They are hard to come by these days, a Republican with class!
Former Vice President Mike Pence on Sunday repeatedly invoked the Constitution and said it is what “binds us all together” after receiving the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.
Pence received the award for his refusal to go along with President Donald Trump’s efforts to remain in office after losing the 2020 election. The award recognizes Pence “for putting his life and career on the line to ensure the constitutional transfer of presidential power on Jan. 6, 2021,” the JFK Library Foundation said.
Pence never mentioned Trump during his 10-minute speech but made several references to the Trump administration.
Referencing what he called “these divided times, in these anxious days,” he acknowledged that he probably had differences with the Democrats in the room but also with his own Republican Party “on spending, tariffs and my belief that America is the leader of the free world and must stand with Ukraine until the Russian invasion is repelled and a just and lasting peace is secured.”
Trump pressured Pence to reject election results from swing states where the Republican president falsely claimed the vote was marred by fraud. Pence refused, saying he lacked such authority. When a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, some chanted that they wanted to “hang Mike Pence.” Pence was whisked away by Secret Service agents, narrowly avoiding a confrontation with the rioters.
Trump derided Pence “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,” Trump wrote at the time on X, formerly Twitter, as rioters moved through the Capitol and Pence was in hiding with his family, aides and security detail inside the building.
In describing his role, Pence told the audience that “by God’s grace I did my duty that day to support the peaceful transfer of power under the Constitution of the United States of America.”
“Jan. 6 was a tragic day but it became a triumph of freedom. History will record that our institutions held,” he said in his speech. “Leaders in both chambers, in both political parties reconvened the very same day and finished democracy’s work under the Constitution.”
Former Vice President Mike Pence criticized President Donald Trump’s across-the-board tariffs on Monday, arguing that a looming “price shock” to the economy and potential shortages will lead Americans to “demand a different approach” from the White House.
In an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Pence rebuffed Trump’s recent comments that children in the United States will have to make do with fewer toys.
Trump’s first-term vice president also said he sees some of Trump’s actions as sharp breaks from what he said were the successes of their administration. That includes “wavering support for Ukraine” in its war with Russia and the “marginalizing the right to life” that Pence said followed Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s selection as health and human services secretary.
Now watching Trump’s return to power from the sidelines, Pence said he plans to make a public case on those issues — in part so that Trump might hear arguments those in his White House aren’t making.
Pence, unlike most of the Republican "Rat Pack" following the Trump Pied Piper, chose the Constitution and his own moral fibre by standing up to the challenges the current president is making towards the courts and democracy.
“Whatever the future holds for me, I’m going to try and be a consistent voice for those conservative values that I think are not only the right policy for the Republican Party, but I think they’re the best way forward for a boundless future for the American people,” Pence said.
Pence, now, there is a Republican/Conservative I could really get behind and support.
Portions of reports by NBC, CNN
used in this column
