The former vice president looks forward to the next presidential election
Mike Pence is trying to get out of Trump's shadow
Mike Pence (left) during the Republican primary campaign.
archival
Some ask: Who, other than former President Donald Trump, could be the Republican presidential candidate in 2024?
And these are increasingly putting up the name of his former deputy, Mike Pence, as the 60-year-old has publicly distanced himself from the billionaire.
“Hang Mike Pence.” This is how Donald Trump supporters chanted during their storming of Congress on January 6, 2021. The demonstrators were angry because the Vice President, loyal to Trump from the start, refused to block congressional confirmation of Joe Biden's victory in the presidential election.
After 16 months, this politician decided to turn the page.
After years of unwavering loyalty to Donald Trump, Mike Pence has for weeks been doubling his veiled calls to the conservative right, distancing himself from the man whose right-hand man was in a series of files.
But on Monday, Pence made clear his break with the former president when he participated in a campaign rally for a candidate who was publicly rejected by Donald Trump during a key primaries in Georgia.
“In a little over a year — think about it — the Biden-Harris administration has launched a torrent of left-wing actions,” he said at a small airport in a suburb of Atlanta, suggesting that he was already looking forward to the presidential election in 2024. But he had to do the hardest part of creating A real dynamic of a potential candidacy.
He must go through the delicate balancing act of distancing himself from Donald Trump while at the same time winning over his base of loyalists, including the millions of Americans who still believe the 2020 presidential election was "stolen" from the former president.
Helen Allen of the US state of Georgia told AFP that Mike Pence "did not stand by Trump when it was necessary."
For this reason, this 50-year-old woman is vehemently opposed to the idea of Pence ever becoming president.
As for Jean Sheffield, 66, who also supports Trump, he said in response to a question about Pence's election, "Good luck," noting that "a traitor, he should have stopped the course of the elections."
Mike Pence seems a long way from announcing his candidacy for the presidency in 2024. But he has repeatedly refused to rule out his candidacy, whether or not Donald Trump runs the race.
Donald Trump has also not yet made clear whether he intends to run for re-election, although he appears to be a more and more "candidate" every day.
And an opinion poll conducted by YouGov, the results of which were published in early May, revealed that the former president is at the forefront of the Republican candidates, and gets the support of 55 percent of those polled.
In second place comes Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (26%).
As for Mike Pence, his support does not exceed 7%.
The scenario that is excluded from now is Trump running with Pence as Vice President again, as happened in 2016. Trump basically rejected him.
"I don't think people can accept that," Donald Trump told a US daily in March, stressing that the two men have been apart since Mike Pence refused to endorse Biden's election victory.
"I haven't spoken to him for a long time," he added.
After years of unwavering loyalty to Donald Trump, for weeks Mike Pence has doubled down on his veiled calls to the conservative right and distanced himself from the man whose right arm was in a series of files.
Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news