Pence holds out hope for a vanished GOP
The former vice president stuck to his Reagan-style conservatism at Erickson summit
Mike Pence took the stage at a gathering of conservative leaders Friday to thread a political needle which doesn’t seem to exist anymore — pushing for Reagan-style conservative priorities in a Republican Party completely overhauled by the man he used to work for, Donald Trump.
Over the course of roughly 30 minutes, the famously earnest former vice president, sounded at ease, even pushing optimism at a time when the country has been both exhausted by political chaos and over-exuberance from the left and right at various points.
“I have to tell you we’re living in a very challenging time in the life of this nation,” Pence said.
But he continued to dance around the head elephant notably not in the room, Trump.
“Look, President Donald Trump was not only my president. He was my friend for four years. It's part of what made the way our administration ended much more difficult, because we developed a close working relationship. And I’ve said before, I'll say it again, I'm incredibly proud of what we accomplished together for the American people,”
Pence said he wouldn’t be voting for Vice President Kamala Harris (whose name he notably pronounced correctly) but never said whether he would vote for Trump (he’s previously said he won’t be supporting Trump.)
Instead he outlined a path forward for veteran conservatives alienated by Trump and the nationalist-populist Republican Party remade in Trump’s image, saying he would be supporting candidates in downballot races, and urging attendees to stick to their principles.
“I'm staying out of the presidential campaign for the reason that I just cannot, I cannot endorse this growing abandonment of our allies on the world stage that has taken hold in parts of our party. I cannot endorse ignoring our national debt that reached $35 trillion just in the last week. I cannot support marginalizing the right to life in our party, as we saw in the national platform,” Pence said. “And between me and my former running mate, I cannot endorse President Trump's continuing assertion that I should have set aside my oath to support and defend the Constitution and acted in a way that would have overturned the election in January of 2021.”
He then cited Jeremiah 6:16.
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