Mike Pence’s campaign is going nowhere, and he’s not doing himself any favors.
In the aftermath of the most recent indictment charges against Trump, which Special Counsel Jack Smith initiated, most Republicans, including Trump’s primary challengers, condemned it. However, Mike Pence launched a scathing attack on his former boss, holding nothing back.
“Today’s indictment serves as an important reminder: anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be President of the United States,” Pence posted on Twitter. “Our country is more important than one man. Our Constitution is more important than any one man’s career. On January 6, Former President Trump demanded that I choose between him and the Constitution. I chose the Constitution, and I always will.”
On this point, he is correct. Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 of the Constitution states, “The President of the Senate [the Vice President] shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted.”
But that doesn’t mean he’s completely right. What bothers me about Pence’s recent statements is that he not only presumes that the indictment was handed down in good faith, but he also ignores the unanswered questions about the 2020 election.
Legal experts, including Democrats like Alan Dershowitz and Jonathan Turley, panned the latest indictment for being weak as an assault on Trump’s first amendment rights. Trump may have been wrong about Pence’s power on Jan. 6, 2021, but that doesn’t change the fact that the real issue is the abuse of the justice system by the Biden administration.
Pence, despite his actions on January 6, has acknowledged that there were irregularities in the 2020 election.
“On January 6th, I said that I believe there were irregularities about which I was concerned, and I wanted them to have a fair hearing before the Congress,” Pence said. “But from the founding of this nation forward, it’s been well established that elections are to be governed at the state level and that the only role that Congress has is to open and count the electoral votes that are submitted by states across the country. No more, no less than that.”
While he may have no shot at the nomination, he wouldn’t alienate GOP primary voters if he would simply keep repeating this point and pointing out that by Jan. 6, 2021, he was powerless to do anything instead of attacking Trump. Yes, many Trump voters still believe what Trump says about Pence having the power to stop the counting of the Electoral College votes — but he didn’t.
For some reason, Pence wants to define his campaign on his disagreement with Trump. Pence may correct that he was powerless to stop the counting of the electoral votes, but if he’s really in this race to be competitive, he’s doing it all wrong. If he’s trying to be a conservative version of Chris Christie, he’s doing a much better job.
Pence isn’t helping himself or the Republican Party the way he’s running his campaign, and reportedly has yet to even qualify for the first GOP primary debate later month — something even Chris Christie claims to have accomplished, which tells you just how poorly Pence’s campaign is really going. Pence could have run a principled campaign without being a tool of the Democrats. But for whatever reason, he isn’t. I’ve long said that Pence’s candidacy isn’t helpful to the GOP, and at this point, he really needs to read the writing on the wall.
