8 mo. ago • 98%

Mike Pence will not endorse Donald Trump’s presidential campaign

www.theguardian.com Mike Pence will not endorse Donald Trump’s presidential campaign

Former Indiana governor and candidate for Republican nomination tells Fox News decision ‘should come as no surprise’

Former Indiana governor and candidate for Republican nomination tells Fox News decision ‘should come as no surprise’

Mike Pence will not endorse for president Donald Trump, the man he served as vice-president for four years but whose supporters chanted for Pence to be hanged as they attacked Congress on January 6.

“It should come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year,” the former Indiana governor and former candidate for the Republican presidential nomination told Fox News on Friday.

Asked why, given that he previously promised to endorse the eventual nominee, Pence mentioned 6 January 2021, the day a mob attacked Congress and Trump was reported to have told aides Pence “deserved” to be hanged for refusing to block certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 election win.

68 comments

This is like when eary life evolved a soft-tissue that resembled a spine. It wasn’t a spine, but it resembled one.

223
- Never thought I'd think of a "notochord" in reference to politics, but here we are.
  
  51
  
  As an aside, I love how 'notochord' sounds when it is pronounced. It has a good flow.
  
  13
- Just a big, thick, flaccid, spine-like structure?
  
  11
- It's not real unless it happens to them.
  
  6
"Will you endorse the man who tried to send an angry mob to hang you in order to stop the peaceful transition of power in the United States?"

"Probably not."

It's crazy that people are acting like this is some brave stance on pence's part. Jesus, Republicans get to enjoy such a low bar for being praised.

86
- Yes very true, but how often does it happen where a former American vp does not endorse their presidential counterpart's future bids for president?
  
  3
  
  According to my calculations, it happens roughly as often as a serving American VP is sent a big unruly mob riled up on the idea of VP-killing by their current American president.
  
  2
- I feel like Liz Cheney and the other never trumpers could become Democrats and they would be praised and win any primary
  
  1
I would hope not after the Trump mob tried to hang Pence. What even is this timeline.

84
- not only that, but ask yourself why it was important that he "know" (and trust) the driver of his escape car?
  
  he was afraid trump would disappear him.
  
  36
  
  I'm usually on board with you, but I think "disappear" is a bit too far at that stage. More likely it was "sheltered in a secure location" or "sequestered at Andrews AFB," but either way not to return to Chambers so Grassley could take over and throw the certification to a House vote.
  
  At that stage they'd need the legitimacy of Pence being alive and safe, but unable to perform duties due to the unrest. Hammer and anvil.
  
  Dispose of him later when things are done & dusted with the new regime installed.
  
  Um... Just speculating.
  
  What??
  
  11
  
  LOL, assassination wasn't in the cards. These idiots thought the process would break if the VP wasn't present. For what amounts to a formality.
  
  It's all so dumb and horrific. Shit gave me PTSD and now I know what "triggered" truly means. I can't watch 60-seconds of video without getting my AR out the safe, checking it, and leaning it on my desk. Talked about fucked up...
  
  -17
Endorse Biden you coward. His opponent's supporters wanted to hang you.

74
- If he did I think he would get legit death threats, there would be a nonzero chance that his constituents would lynch him.
  
  21
  
  They already tried to lynch him
  
  40
  
  All the more reason to endorse a dude who isn't leading insurrectionist terrorists.
  
  1
Oh look who found their clip-on balls today

66
- Mother gave him the keys to his ball cage
  
  27
So glad he finally grew a spine. There’s hope for paralyzed people everywhere.

36
- To hell with that.
  
  It's only growing a spine if it risks costing you power, pence has none and is losing none. Glad he came out against the fascist, but all that might indicate is some small, at least partial return to and recognition of the rational world. He's patting himself on the back about how virtuous this may make him seem in history, nothing more.
  
  A sitting Republican Congressperson or party official with no intention of retiring would be demonstrating bravery coming out against the fascist.
  
  42
  
  All true. He probably feels smug about keeping his mouth shut for this long.
  
  I hope history remembers him for continuing to orate with a fly crawling around on his face :-)
  
  12
  
  Credit due for Pence consulting Dan Quayle and getting sane advice. I'm no fan, but I'll give him that much.
  
  5
- It's insane how low the bar is for Republicans to be given credit. Doing his job as VP and certifying a lawful election shouldn't earn him any praise. Not endorsing the man who sent an angry mob to stop him from doing his job shouldn't earn him any praise.
  
  This is not a man who "grew a spine," it's a pile of wet napkins that got slightly more dry.
  
  6
  
  He should have used the 25th amendment on Trump on January 6th. His cabinet was fleeing like rats shortly afterwards, so he probably could have gotten a majority of them to sign on.
  
