What will it take for Mike Pence to become a popular candidate for the 2024 presidential election? That is a question some who want him to become a serious candidate are asking.
Pence will likely have to clearly define himself with decisiveness and move aware from the middle-of-the-road positions that he has taken in the past.
Pence told Dana Perino and Bill Hemmer, the hosts of Fox News’s “America’s Newsroom,” that Congress did not have a formal role in Justice Department decisions and they can’t make recommendations. He also said, “As I wrote in my book, I think the president’s actions and words on January 6th were reckless.”
Pence has said enough for people to know that he thinks Trump’s actions were more than simply “reckless,” he has come close in the past to outright condemning the former president’s actions. It’s almost as if Pence is saying that they could charge Trump but they shouldn’t charge Trump.
When somebody tries to please everybody, they often end up pleasing nobody.
Here is one of Pence’s statements, “But when it comes to the Justice Department’s decision about bringing charges in the future, I would hope that they would not bring charges against the former president … As I wrote in my book, I think the president’s actions and words on January 6th were reckless. But I don’t know that it is criminal to take bad advice from lawyers. And so I hope the Justice Department is careful.”
He is trying to walk a tightrope so that he can stand on his four years as vice president for his presidential campaign, but he is also trying to distance himself from his former role as vice president.
Pence can’t have it both ways, and what happens is that people find it hard to know exactly where he stands.
That does not make for a great candidate.
