Speaking like the word from on high on conservatism, 64-year-old former Vice President Mike Pence said voters has a real choice in 2024 picking a real conservative over 77-year-old former President Donald Trump. Pence is right that Trump has his own brand of conservatism symbolized in his Make America Great Again [MAGA] moniker, something Pence now calls “populism.” Pence only wished he had Trump’s following he now rips as populism, commanding 5% in GOP polls heading into the Jan. 2024 Iowa Caucuses. Pence’s brand of conservatism turns a majority of conservatives and Republicans off, calling himself a Christian first before he’s a conservative. Trump made no bones of America’s First agenda, the second description of his brand of politics that defies stereotyped conservative labels. Trump’s brand of conservatism is rooted in peace-and-prosperity, something alien to Pence.
Pence voiced in the first Fox News GOP debate Aug. 23 his full-throated approval of Biden’s Ukraine War policy, taking the national closer to WW III and nuclear war. Pence’s priorities are so twisted between his Pro-Life top-priority, while the U.S. Treasury is looted by 80-year-old President Joe Biden, most voters see as too senile for another four years. Speaking at New Hampshir’s St. Anselm Colleg, Pence tried to articulate his conservative vision. “I think we have a very clear choice that’s emerging, not just between candidates but between a philosophy of governance and Republicans are facing a Republican time for choosing,” Pence said. Pence’s embrace Biden’s war in Ukraine, parroting Biden saying that without the proxy war against the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin would take over all of Europe. Pence conveniently forgets about NATO.
Buying Biden’s logic that the Ukraine War protect European Democracy shows why eight years of experience as Vice President and more as Congressman taught Pence little about foreign policy. If Pence didn’t see the colossal waste in America’s costly foreign wars, he learned nothing from his four years with Trump. Trump has rubbed off on Pence’s fellow GOP rival 38-year-old Tech entrepreneur Vivek Rmaswamy. Pence called Ramaswamy a “rookie” for opposing the Ukraine war on many fronts. First, because it pushed the U.S. closer to WW III and nuclear war in Europe or beyond. Second, because it waster precious U.S. tax dollars funding a country with no national security significance to the United States. Pence buys Biden’s rubbish that Ukraine protects European democracy. Pence surely knows that NATO, not bankrupt and war-ravaged Ukraine, defends European democracy.
Pence raises the distinction between conservatism and populism because Pence holds no popular appeal for the vast majority of GOP primary voters. If Pence can’t gain traction, it’s because he doesn’t resonate with GOP primary voters. Pence has stabbed Trump in the back more than once, saying recently that he refused to heed Trump’s call on Jan. 6, 2020 to block the certification of the Elector College vote. Pence said Trump asked him to violate the Constitution, something Trump said he never did. What Trump asked Pence to do was ask for one week pause so state election officials could make sure they awarded the correct number of Electoral votes. For that, Trump is now charged by Fulton County District Atty. Fani Willis for trying to tamper with Georgia’s vote. Pence thinks he can take evangelical votes from Trump in the Iowa Caucuses, claiming to be the Christian candidate for president.
Trump found out back in 2016 that most GOP primary voters are concerned about pocket book issues, worried about the price of gas-and-groceries. Biden has created the worst inflation in the last 45years, when former President Jimmy Carter tanked the U.S. economy. Biden has quickly morphed Trump’s low inflation, steady growth economy into one that vaporized Middle Class bank accounts. Pence has nothing to say about the economy, despite serving as Trump’s Vice President for four years. Now Pence wants to distinguish himself as the Evangelical and Pro-Life candidate. Back in 2016, Sen. Ted Cruz ripped Trump for being a New York liberal. When Trump governed, what’s the label given to Trump by the Democrat-controlled press? Trump is often branded as the most conservative president in U.S. history, because he refuses to let tax-and-spend liberals define his presidency.
Pence rails against populism because he has none running for president. Running at 5% means that Pence will be in the dust-bin of the 2024 race, realizing that his Christian faith and Pro-Life stance can’t carry a presidential campaign. Pence admitted he wholeheartedly backs Biden’s Ukraine proxy war against the Kremlin, something that ended decades of diplomacy, détente and arms control with the nuclear-armed Russian Federation. Putting the race into a simple choice, GOP voters have already spoken that Pence’s message falls flat. GOP voters want to return to Trump’s American First policy, not drain the U.S. Treasury on costly foreign wars. But under Biden the stakes are much higher. He’s has taken the U.S. to war with the Kremlin, a country not likely to roll over because Biden thinks Putin should disappear. Pence’s lack of foreign policy savvy is obvious to Evangelicals and others.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