  It would have saved his legacy and his party. He could have done so much good, but he chose not to.
  
  5
- It's only be a spine if he gets out there and basically campaigns for Biden. If he asks any remaining same conservatives to abandon the Republican party and join the Democrats, until the Republicans wither and die and the Democrats split into a sane pair of parties that can disagree but compromise like it used to be.
  
  But he won't do that. None of them have so far.
  
  2
  
  That’s the fucking wild part. Even the few that kind of pitched a little fit on the way stopped short of a good “Look at yourselves, look at what you’ve become!” Type thing.
  
  I don’t know if it’s a matter of future employment prospects or if they are all really ready to embrace fascism before conceding they broke the system… but it’s sad.
  
  3
  
  They only hate Trump, they love Trump's agenda.
  
  1
Say what you will, but at the end of Trump's presidency Pence grew a spine and told him to fuck off.

Trump was hanging onto the idea that Pence would magically solve his problem by denying the certification. Of course, Trump's cult went to the capitol to try and hang him. I hope he endorses the other candidates, or Biden when it comes to it. It'd be a massive middle finger to the entire cult.

34
- Oh please, that man still has the spine of a jellyfish.
  
  Even after Trump tried to have him executed he was still on the air defending this trash person and his racist trash party.
  
  24
  
  This is the correct perspective. Mike Pence is a weird and cowardly shithead who decided to get off the crazy train at that stop. There were hundreds of previous stops that would have been appropriate exits. HIV enthusiast making sure people in Indiana get infected. Looks and personally of a Q-Tip.
  
  17
- It sounds more like self preservation to me.
  
  0
Mother said no

16
- Or the fly.
  
  5
Just imagine, as we look at all of Trump's unresolved court cases, that Pence not endorsing him may still end up being the full extent of Trump's consequences for attempting to overthrow the US government.

We are riding this timeline like a motorcycle at full throttle on the edge of the Grand Canyon.

16
- Grand Canyon
  
  Implying that there's only one side to fall off of? Nah man this timeline is literally Rainbow Road 250cc mirrored online. There's no way to win cause the cheaters control the win ratio.
  
  9
Doesn’t mean he won’t vote for him.

13
Said the guy they wanted to hang

10
I'm not sure if this is for Donald Trump or Mike Pence, but either way...

8
I guess that probably doesn't come up that much, so I dunno if there's much historical data on Presidents who run against their Vice Presidents, but I'm not sure that it's surprising.

In the US voting system, Presidents and Vice Presidents tend not to be that similar. You tend to choose a running mate to fill in gaps in your own appeal. Pence appeals to social conservatives, which is a weak point for Trump; Trump is gonna appeal to nativists and protectionists.

7
- We used to pick the VP from the opposing party. I'd like to see that again.
  
  -3
  
  That's not totally true. It's just that 2nd place would become vice president.
  
  5
  
  The federal government was designed to not work from day one, but they still changed that because it caused it to not work too well.
  
  When the president controls the executive branch and his opponent controls the legislative branch, not even the important stuff gets done.
  
  1
I give it a month, two max, before his spine fails him and he endorses Trump. We've seen it happen many times before.

6
i really respect that!

5
Lmao. This pathetic weasel couldn’t stand for anything good, but I guess at least he saved some small piece of dignity by not kissing the ring of a fascist despot after he wanted to have him hanged by a mob of gravy seal Nazis.

4
This means nothing.

2
- I wouldn't say that.
  
  I mean it doesn't mean a lot.
  
  Though it may just be the first stitch popping, with more to come.
  
  It is noteworthy that rarely is there ever public dissent at that level of republicunt power.
  
  2
  
  That's true! I really meant this means nothing to his fan base. I hope it leads to more people doing the same.
  
  2
His brother did...

2
He refused to comment on it before and got mocked for it. Why now?

2
Only until Trump has a little talk with him.

1
it looks like all these people would be ruining their whole careers by doing some of these things, I wonder if a standardly randomized IQ test and public results shoud be a thing for US public servents

0
- Hard no. We're not "testing" people for public office. Smells too much like testing for the vote.
  
  2
  
  We are not no, and look how well it is working. I get that doing things that is unfair is unfair but this point is to me more fair, not less.
  
  1
- Let's ignore all the bias in IQ tests and how they are not a valid measure of intelligence.
  
  This is based on the premise that these people aren't smart. The scary thing to realize is that they are very smart people. They are using that intelligence in a concerted effort to advance their agenda and power.
  
  1
The republicans don’t want to hang on your every word like they used to, mike, and even then it was not the kind of hanging you’d like.

-1

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