Former U.S. President Donald Trump and former first lady Melania Trump stand together as they speak with the media after voting at a polling station setup in the Morton and Barbara Mandel Recreation Center on March 19, 2024, in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump, along with other registered Republican voters, cast ballots in the Presidential Preference Primary. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Published March 20, 2024
Pence, who briefly ran for president in the 2024 cycle, and Trump have had an embattled relationship since the 2020 presidential election
Former President Trump is a man on a mission — to win back the White House in November — and he doesn’t have time for Republicans who are standing in his way, he suggested in Florida on Tuesday.
The Republican presumptive nominee spoke with a group of reporters after he cast his ballot in the Florida primary election, which he later won. During the gaggle, Trump was asked about his former running mate and vice president, Mike Pence, and whether Pence’s decision not to endorse him against President Biden bothered him.
“Oh, I couldn’t care less,” Trump told the press corps. “I couldn’t care less. We need patriots. We need strong people in our country. Our country is going downhill very fast, very rapidly.”
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SOURCE: www.foxnews.com
RELATED: Pence makes ‘damning statement’ with refusal to back Trump
Published March 20, 2024
Former Vice President Mike Pence’s decision not to endorse former President Trump — his old boss and two-time running mate — marked the most significant departure to date among former Trump officials who have declined to back his 2024 candidacy.
Ex-Trump administration officials turned critics emphasized the historic significance of a former vice president opting not to back a former running mate, arguing it serves as a dire warning to voters about Trump’s fitness for office.
“It’s quite possibly the most damning statement coming from the most credible source,” said Sarah Matthews, a former Trump White House spokesperson. “Mike Pence had the most access probably to Trump of anyone. And for him to say ‘I’m not going to endorse him’ is a huge deal.”
Pence announced Friday he could not “in good conscience” endorse his two-time running mate, citing a list of policy disagreements and Trump’s conduct around the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. He said he would not vote for President Biden, either.
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SOURCE: www.thehill.com
RELATED: Mike Pence’s refusal to endorse Trump wasn’t a ‘bombshell.’ It was a whimper.
Published March 20, 2024
Former Vice President Mike Pence told Fox Newson Friday that he “cannot in good conscience endorse Donald Trump in this campaign.” His statement has been received as a momentous development in Republican politics. Analysts and commentators have called it a “bombshell,” a “surprise” and a “major statement.” My sharp colleague Steve Benen called it “extraordinary.”
Allow me to strike a dissenting note. Pence’s statement — if you listen to all of it — is the weakest possible non-endorsement of Trump he could have articulated. It hardly represents a sharp rejection of Trump, and to the extent that it does, it does so for reasons that shouldn’t comfort us. It’s not a bombshell but a whimper, and a signpost of complicity in Trump’s assault on the republic.
Pence’s announcement that he won’t endorse Trump is particularly weak because he refuses to rule out voting for him.
Pence’s announcement that he won’t endorse Trump is particularly weak because he refuses to rule out voting for him. When Fox News host Martha MacCallum asked whether he’d vote for President Joe Biden, Pence replied that was going to “keep my vote to myself” and pledged that he would “never vote for Joe Biden.” That means, if he casts a ballot, he’ll vote either for a third-party candidate or for Trump. By publicly refusing to rule out a vote for Trump, his non-endorsement looks more like performative piety than it does a punch at his former boss — and a far cry from fomenting resistance within the GOP.
