Former Vice President Mike Pence said Sunday that President Donald Trump’s second administration has “departed” from traditional conservative principles.
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Pence, who served as Trump’s vice president from 2017 to 2021, told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that the administration is no longer committed to “the conservative agenda that has defined the Republican Party since the days of Ronald Reagan, and before that an agenda of American leadership, limited government, free market economics, the right to life.”
He added that “on a number of those issues, the president’s been good” in the past.
“I don’t think there’s any question about the president’s popularity,” Pence continued, adding: “I give him all the credit in the world for the hold that he has on Republican voters.”
The former vice president said he still believes GOP voters align with the party’s core conservative principles, telling “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker that “if Republicans this fall and in 2028 hold up those time-honored conservative principles, those voters will rally to our cause.”
Pence said he understands that GOP primary voters want to support Trump-aligned candidates in primaries, “but I believe that the overwhelming majority of people in the MAGA movement believe that America is the leader of the free world, believe in limited government, less taxes, less regulations, would reject ideas like nationalization of businesses and price controls and broad-based tariffs, and at the core of our movement is a commitment to the sanctity of life.”
The former vice president criticized the Trump administration for not doing enough to restrict abortion pills, saying, “This administration, we see a desire to relegate the right to life to a state-only issue, to actually have a pro-abortion secretary of HHS who has done nothing to limit the availability of the abortion pill.”
Pence also warned that the values of Trump’s second administration could affect how Republicans fare in the midterm elections this fall, asserting that if they win, it will be because Democrats are too radical.
“I think in many respects Republicans have lost our way, but Democrats have lost their mind, and I think the reason why we’re going to hold the Senate, and we have a real shot to hold the House, is because of the extremism on the Democratic side,” he said, pointing specifically to the Texas Senate race.
Last week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton beat Sen. John Cornyn in the race for the GOP Senate nomination, setting up a general election matchup against Democratic nominee James Talarico.
Pence was particularly critical of the Justice Department’s “anti-weaponization fund,” which includes nearly $1.8 billion that could be paid out to people who believe they’ve been unfairly targeted by the federal government. (A federal judge last week temporarily blocked the fund.)
“I think that the weaponization fund is a bad idea from the start, and I would encourage the administration just to drop it,” the former vice president said.
He called the notion that Jan. 6 rioters who were charged and sentenced for their actions at the Capitol in 2021 could receive payouts from the Justice Department “deeply offensive.” Upon taking office for his second term, Trump pardoned roughly 1,500 people who were charged for their actions that day.
Pence, who was at the Capitol to certify the 2020 elections results when the Jan. 6 riot broke out and had to be evacuated from the complex, added that he believes his negative view of the fund is shared by most Republicans and most Americans.
“I mean it’s deeply offensive to me that you could have a fund that could even possibly compensate people who assaulted police officers or vandalized the Capitol on Jan. 6, and I think that’s broadly held by most Republicans and most Americans,” he said.
