When it comes to politics, the phrase “anything is possible” is one of the most aptly used, particularly in the past eight years.
Here are a few examples:
Donald Trump will never be president of the United States.
The Russia collusion idea is a hoax.
You will be fired from your job for not taking a medical injection for a virus with an almost 99% survival rate.
Men will legally be allowed in women’s restrooms in the name of compassion.
Like I said, anything is possible.
Except Mike Pence becoming the Republican nomination for president in 2024. That is definitely not possible.
The former Vice President announced his candidacy for the 2024 Republican presidential primary on June 7, 2023, in Iowa to little fanfare.
No one has gotten too excited since.
Currently, Pence sits toward the bottom of the polls, both nationally and in key states such as Iowa and New Hampshire. The most he’s scored in any poll is 10 percent in Utah and 6 percent in Iowa.
DeSantis or even Ramaswamy may have their work cut out for them gaining ground on Donald Trump. Pence won’t even get off the starting blocks.
Mike Pence Doomed from the Start
Back in June, an op-ed piece in the Washington Post declared, “Mike Pence’s presidential candidacy is doomed but he continues anyway.”
With sharp wit, the author writes:
“Having spent the past 2½ years being booed by Republican audiences and mocked on social media, Mike Pence has decided that the American people are finally ready for him. So, with the obligatory period of prayer and contemplation out of the way, the former vice president has officially filed the paperwork to run for president.”
While as a Christian, I firmly believe in listening to the word of God over popular opinion, God is the father of logic, so I’m not sure what God Pence is listening to.
Pence’s Republican Won’t Work
In case he hasn’t noticed, the Republican party has changed since the man born and bred in the Hawkeye State first took office in Congress in 2001 as Indiana’s representative and served as the Republican Conference Chair in 2011.
Nothing is more damaging to Pence’s run for office than Republicans themselves. MAGA Republicans, to be exact, although it’s questionable if the MAGA squadron can be considered Republican.
The Moment that Destroyed Mike Pence
While I wouldn’t say Tucker Carlson is a card-carrying member of MAGA, he does challenge the conventional neo-con position of foreign policy that insists America promotes its ideas of liberalism abroad and gets involved in wars to do so.
In a heated discussion this past July at the Family Leadership Summit, Carlson pressed Pence about the war in Ukraine.
Pence outlined his position saying, “I believe that it is in the interest of the United States of America to continue to give the Ukrainian military the resources that they need to repel the Russian invasion and restore their sovereignty.”
Those comments elicited boos from the audience, a sure sign Pence’s old-school views are not widely accepted.
Carlson didn’t let up. He blasted Pence saying, “your concern is that the Ukrainians, a country most people can’t find on a map, who’ve received tens of billions of U.S. tax dollars don’t have enough tanks. I think it’s a fair question to ask, where’s the concern for the United States in that.”
Without missing a beat, Pence replied, “It’s not my concern.”
In any campaign, one unfortunate sentence can destroy a candidate’s bid for election.
Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” took the prize in 2016.
This was Pence’s. Even if he clarified the point insisting America can demonstrate strength both at home as well as abroad, it’s never the justification portion of the clip that goes viral. It’s always the most incendiary piece without context.
If Mike Pence didn’t have a shot at winning the Republican primary before that statement, his chances sunk threefold after that statement infiltrated the internet.
In the preview for Tucker Carlson’s anticipated interview with Donald Trump on “X,” Carlson asks the former president, “Whatever happened to Mike Pence? He’s out there attacking you. What is that?”
It goes without saying, Pence’s stance regarding the incidents of January 6 is seen by many as a betrayal of Donald Trump.
Mike Pence
And like it or not, right now, Donald Trump is the Republican party that matters and Pence doesn’t stand a chance.
Jennifer Galardi is the politics and culture editor and opinion writer for 19FortyFive.com. She has a Master’s in Public Policy from Pepperdine University and produces and hosts the podcast Connection with conversations that address health, culture, politics, and policy. In a previous life, she wrote for publications in the health, fitness, and nutrition space. In addition, her pieces have been published in the Epoch Times and Pepperdine Policy Review. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter.
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