Former Vice President Mike Pence appears poised to launch a 2024 presidential campaign, according to numerous reports.
In relation to Pence’s launch, CNN will hold a Town Hall event with the former Vice President the same night as his announcement.
On Thursday of next week, Pence will travel to Iowa and deliver a campaign announcement and subsequent speech laying out his vision:
Former Vice President Mike Pence will launch his 2024 presidential campaign on June 7 with an announcement video and a speech in Iowa, two sources familiar with the plans tell CNN.
The announcement, first reported by NBC News, will take place ahead of a CNN town hall with Pence later that evening at Grand View University in Des Moines.
Pence’s presidential bid will pit him against his former boss and running mate, former President Donald Trump, who’s seeking a second term and is for now the early frontrunner.
His announcement in Iowa, rather than his home state of Indiana, signals the level of importance he’s placing on the state that still holds the first caucus in the GOP nomination process.
Pence still has a following among GOP primary voters but the slice is very, very thin. Not Chris Chsirtie thin (pun intended), but nowhere near the support of Ron DeSantis.
According to recent polls, Pence commands anywhere from 5 to 6 percent, not enough to mount a winning challenge for the nomination but enough to be taken somewhat seriously and probably make it to a debate stage or two.
Speaking of debates, seeing Donald Trump and his former Vice President on stage hashing things out would be entertaining, if not awkward. Many Trump voters view Pence as nothing more than a traitor to the cause for his refusal to reject allegedly-tainted votes on January 6, 2021. Pence contends his hands were tied even if he thought some kind of fraud had occurred. Trump allies disagree and remain rather fervent in that belief to this day.
Then there’s this. Did Trump really endorse the idea that Pence should be “hanged” for his actions or inactions on Jan 6?
A year ago, in May, Politico quoted former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows alleging as such but also admits the story and claim can’t be corroborated:
The Jan. 6 select committee has heard testimony indicating that then-President Donald Trump — after rioters who swarmed the Capitol began chanting “hang Mike Pence” — expressed support for hanging his vice president, according to three people familiar with the matter.
The White House chief of staff at the time, Mark Meadows, was in the dining room off the Oval Office with Trump at one point during last year’s Capitol attack, the committee has been told. Meadows then left the dining room and informed other people nearby that Trump had signaled a positive view of the prospect of hanging the vice president, the panel heard.
Meadows’ account as it was described to the committee came after some members of the mob converging on the Capitol had broken into chants of “Hang Mike Pence!” Those chants were a reaction to Pence’s decision to accept electoral votes that indicated Joe Biden had won the presidency.
POLITICO could not independently verify the veracity of the claim regarding Meadows’ comments.
There’s a stark line between Meadows’ view that Trump “signaled” some positive view of Pence being hanged, a claim that remains uncorroborated, to the wild claims that Trump himself advocated for it or openly supported it.
The question is whether the topic would come up during a debate. Would Pence raise it? Unlikely since it’s such a heavy and loaded bomb to lob. A moderator eager to promote debate and in-fighting would definitely bring it up and ask Trump to comment on it. In that case, Trump would obviously say the claim is made-up and more “fake news” nonsense intended to make him look bad.
Someone else on stage, like Chris Christie, the kamikaze Trump bomb might try to play the “hang Pence” card but to what end? It would meet a similar fate of being shot down by Trump before it landed.
Whatever the case, with Pence seriously intending to join the race, the pool only continues to grow which inevitably plays into Trump’s hands.
