Posted on 03/17/2024 4:13:31 AM PDT by where's_the_Outrage?
A procession of prominent Republicans who wanted to guide their party away from Donald Trump in 2024 have come around to him as the former president became the party’s presumptive nominee. And many have offered virtually the same justification in grudgingly offering support: He’s at least preferable to President Biden.
“I think he’d be better than Joe Biden,” said Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. “It’s as simple as that.”
“I mean, the alternative is Biden,” said New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu.
“The choice before the American people is crystal clear: It’s Donald Trump or Joe Biden,” said Senate Minority Whip John Thune (S.D.).
Trump’s own vice president offered a very different take Friday. In declining to endorse Trump, Mike Pence made a major statement that undercut other Trump-skeptical Republicans who have suggested through their actions that there is no alternative. His decision could also provide a permission structure for others whose endorsements are up in the air, like Nikki Haley, to hold off.
“It should come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year,” Pence said told Fox News on Friday.
But it did come as something of a surprise. Pence, after all, had raised his hand at an August debate when he and the other GOP presidential candidates were asked whether they would support even a criminally convicted Trump if he were nominated.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
In the case of Pence, I don't see how it could have been helped. Trump had to go in with politically astute advisors (who also have their warts). They navigated through some very rough days to achieve the goal. Undoubtedly they thought he needed a splash of eau de Pence, and at the time, that wasn't bad advice.
Overall, Trump knows how to delegate, but at that level of power, it's like sorting live ordnance from duds. Errors are spectacular. (Even when you realize the error in time, how do you get rid of a problem like Jeff Sessions without getting your hands blown off?)
Trump was a one-of-a-kind item in 2016. So were his selections. This time, experience will weigh more than advice.
The Post’s language seems loaded. Surprise, surprise.
I don’t remember. Wasn’t it a pledge to support the eventual nominee? Not so much a quick response to an unexpected question, but a well-considered response to a question they knew was coming. It seems to me that going back on a pledge has some resemblance to lying.
Pence clearly has a book coming out. He also clearly wants a multi million dollar a year gig at MSLSD.
In biblical terms raising your hand stating you would support the eventual nominee and then not supporting the nominee shows exactly what type of man Pence is. He is a liar. He had the choice to hold his hand down and didn't at the time. He is now showing the world that he is a liar and his word is worth as much as saliva in a tobacco spittoon. There was a day when a man's word was worth gold and you could count on it. Pence is a coward.
Magnitude 1/4 storm.
Never trusted this prick.......right from when he was picked.....I was right.
But you don't have to be stupid to be blind (as you and I know from the UFO threads). Pence is a very conventional man and the country is in a very unconventional predicament right now.
It is hard for conventional people to see things outside their frames of reference. More a matter of being afraid and closed-minded than being stupid.
Donald J. Trump is extremely fortunate in the array of “enemies” he has collected over the years and during his turn in political discourse. The “enemies” self-select, and in flinging themselves into the fray, also succeed in self-destruction.
For many years, Trump was rather apolitical, supporting Democrat or Republican candidates with about equal balance, if they showed promise of not getting in his way as a real estate tycoon and builder extraordinary of great edifices. In New York State, Trump had contributed to both Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton, in their quests for their respective Senate seats, and there seemed to be general consensus he would comfortably settle into that role for all time.
But then he began getting reverses on approvals and agreements with the authorities in regards to his real estate empire, and his focus suddenly shifted to taking out those who were thwarting his ambitions. Now, Donald J. Trump is a force of nature, and about as easily contained as a massive hurricane. In a surprise turn of events, he stormed over just about all the Republican candidates to gain the nomination on the Republican ticket, and then he turned all his power and fury on his onetime protégé Hillary Clinton, completely reversing what had been a foregone conclusion.
The rest is history, and if there is one lesson for all, it is, do not mess with Donald J. Trump.
This is literally a nothing story. He is just another in a long line of GOP lifers who have seen Trump supersede all of their political hopes and dreams in a single decade , who now petty and jealous and using the only supposed leverage have- to crap on their own candidate.
That’s true.
Good comments—it is about the banality of evil.
In a system where evil predominates the go along get along types can easily find themselves in wild new situations—where they then can make very bad moves.
The reason I am convinced Pence is evil is that he has never repented.
He has had plenty of time to reflect and figure out what happened and why.
yeah that was the case in 2020 too, idiots
Pence’s importance?
A passing bean fart.
He is worthless, has ZERO credibility.
The D.C. swamp didnt leave much for Trump to chose from.. Imagine working as the head of a county animal shelter and the lunch menu is what you can find in the side yard.
Pence makes me sick.
He’s putting on his “Holier Than Thou Cloak”.
Years ago, I got a capitol tour booked through a U.S. Senator's office from a small state of which I was a resident.
Other than the administrative assistant, I was surprised to find out that almost NONE of the staffers were from the same state. Since it was summer vacation season, I asked one why and got a response which was refreshingly honest.
Almost all of the lower level staffers live on the green line (a crime infested area of DC but with cheap housing as a result), get low pay and share rooms with most living 6 to a 3 bedroom flat. They are government junkies who love the thrill of being close to power in exchange for low pay. If a senator or congressman retires or otherwise leaves office or a staffer gets promoted, they go to the next one available. This is the pool of people available in the DC swamp.
Justices Kennedy and O'Connor have both said in books that their opposition to gay marriage was broken down by working with gay law clerks over the years who were so polite and so tireless in their work.
This is the environment of the swamp. This is why it has to be drained.
The coveted Pence endorsement, said no one ever.
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