US Presidency: How Mike Pence positions himself – Politics

Mike Pence attaches great importance to New Testament charity. In it, the then-vice president found solace after his boss’s supporters chased him through the US Capitol. “Hang Pence,” Donald Trump’s mob chanted on January 6, 2021. A Christian must be quick to listen, but slow to respond and slow to get angry, Pence read in the Epistle of James during his daily devotions.

Now, two years later, Pence feels it’s time to put his anger into words. “The story is over donald trump judge,” he said on Saturday in front of the “Gridiron Club”. It was an unusually caustic comment for the annual dinner of the most exclusive association of journalists in Washington, where a joking tone is otherwise cultivated.

Pence, however, struck a serious note. “What happened that day was a disgrace,” said the 63-year-old about the Capitol storm. “And it’s indecent to portray him otherwise.” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy just gave right-wing Fox News exclusive access to raw footage from the Capitol security cameras. Moderator Tucker Carlson had a video edited from it that portrayed the mob as “tourists”.

He showed backbone, but only very late

The trivialization has a system; Trump and his followers call the demonstrators “patriots” and “political prisoners”. Pence responded with facts: “Tourists don’t hurt 140 police officers.” The speech was his harshest criticism of the former boss, whom he had previously scolded by name.

It would be an exaggeration to characterize the comments as a sin of self-righteousness. After all, the man showed his backbone when Trump, using flimsy legal arguments, demanded that he should simply not confirm the election result in his capacity as Senate leader. “Donald Trump was wrong. I had no right to overturn the election,” Pence reiterated on Saturday.

However, Pence’s behavior is not free from Pharisaism. He had remained loyal to Trump for four years in office and two election campaigns. It had long been obvious that this was not exactly a paragon of Christian virtue. Now that secular authorities are examining Trump’s behavior, Pence is refusing to cooperate: he is defending himself in court against a summons from special counsel Jack Smith, who is conducting several investigations into Trump on behalf of the Justice Department.

The place and time of his statements were anything but a coincidence. As a former radio host, Pence has an intimate knowledge of how the media works. For the criticism of Trump, he now chose an event in which only journalists in senior positions took part, but neither cameras nor microphones were allowed. His words can thus have an impact in editorial offices without having to fear video clips with backlash from Trump fans on social media.

His candidacy is not yet official

The move suits one reaching for the Republican presidential nomination from an outsider position. As a former Congressman and Governor of Indiana, as well as a former Vice President, Pence has all the makings of a candidate. However, he has presented himself as such a righteous Christian that he did not want to be left alone in a room with a strange woman. Even in the puritanical United States, this casts doubt on its ability to win a majority.

So far, Pence has not officially announced his candidacy. In addition to Trump, only Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, and tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy have done so. But like several others, Pence has everything prepared. He is much more approachable than his reputation, said one of his advisors political, a dig at Ron DeSantis, the favorite. He’s also trying hard to appear folksy and relaxed on the tour for his autobiography.

Just like Mike Pence, whose new book is titled So Help Me God. The next stops on his tour are New Hampshire and Iowa, the states with the earliest primary dates. The citizens’ assemblies in Iowa, which is dominated by Christian conservatives, should catapult Pence to the top of the field of candidates, according to the calculation. Just like 2016 Ted Cruz. Before this Trump then lost.