Mar 16, 2024 - 21:59
By huffpost.com

Mike Pence Praised For Declining To Endorse Trump

Former Vice President Mike Pence already stood no chance of being Donald Trump’s 2024 vice presidential running-mate, but he sealed his fate on Friday during an interview with Fox News.

Pence told host Martha McCallum that he“will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year,” a decision he said “should come as no surprise.”

The former Veep explained that Trump “is pursuing and articulating an agenda that is at odds with the conservative agenda that we governed on during our four years,” and added, “That’s why I cannot, in good conscience, endorse Donald Trump in this campaign.”

Although Pence had been a dutiful supporter of Trump, they fell out in 2021 after the Jan. 6 insurrection because Pence wouldn’t block the certification of electoral votes for the winner, Joe Biden.

The fact that Trump seemed to support the chants of Jan. 6 ralliers to “hang Mike Pence” probably didn’t help things either.

“I made it clear that there were profound differences between me and President Trump on a range of issues, and not just our difference on my constitutional duties that I exercised on January the 6th,” Pence said Friday.

Pence tried running for the GOP presidential nominee last year, but quit the campaign in October after he said it became “clear to me, this is not my time.”

Pence’s decision earned him some respect from never-Trumper conservatives and others.

But not everyone was impressed by the non-endorsement.

CNN’s S.E. Cupp claimed Pence’s explanation was “mealy-mouthed” and “impotent,” because he based it on “policy disagreements,” and not on Trump’s own behavior.