It took former Vice President Mike Pence years to finally join the rest of us in realizing that Trump is bad for America. After all, a president who incites a mob to storm the Capitol, overthrow the government, and chant for the hanging of the vice president for not helping him destroy democracy isn't exactly the ideal candidate for reelection in a representative democracy.
But Pence being Pence, it's not the fact that Donald Trump is a reprehensible, unhinged demagogue that makes him unfit to serve as president again. No, in Pence's view, Trump isn't conservative enough.
In an interview with Fox News' Martha MacCallum, Pence said:
"It will come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year. Look, I'm incredibly proud of the record of our administration. It was a conservative record that made America more prosperous, more secure, and saw conservatives appointed to our courts in a more peaceful world.
"But that being said, 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."I mean, 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. And this last week, his reversal on getting tough on China and supporting our administration's effort to force a sale of ByteDance's TikTok application."
MacCallum pressed him on who he would vote for in November:
"Well, I can't speculate on it, but what I can tell you is, 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 good conscience, endorse Donald Trump in this campaign. But let me say one last thing. That being said, look, Republican primary voters have made it clear, Martha, who they're for in this election.""What I'm going to spend the rest of this year on is talking about what we should be for. And that is the broad, mainstream, conservative agenda that's defined our party and always made America strong and prosperous and free
MacCallum pressed him on who he would vote for in November:
"Well, like most Americans," he said, "I'm going to keep my vote to myself, but I would never vote for Joe Biden. But how I vote when that curtain closes, that'll be for me."
For a moment, it seemed like Pence might be edging towards sanity. Instead, his critique of Trump boils down to a complaint that the former president has drifted from hard-right orthodoxy—not that he's a threat to democracy. Pence's refusal to fully repudiate the man who endangered his life and imperils American democracy is another sad reminder that even those directly threatened by Trump's authoritarianism remain trapped by the obscene grifter's gravitational pull.
Previously:
• Trump forgets he tried to have Mike Pence killed
• Mike Pence pisses away $200K+ in taxpayer money at staged protest
• Lady Gaga interrupts her concert to scold Pence: 'You are the worst representation' of Christianity
