Former Vice President Mike Pence says the Republican Party will make gains in the 2024 election if it resists the current political trends embodied by former President Donald Trump.
Mr. Pence plans to drive the message home Friday at the FreedomWorks’ Restore Liberty confab in Palm Beach, Florida. He will call on Republicans to stand firm behind Ukraine, back changes to entitlement programs, and not give an inch in the post-Roe battle over abortion.
“We need leaders with the courage to speak hard truths, and have faith that the American people will rally to our cause,” Mr. Pence will say, according to speech excerpts. “We must resist the temptation to put what is popular over what is wise, and resist the politics of personality and the lure of populism unmoored to timeless conservative values.”
Mr. Pence is laying the groundwork for a presidential bid and is expected to announce his plans over the coming months.
He has signaled his candidacy would be based on strengthening the marriage between traditional conservatism and the policies related to border security, free trade and China that Mr. Trump and the Make American Great Again movement popularized.
At the same time, Mr. Pence is seeking to strike a delicate balance between celebrating the accomplishments of the Trump-Pence administration, while also convincing GOP primary voters he is better equipped — both in terms of demeanor and policy vision — than Mr. Trump to lead the party into the 2024 election.
“It’s becoming clearer every day that the upcoming Republican primaries will not just be a contest of candidates but a conflict of visions,” Mr. Pence will say. “One vision grounded in traditional Republican principles, and another vision driven by the promise of winning at the expense of our highest ideals.”
The Washington Times has asked the Trump campaign for comment.
Mr. Pence says the GOP must rally behind the “Reagan Doctrine” and against the calls to push to cut defense spending coming from Mr. Biden and “some prominent Republicans.”
As the leader of the free world, America must continue to support Ukraine in its war with Russia, he says.
“Ukraine is willing to fight, so let’s give them the support they need to win, so we don’t have to fight ourselves,” he will say. “We don’t have to choose between prosperity at home and security abroad. Those who claim we do have a pretty small view of the greatest nation on earth.”
Mr. Pence said the party should be upfront about the need to reduce the costs of the nation’s entitlement programs as a way to curb the national debt and keep the programs fiscally solvent, distancing himself from both Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump.
“Joe Biden’s policy is insolvency. And sadly, other Republicans have echoed Biden’s pledge ‘not to touch’ Social Security,” he will say. “I think we owe my three granddaughters better.”
Mr. Pence has his work cut out for him if he jumps into the 2024 race. Perhaps the biggest challenge of all will be winning over Trump loyalists who are poised to dominate the primaries.
Mr. Trump insists Mr. Pence could have done more to stop the counting of electoral votes, thereby preventing Mr. Biden from assuming the presidency.
That claim, which has been rebutted by most scholars, and the former president’s unrelenting assertion the 2020 election was stolen has hurt the GOP at the ballot box.
“If 2022 taught us anything, it’s that candidates who were focused on the challenges facing American families did well,” Mr. Pence will say. “But candidates focused on the past, on litigating the last election, did not do well.”
Source:Washington Times
