At the start of his presidential election campaign, former US Vice President Mike Pence verbally attacked his strongest internal party competitor and former boss Donald Trump. With regard to the storming of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, he accused Trump of endangering him and his family with his words. "The American people deserve to know that on that fateful day, President Trump also asked me to choose between him and the Constitution," Pence said. Now the voters would be faced with the same decision again.
Pence made his application public with a video on Wednesday after submitting his application documents to the electoral commission on Monday. Trump will also be back after his defeat in 2020. Pence served as Trump's deputy in the White House from 2017 to 2021. The presidential election is scheduled for November 5, 2024. An internal party primary decides who ultimately becomes the official candidate. Pence and Trump have a difficult relationship and a mixed history together.
Pence at Citizens Question Time
"Anyone who puts themselves above the Constitution should never be President of the United States," Pence said, referring to the storming of the US Capitol. And anyone who asks someone else to put them above the constitution should never be president again. In the evening, Pence, who also celebrated his 64th birthday on Wednesday, wanted to answer questions from voters at a public question time on the CNN television station in Iowa.
Trump supporters stormed the Congressional seat on Jan. 6, 2021, while Pence was presiding over the confirmation of Democrat Biden's victory. Trump had claimed in the days before that Pence could simply reject election results from individual states, which legal experts and the vice president considered unlawful. During the Capitol storm, Trump tweeted that Pence "didn't have the guts to do what should be done." Shouts of "Hang Pence" came from the mob. After the attack ended, Congress, chaired by Pence, completed confirming Biden's victory. Pence later described Trump's statements and his behavior as dangerous.
Pence targets Biden
The application video published by Pence shows a number of scenes from Pence's time as Vice President, but he deliberately omits Trump. Instead, like his speech a short time later, he targeted US President Joe Biden and his Democrats. "Our country is in deep trouble today. President Joe Biden and the far left have weakened America at home and abroad," Pence said. But God has not yet finished with America. Together we can bring the country back to its old strength. "The best days for the greatest nation in the world are yet to come," he says.
With his announcement, Pence further expands the field of Republican aspirants. The most prominent of these, alongside Trump, are Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. Less movement is to be expected among the Democrats. President Biden is up for re-election, and as incumbent he is unlikely to face any serious competition from within his own ranks in the election campaign.
Pence sees himself as a classic conservative who wants to bring the Republican Party back to its roots. He is deeply religious, likes to talk a lot about religion, cultivates the image of a good civil servant. For Trump, the evangelical Christian covered this important constituency at the time. Pence also supports a nationwide ban on abortion, which is very important to many Conservatives, especially on the outer fringes. "Different times require different leadership," Pence emphasizes in his video.
Among the Republicans, Trump leads the field of applicants in polls. Pence is a long way behind at the moment. Although he is well known due to his tenure as Vice President, he is struggling with poor popularity ratings. For years, Pence appeared as a loyal companion of Trump. Far more than other vice presidents before him, he was keen on constantly praising his boss and putting him on some sort of pedestal. But at the latest in the turmoil after the 2020 presidential election, the relationship between the two was permanently damaged.
