variations because the president nonetheless holds the view that, to my information, that I had some authority that I didn’t have underneath the Structure or legal guidelines of the nation. However from my coronary heart, I’ve prayed usually for the president.”
The AP additionally requested Pence concerning the viral second on the funeral by which his spouse, former second girl Karen Pence, refused to acknowledge President-elect Trump or shake Melania Trump’s hand.
“My spouse loves her husband. And I like my spouse and I’ve nice respect for her. And so – however I’ve been actually moved at how many individuals across the nation have thanked us each for that day,” Pence mentioned. “However once more, you recognize, I wish to emphasize, we’re eyes ahead right here. You already know, I’d all the time thought the president was going to come back round on the place he took on Jan. 6.”
In his guide, Pence mentioned, he describes how he and Trump “really parted on very amicable phrases, superb phrases,” however within the spring, when Trump “returned to the rhetoric about how I might have finished one thing that neither the Structure nor the regulation would ever allow any vice chairman to do, then I simply determined it was essential to go our separate methods.”
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“However hope springs everlasting,” Pence mentioned. “And we wish to be a constructive power for the conservative agenda. I feel that’s good for the administration. It’s good for the Congress. Extra importantly, it’s good for America.”
Chapman reiterated to Fox Information Digital that Pence’s work throughout Trump’s second time period was not private in nature, pointing to Pence again when he served in Congress “was usually a lone voice, you recognize, agitating towards Republican management for a course correction to a extra conservative imaginative and prescient for governing.”
“What you are seeing him do now could be virtually a return to type,” Chapman mentioned. “So I positively assume there’s nothing private there.”
The Related Press contributed to this report.
Danielle Wallace is a breaking information and politics reporter at Fox Information Digital. Story suggestions might be despatched to danielle.wallace@fox.com and on X: @danimwallace.
Pence payments himself prime Republican keen to problem Trump
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