Pence tests the ground for 2024, distances himself from Trump

NEW YORK (AP) —

When a video circulated in which Donald Trump mocked how he groped women without their consent, Mike Pence stood by his side, as a companion to the presidential formula. When the coronavirus wreaked havoc in the United States, the then vice president praised the government's handling of the crisis. And when a Trump mob took over the Congress building and threatened to kill him, Pence refused to invoke the 25th amendment to the constitution in order to remove Trump.

But after years of being faithful hillside to the former president, Pence is beginning to distance himself from Trump with a view to a possible run for president.

Last month Pence said that Trump was “wrong” in insisting that he could overturn the results of the 2020 elections, an attribution that a vice president does not have. In another presentation to major Republican donors, Pence urged the party to leave Trump's vendettas behind those elections, stating that “there is no place in this party for Vladimir Putin's apologists.” He made that comment after Trump branded the Russian president a “genius” before his brutal invasion of Ukraine.

These actions indicate that Pence is trying to forge a political identity independent of that of his former boss. The strategy carries a lot of risk in a party that continues to be dominated by Trump and by his lie that the 2020 elections were stolen from him. But if Pence is managed well, it could offer a model of how to benefit from his collaboration with Trump without being associated with his more toxic attitudes, which are poorly received by suburban voters who often make a difference in elections.

“When you serve as vice president, you have certain opportunities and also certain ties,” said Marc Short, who was Pence's chief of staff at the White House. “You kind of assume a different identity during those four years because your job is to support the president and what he's doing.”

Collaborators say Pence has very strong convictions, including some that do not match Trump's. They expect Pence to frequently mention these differences, such as his strong opposition to abortion, while supporting candidates in November's midterm elections.

They indicate, for example, that Pence has always been very critical of Putin and that he will surely emphasize that.

Evangelist Franklin Graham says that “people are now seeing the real Pence.”

“As vice president,” he said, “you have to follow the president's line and support everything he says. Now, instead,) people are seeing who they are, what they think. He doesn't repeat what the president says but the things he believes in. He doesn't speak for Trump anymore.”

Pence has been touring the country in recent months, giving speeches, raising money for candidates in the November elections, and visiting some of the states where the first primaries will take place, while working on a couple of books.

Its political group, Advancing American Freedom, announced a $10 million advertising campaign focused on Democratic legislators that it considers vulnerable and that will promote the idea of increasing power generation in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It also prepares an “Agenda for Freedom” that it hopes will provide candidates with clear guidelines about not only the things that upset Republicans, but also what they believe in.

He is courting donors and traveled to Israel, where he had dinner with former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom Trump would have criticized, and met with current Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. Pence also met billionaire Miriam Adelson, a major Republican donor, on whose plane he traveled. Both have seen each other twice in recent months.

Pence wants to make it clear what line he would follow in a republican primary that could be very crowded and in which Trump himself could run. While there is a certain section of the party that will never forgive it for abiding by the law on January 6, its allies believe that Pence may have a unique opportunity to exploit the successes of the Trump administration while representing the traditional conservative movement.

Initial polls indicate that Trump is the big favorite of Republican voters, assuming he decides to run. Otherwise, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis would start as the favorite.

Other potential candidates, including former Trump Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, take similar positions.

Chris Christie gave a presentation on Monday in which he criticized Trump and those who express admiration for Putin. He also said that Trump “is totally wrong about the elections.”

“It's over and Joe Biden is sleeping in Donald Trump's bed,” Christie said. “We need to turn the page. We can't keep looking back. We cannot be the party of revenges and vendettas.”

Pence is silent about his intentions for now, saying that he focuses on supporting Republican candidates in November.

He noted that, “when the time comes,” he and his family will decide what they do about 2024.

For now Trump has not responded to Pence's criticism, something unusual for someone who is offended by anything.

Trump, however, has made it clear that his discomfort with the attitude taken by his former running mate at the end of his presidency is still in effect and ruled out that he will accompany him again in a presidential formula if he chooses to run.

“I don't think people would accept it,” he said in an interview published by the Washington Examiner last week.

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Kathy McCormack collaborated in this office from Manchester, New Hampshire.