Mike Pence stuck his head up this week to take a whack at Trumpism, urging Republicans to reject “protectionist tariffs” and “isolationism” while “unashamedly” recommitting to anti-abortion positions.
It’s a sign of what he’s up to behind the scenes as well.
The former vice president is laying the groundwork for a party that could move on after the election from Donald Trump’s populism and protectionism. Sometimes that means being a rare voice of public dissent, at other times it means quietly trying to recruit allies to his cause who might be more willing to join him on specific policy or political fights.
“We’re trying to plant a flag for conservatism and believe that many of our traditional conservative groups have become far more enamored with populism these days and walked away from those principles,” Marc Short, Pence’s longtime advisor, told Semafor.
The former vice president’s Wall Street Journal op-ed taking veiled shots at Trump’s policy priorities is just a hint of what Pence is thinking as he waits for the 2024 election to play out. But the big question for Pence is: Is there still a place for him in today’s GOP?
The answer isn’t even clear to his fans: Pence doesn’t fit into “the Republican party of today,” said Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney. “The Republican Party of tomorrow may be a different matter.”
Click this link for the original source of this article.
Author: Paul Bedard
This content is courtesy of, and owned and copyrighted by, https://www.offthepress.com and its author. This content is made available by use of the public RSS feed offered by the host site and is used for educational purposes only. If you are the author or represent the host site and would like this content removed now and in the future, please contact USSANews.com using the email address in the Contact page found in the website menu.
