Who other than Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee in 2024? His former deputy Mike Pence’s name is mentioned with increasing insistence, as the sexual man publicly distances himself from the billionaire.
• Read also: In Georgia, primaries question Trump’s influence on Republicans
“Hang Mike Pence”: On January 6, 2021, that’s the name of this former radio host-turned-politician who was shouted at by Donald Trump supporters at the US Congress.
Protesters were angry that the vice president, one of the first Trumpists, had not agreed to withhold certification of Joe Biden’s presidential victory.
Sixteen months later, the politician decided to turn the page.
“traitor”
Abortion and Diplomacy… After years of unwavering loyalty to Donald Trump, Mike Pence has ramped up his appeals to the conservative right for weeks, distinguishing himself from the one whose right hand was in a series of files.
But it was last Monday that Mike Pence acted outright on his split from the former president, coming to campaign for a candidate who was publicly rejected by Donald Trump during the important Georgia primary.
Speaking at a small airport in an Atlanta suburb, he said:
“In just over a year — think about it — the Biden-Harris administration has unleashed an ebb and flow of left-wing action,” giving the impression that the man is already looking forward to the next election, the presidential election in 2024.
But in order to create a real dynamic around a potential candidacy, the hardest part remains to be done:
Mike Pence has to engage in a delicate balancing act of distancing himself from Donald Trump while he manages to co-opt his loyal base, including the millions of Americans who still believe the 2020 presidential election has been “stolen” from the former president.
“He did not stand by Trump when necessary,” Helen Allen, 50, in the US state of Georgia, told AFP. For this reason, she is vehemently opposed to the idea that Mike Pence will one day be entrusted with the keys to the White House.
head penny? “Good luck,” Jan Sheffield, another 66-year-old Trump pianist, also mocked. And he considered that “a traitor, he should have stopped the course of the elections.”
Christian, conservative, republican
It looks like Mike Pence is still a thousand leagues away from officially declaring himself the 2024 presidential candidate.
But he refused more than once to disqualify the candidacy as to whether Donald Trump is in the race or not. This devout Christian assures the press that he and his wife Karen are praying on the issue and “they will go where we are called.”
He then doubles down on speeches on college campuses as these US states hold and invalidate elections. In front of the crowds who came to listen to him, he repeats one of his favorite formulas, similar to his campaign slogan: “I’m Christian, Conservative, Republican and in that order.”
Donald Trump has yet to indicate whether he intends to try again to run for a second term, although he appears to be a more and more candidate every day.
The former White House tenant has been largely in the lead in voting intentions for Republican candidates in 2024 according to a YouGov poll published in early May, with over 55% support.
In second place was Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, with 26%. Mike Pence is currently only 7%.
A scenario that can already be ruled out: the return of the 2016 “Trump-Pence” card, which the former president has already ruled out.
“I don’t think people can accept that,” Donald Trump told a US daily in March, asserting that the two men have distanced themselves since Mike Pence’s opposition refused to certify Joe Biden’s election victory.
And to add: “I haven’t spoken to him in a long time.”
