Former Vice President Mike Pence says he cannot “in good conscience” ask to vote for Trump | USA Elections

Donald Trump defined Mike Pence, who was his vice president between 2017 and 2021, as “too honest.” Now, citing reasons of conscience, Pence has announced that he will not request the vote for his former boss in the presidential elections on December 5. November. It is a symbolic and at the same time extraordinary gesture. Pence has been at loggerheads with Trump since he refused to bow to his wishes and flout the Constitution on January 6, 2021, the day of the assault on the Capitol, when he decided to go ahead with the certification of Joe Biden as the legitimate winner of the elections.

“Donald Trump is pursuing and articulating an agenda that is at odds with the conservative agenda under which we governed for our four years. That is why I cannot in conscience support Donald Trump in this campaign,” Pence said in statements to the conservative Fox News.

“During my presidential campaign, I made clear that there were deep differences between President Trump and me on a number of issues. And not only our difference over my constitutional duties that I exercised on January 6,” the former vice president explained. “As I have watched his candidacy develop, I have seen him move away from our commitment to addressing the national debt. I have seen him begin to move away from his commitment to the sanctity of human life. And this last week, his step back from being tough on China and supporting our administration’s efforts to force the sale of TikTok, from ByteDance,” he added.

Pence ran his own primary race and participated in the first candidate debates. Immediately, however, he realized that he did not have the support of the rank and file of the Republican Party and threw in the towel at the first opportunity, in October, long before even the caucus of Iowa, the starting signal for the votes.

In June 2023, when launching his campaign, he attacked Trump for his refusal to recognize the election result. “January 6 was a tragic day in the life of our nation, but thanks to the courage of law enforcement, the violence was quelled, we reconvened Congress. That same day, President Trump’s reckless words endangered my family and everyone in the Capitol,” he said then.

Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol did so with “Hang Mike Pence” as a rallying cry, set on fire by the president himself. “Mike Pence is going to have to cut his losses and if he doesn’t, it will be a sad day for our country. And Mike Pence, I hope you will stand up for the good of our Constitution and for the good of our country. And if you don’t, I’m going to be very disappointed in you. I’ll tell you right now,” Trump harangued the masses at a rally on January 6 before they headed to the Capitol. “If Mike Pence does the right thing, we win the elections, we become president and you are happy,” the still-president said to his followers near the White House, regarding two kilometers from Congress.

The break since then was total. At that first campaign event in June 2023, Pence expanded on the topic: “The American people deserve to know that on that fateful day, President Trump also demanded that I choose between him and our Constitution. Now voters will face the same choice. I chose the Constitution and I always will,” he said. “Anyone who puts himself above the Constitution should never be president of the United States, and anyone who asks anyone else to put him above the Constitution should never be president once more,” he added.

The then-candidate also used much of his time in the first Republican primary debate, in August of last year in Milwaukee, to defend his loyalty to the Constitution by refusing to annul Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 elections. He received then the support of most of his rivals and he felt vindicated.

One of the conditions for participating in those debates, which Trump did not attend, was precisely to sign a commitment to support the candidate who was ultimately chosen by the Republican Party. However, Pence is now reneging on that commitment for reasons of conscience. The former governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, a great critic of Trump, also never had any intention of complying.

Trump’s main rival in the primaries, Nikki Haley, also did not ask her followers to vote for Trump when she withdrew from the race. Instead, she said Trump had to earn it and that she did not feel bound by a commitment she signed before the leadership of the Republican Party changed, in which the former president has placed his loyalists, including his daughter-in-law Lara Trump, at the helm. . “In this matter, as in so many others, I am guided by the good advice of Margaret Thatcher, when she recommended that we not follow the herd and think for ourselves,” she justified herself then. Most other Republican candidates, including Ron DeSantis, have thrown their support behind Trump. Some of them, like Vivek Ramaswamy, Tim Scott and Doug Burgum, even seem to be trying to make a case for whether they can join Trump on the ballot as vice presidential candidates.

Trump has mathematically secured the nomination this week by reaching more than half of the delegates who will nominate the candidate at the July convention in Milwaukee (Wisconsin). But even following withdrawing from it, Haley still managed to get 13% of the vote in the Republican primary in the State of Georgia. The rejection of a good part of independent voters and a segment of Republicans is one of the former president’s burdens before the November 5 elections.

Follow all the information regarding the elections in the United States on our weekly newsletter.