Donald Trump’s own former vice president, Mike Pence, says there’s no way he could endorse him. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, who endorsed Trump‘s re-election bid weeks ago, suggests Pence doesn’t have it right.
“I think that West Virginians, amazingly in large, large numbers support President Trump — so I support the policies of President Trump and I support him,” Capito, R-W.Va., said during a media briefing this past week in response to a MetroNews question.
Much of West Virginia’s Republican-dominated political environment has become a matter of who supports Trump the most. In the 2020 election, Trump dominated West Virginia’s vote by 38.9 points. That was down slightly from the 2016 margin in West Virginia, 42.1 points.
Pence: Trump 2024 is ‘at odds with the conservative agenda that we governed on’
Trump is now cruising toward a rematch with current President Joe Biden, a Democrat, in the 2024 General Election.
Several key members of Trump’s own administration, though, are not supporting his re-election. Those include former Attorney General William Barr, former Defense Secretary James Mattis, another Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Joint Chiefs Secretary Mark Milley, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, former national security advisers HR McMaster and John Bolton, chiefs of staff John Kelly and Mick Mulvaney and more.
The most prominent is Pence, who served at Trump’s side as vice president for four years. Pence, on Jan. 6, 2021, determined that the constitution called for the vice president to accept the presidential election results. Supporters of Trump chanted “hang Mike Pence,” constructed a gallows outside, gushed into the Capitol and caused the evacuations of the vice president and Congress.
At 2:24 p.m. that day, Trump tweeted “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!”
In national news interviews last week, Pence said the break with Trump over the events of Jan. 6 is just one reason he can’t endorse him.
“I said it during my presidential campaign, the President and I have profound differences, and many people think it’s just over January 6. And, frankly, the fact that the President continues to insist that, that I had the right to overturn the election that day is a fundamental difference,” Pence said last week on “Face the Nation.”
“But I want to be clear that, you know, I’ve forgiven the president in my heart for what happened that day. As a Christian, I’m required to do that, I’ve prayed for him in that regard. But the issue of fealty to the Constitution is not a small matter- but it’s not just that.”
Pence, who described pride in the conservative record of the 2017-2021 administration, said “I cannot in good conscience endorse Donald Trump this year.”
The former vice president in a Fox News interview elaborated on additional reasons.
“I mean, as I have watched his candidacy unfold, I’ve seen him walking away from our commitment to confronting the national debt. I’ve seen him starting to shy away from a commitment to the sanctity of human life,” Pence said, also describing a Trump “reversal on getting tough on China and supporting our administration’s effort to force” the sale of the popular TikTok app.
“In each of these cases, Donald Trump is pursuing and articulating an agenda that is at odds with the conservative agenda that we governed on during our four years. And that’s why I cannot in conscience endorse Donald Trump in this campaign,” he said.
Capito: ‘I’m going with the policies here’
Capito’s Republican roots go deep. She was first elected to Congress in 2001, when George W. Bush was elected president. Her father, Arch Moore, was a three-term Republican governor of West Virginia. Her son, Moore Capito, is running in the Republican primary for governor now.
On Jan. 6, 2021, Capito was evacuated to a safe location just like all members of Congress. A couple of days after the mob was cleared, Capito said on statewide radio, “I think the president does own this. I did support the president, and I did support the policies and I think the policies were good for West Virginia. But this is inexcusable.”
By this past Jan. 24, Capito was ready to endorse Trump, announcing her support at a West Virginia GOP winter meeting and then posting on social media: “During President Trump’s administration, our economy thrived, our nation was secure, and we worked to address the challenges at our border.”
Her endorsement means Capito is with many of her Republican colleagues in the Senate, including Leader Mitch McConnell, who indicated he is supporting Trump because he is the Republican nominee. Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has said in contrast, “I wish that as Republicans, we had … a nominee that I could get behind. I certainly can’t get behind Donald Trump.”
On the issue of Trump — who is the once and current Republican standard bearer — Capito parts ways with Pence and other prominent critics.
“Well, I think you know, the lens with which I have endorsed Donald Trump are the policies that he put forward,” Capito said at her briefing last week.
“Border policies, where the numbers at the border were amazingly low with his ‘remain in Mexico’ policy, his Title 42 policies, his quick turnaround on asylum, more of a no-tolerance approach with physical and technological barriers like drones and other things of that nature. That’s obviously a high priority for the president. That’s the number one issue in this country, and I notice in the ones that you mentioned, Vice President Pence does not mention those things.”
Capito, last month, took part in rejecting a funding package that included a range of restrictive border measures.
Capito said her endorsement of Trump also takes into account economic factors.
“We see food, gasoline, everything — inflationary, large price increases hurting the middle class. That didn’t happen under the Trump administration,” Capito said. “We passed a big tax relief bill that everybody felt, and I think the job growth that we saw before covid was an amazing signal of the strength of the American economy under his policies.
“So I’m going with the policies here.”
‘I cannot control how Donald Trump talks’
Trump while speaking last week about the potential loss of U.S. auto manufacturing jobs to foreign countries pledged 100% tariffs on imported vehicles. “Now, if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath, for the whole — that’s going to be the least of it. It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country. That’ll be the least of it,” he said.
At the same rally, Trump questioned the humanity of some undocumented immigrants crossing the border. “I don’t know if you call them people. In some cases they’re not people, in my opinion. But I’m not allowed to say that because the radical left says that’s a terrible thing to say.”
Trump’s rally kicked off with an announcer asking the crowd to rise “for the horribly and unfairly treated January 6th hostages.” Trump saluted and said, “You see the spirit from the hostages, and that’s what they are, is hostages.”
On MetroNews’ Talkline last week, Capito said she pays no attention to that kind of rhetoric from the presumed presidential nominee.
“I’ve learned a long time ago, probably four or five, six, seven years ago that I cannot control how Donald Trump talks and what he says,” Capito said.
“But I can tell you what. He is well-loved in West Virginia, and the policies that he puts forward people felt were much better for them and so I’ll see through the rhetoric and see the policies that he puts forward — and, as you know, I’ve endorsed him and will be supporting him.”