Mike Pence: The Crisis of Conservative Conscience

Maybe we need a little more Mike Pence. I remember when Trump was first elected, Trump 1.0, and Pence was the vice president on board with Trump. He was cleaning up Trump messes every bloody day. That's why he needed Mike Pence, because Trump would say stupid things, and then Mike Pence would have to come along, do a news conference, media scrums. He'd be asked about the stupid thing that Trump said, and he'd make excuses for him, clean up the mess, so they could move along. That's what he did. He was the Trump fixer in terms of public relations. Felt sorry for him, actually. Maybe we need a little more Mike Pence. He on Face the Nation this week, he's got a new book out, and he's saying that conservatives have kind of lost their direction. He's saying that conservative principles are being ignored, denied, lost among the populist uprising, this populist government of Donald Trump. It's true. A lot of people want to hear that because Pence refused to just do what Trump wanted him to do on January 6th. He followed his conscience, not the order of the guy who was asking him to do something that was going against his morals. Good morning to you, Mr. Vice President. Good morning, Margaret. Good to see you. You clearly think your party needs some reminders here, and you write that Americans are confused about what it means to be a conservative. You say, for many right-wing populists, grievance dictates policy. Who or what are you thinking about there? Well, I think, look, from all of my adult life, the Republican Party has been defined by a commitment to a conservative agenda, to America as leader of the free world, to limited government, free market, economics, and traditional moral values, especially the right to life. And I'm proud to say that from the Reagan administration to the first Trump administration, we governed on that agenda. But I wrote what conservatives believe because just in the last four or five years, there's been a rise of what I call the populist right that focuses more on what we're against than what we're for, focuses more on grievance than a positive conservative agenda. I mean, the conservative movement has always been battling politically with the progressive left. But now there's a new threat from the populist right that would embrace policies of isolationism abroad, that would embrace big government and protectionism at home, marginalize the right to life. And as we go into this fall's elections and go into 2028, I thought it was important that we take a moment as a party and as a movement to remind ourselves what we believe. Yeah, I can't really argue with that. Conservative values have been abandoned. It flabbergasts me. Trump 1.0, not what we're getting with Trump 2.0. It's not the same. This is far more extreme. Pence is right. Those conservative values have been thrown out. Might makes right. I hate to use that. It's kind of a cliche, but it's true. I don't agree with everything Mike Pence says. This is another cliche. I don't agree with everything they say, but no, it's true. But I'll tell you this. I don't think Mike Pence is the kind of guy who would sign off on torturing people. I don't think Mike Pence is the kind of guy who would do terrible things to children. I don't think Mike Pence is the kind of guy who would just, I don't know. He just seems like a decent man. Seems. Don't know him personally. Judge people by their actions, but I have to say I have. And while I understand why people got upset during the January 6th protest, right? Whatever, however you want to characterize it. He did at the time what he thought was right. And I have to respect that because he did that against immense pressure. He followed his conscience. He stood his ground against very powerful forces. Can you imagine the amount of pressure he must've been under when he refused to do what Donald Trump told him to do? That takes courage, takes conviction. He did what he thought was right and he stood up to do it. Now he was there and I'd say misjudged things as many others did at the time with the lockdowns and all that stuff. But when it really came down to it, he stood his ground and he's still out there. A man of conviction. A man of principle. That's rare. Still out there fighting too. I'm going to buy his book. I'm going to read it. What's his book called? It's, I believe it's over here, What Conservatives Believe, Rediscovering the Conservative Conscience. So now I'm, I did not get paid to promote his book. What Conservatives Believe, Rediscovering the Conservative Conscience. Available on Amazon. Available now.