Former Vice President Mike Pence says he can’t “in good conscience” ask to vote for Trump | USA election

Donald Trump described Mike Pence, his vice president between 2017 and 2021, as “very honest”. Now, citing reasons of conscience, Pence has announced that he will not solicit votes for his former boss in the Dec. 5 presidential election. November. It is a symbolic and at the same time extraordinary gesture. On the day of the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, when he decided to certify Joe Biden as the legitimate winner, Pence is at odds with Trump because he refused to bend to his wishes and violated the Constitution. of election.

“Donald Trump pursues and articulates 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 a statement to conservative Fox News.

“During my presidential campaign, I made it clear that President Trump and I had deep differences on a number of issues. And not just our differences on the constitutional duties I exercised on January 6,” the former vice president explained. “As I’ve watched his candidacy develop, I’ve seen him walk away from our commitment to addressing the national debt. I’ve seen him walk away from our commitment to the sanctity of human life. And this past week, his retreat from getting tough on China and ByteDance’s TikTok Supporting our administration’s efforts to force sales,” he added.

Pence ran his own primary race and participated in the first candidate debates. However, he quickly realized that he did not have the support of the rank and file of the Republican Party and threw in the towel long before that at the first opportunity, in October. Caucus Iowa, early sign for votes.

In June 2023, when launching his campaign, he attacked Trump for refusing to recognize the election results. “January 6 was a tragic day in the life of our nation, but because of the courage of law enforcement, the violence was contained, we reconvened Congress. That same day, President Trump’s reckless words put my family and everyone at the Capitol at risk,” he said later.

Trump supporters stormed the Capitol with “Hang Mike Pence” as a rallying cry, which the president himself set himself on fire. “Mike Pence has 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 the good of our country. And if you don’t, I will be very disappointed in you. I’ll tell you right now,” Trump told a crowd at a rally on Jan. 6 before heading to the Capitol. “If Mike Pence does the right thing, we’re going to win the election, we’re going to be president, and you’re going to be happy,” still the president told Congress nearly told his followers near the White House two kilometers away.

Join EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without limits.

Subscribe

Since then the break 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 themselves above the Constitution should never be President of the United States, and anyone who calls for putting others above the Constitution should never be President again,” he added.

The then-candidate also spent much of his time at the first Republican primary debate in Milwaukee in August of last year defending his loyalty to the Constitution by refusing to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election. Then he got support. Most of its rivals and it proved.

One of the conditions for participating in those debates, which Trump did not attend, was to sign a commitment to support the candidate chosen by the Republican Party. However, Pence is now abandoning that commitment for reasons of conscience. Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, a staunch critic of Trump, also had no intention of ever complying.

Trump’s main opponent in the primaries, Nikki Haley, also did not ask her followers to vote for Trump when she dropped out of the race. Instead, she said Trump had to earn it and didn’t feel bound by a commitment she signed before the Republican Party leadership changed, in which the former president has placed his loyalists, including his daughter-in-law Lara Trump. At the helm.. “In this matter, like 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 then. Most other Republican candidates, including Ron DeSantis, have thrown their support behind Trump. Some of them, such as Vivek Ramaswamy, Tim Scott and Doug Bergum, appear to be trying to make a case for whether they can join Trump on the ballot as vice presidential candidates.

Trump this week mathematically secured the nomination by reaching more than half the delegates at the July convention in Milwaukee (Wisconsin). But even after retiring, Haley received 13% of the vote in the Georgia Republican primary. Rejection of a good portion of independent voters and a portion of Republicans is one of the former president’s burdens ahead of the Nov. 5 election.

Follow all information about elections in the United States Our weekly newsletter.