“Our party and our country need a leader who will call upon the best angels in our nature,” said Pence, 64, making it clear that he is such a leader. His ambition was no surprise. In 2016, Trump picked the not so nationally renowned Indiana governor as his running mate to support religious conservatives. But even then, many pundits believed that for Pence, it could become a stepping stone to his own presidential nomination. In Pence, the eternally calm and religious family man, with whom the old leaven conservatism of the Ronald Reagan era is associated, many experts have seen the antipode of the unpredictable and expressive Trump.
Nevertheless, their duo turned out to be quite effective. However, unrest at the Capitol on January 6, 2021 ended this alliance. Trump and his supporters then questioned Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election and demanded that Pence prevent his endorsement during a congressional meeting. The latter refused, for which Trump and his most ardent supporters called Pence traitors.
Pence himself was eloquently silent in his Trump campaign kickoff speech, but that contrast will add extra heat to an already promising GOP primary. Anticipatory US media have already called the competition “historic”. Pence is not the first representative of the Trump administration to challenge the ex-boss: earlier, former US envoy to the UN Nikki Haley entered the race. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie also joined the Republican contest the other day. He participated in the 2016 primaries, but did not make it and later backed Trump. Christie even groomed Trump for the debates, but ultimately never secured a seat in his administration. Now Christy and Pence and Haley are going to take a chance on slamming Trump.
While the elections (November 5, 2024) are still almost a year and a half away, 10 Republican politicians have already announced their participation in them. It is possible that the record of 2016 will be broken, when 17 people competed for the right to become a candidate of the “Elephant Party” (the elephant is the symbol of the Republican Party). Such high competition heralds an interesting debate: populist champion and showman Trump, Florida Governor’s young rival Ron DeSantis, strict “hawks” Pence and Haley, plus a motley cast of lesser-known candidates.
More and more former subordinates and allies of Donald Trump are going to the 2024 elections with slogans against him. Maybe it’s just for him
You can talk about their views for a long time, but it is striking that the slogans of many Republicans are not directed forward, but to a beautiful past, where America must be sent back. Trump promised to “make America great again”. Pence also said he could “bring America back.” Even DeSantis, 44, wants to lead America’s “great comeback.”
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p class=””>The approaches of the candidates for the conflict in Ukraine differ significantly. Trump, in his usual fashion, promises to resolve the conflict on day one of his presidency. DeSantis is closer to the isolationists, but in general he is not strong in foreign policy and rather seeks himself: he once called the conflict in Ukraine a “territorial dispute”, for which he later justified himself for a long time. Both Pence and Haley are hardline “hawkish” Russophobic politicians, who, despite being on different parties, are much closer to Biden. Both have unambiguously supported Ukraine.
So far, 54% of GOP voters are more sympathetic to Trump and 24% to DeSantis, according to a recent Fox News poll. The support of the rest is less than 10%, but the elections are still far away and a lot can change.
Against the backdrop of this fierce competition, Republicans in the ranks of the Democratic Party are bland again. On the one hand, President Joe Biden has announced his intention to run for a second term. By this, he has in fact slammed the door of the elections to the other members of the same party, because in the United States, the party of the incumbent president does not generally offer him serious alternatives during the primaries in order to avoid conflict.
On the other hand, the White House leader’s rating is low, and even some of his supporters see his advanced age of 80 as an obstacle to carrying out presidential duties. From then on, rumors about the possibility of replacing him with another candidate are still circulating. So far, the most notable of the Democrats nominated for the 2024 election is Robert Kennedy Jr., the nephew of former US President John F. Kennedy. The Hill newspaper writes that his speeches criticizing the White House and US military aid to Ukraine are popular and are causing “growing alarm” within the Democratic Party. A recent CNN poll showed he is supported by around 20% of Democratic voters, which is a lot for a rival incumbent.
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