'I Don’t Think The People Would Accept It' Trump Signals He Wants New VP Over Mike Pence In 2024

Former President Donald Trump is widely believed to be preparing for a run for the White House in 2024. But as he signals his intent to retake his seat, Trump has also signaled he plans to do it without his former vice president, Mike Pence.

On Tuesday, Trump sat down for an interview with the Washington Examiner and shared his thoughts on a range of topics like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and his plans for the next presidential election. Asked about his relationship with Pence and if he would consider him as a running mate, Trump said it would not happen.

“I don’t think the people would accept it,” Trump said. "Mike and I had a great relationship except for the very important factor that took place at the end.”

What the ex-president appeared to be referring to was Pence’s refusal to go along with plans to decertify the victory of President Joe Biden on Jan. 6, 2021. An angry mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol that day in a bid to halt the process with rioters chanting “Hang Mike Pence!”.

Trump’s anger at Pence for this perceived act of disloyalty and Pence’s reported feelings of betrayal in the aftermath of Jan. 6 created a rift that has yet to be healed. During the interview, Trump hinted at this, saying that he had not spoken to Pence in a “long time.”

Pence, who many expect to be laying the groundwork for his own run for the presidency, has been seemingly creating his own distance from Trump in speeches made in the last year.

In February, Pence said that his former boss was “wrong” to say he had any power to halt the certification of Biden’s victory. More recently, Pence remarked that the Republican Party had no room for “apologists” of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who Trump has frequently praised.

Pence is not alone among potential Republican contenders for the White House trying to break with Trump. As the 2022 midterm elections approach, Republican rivals are taking explicit and implicit shots at Trump’s stances on Russia, his response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and his focus on the 2020 election.

On the conservative wing of the GOP, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis remarked in an interview that he wished he had spoken out against Trump’s decision to initiate a national lockdown to curb the virus. Last month, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark) similarly broke with Trump over his decision to sign the First Step Act in 2018, a criminal justice reform act with bipartisan support in Congress.

Among Republican moderates with presidential ambitions, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Maryland Governor Larry Hogan have both attacked Trump directly.

Christie, a former Trump ally, accused Trump of inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol Riot and panned his obsession with the 2020 election. Hogan, never an ardent supporter of Trump, called the former president the “biggest threat to Republican success” in future elections.