“It’s Not My Time”: Mike Pence Suspends Presidential Campaign
“I’m leaving this campaign but let me promise you I will never leave the fight for conservative values”
Former governor of Indiana and the first major Republican figure to endorse Donald Trump in 2015, former Vice President Mike Pence has suspended his campaign for the 2024 GOP nomination for president.
Stating that it’s not his time, Pence notes that he will continue to fight for traditional conservative values.
Watch:
🚨🚨🚨Mike Pence DROPS OUT of 2024 Presidential Race
Watch: pic.twitter.com/xRTucsmFqV
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) October 28, 2023
Says he has realized it is "not my time," but that he won't stop being a voice for traditional conservatism.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) October 28, 2023
The Wall Street Journal reports:
Former Vice President Mike Pence withdrew from the Republican presidential race Saturday, saying “this is not my time” after he struggled to gain traction in a crowded field dominated by former President Donald Trump.
“I’m leaving this campaign but let me promise you I will never leave the fight for conservative values,” Pence said during a speech before the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas.
Pence, who is 64 years old, became the highest-profile candidate to exit from the race, though he fared poorly in polls and ran low on money needed to sustain a campaign.
The former vice president pulled in just $3.4 million during the third quarter of the year and it was unclear whether he would meet the Republican National Committee’s requirements for fundraising and polling to participate in the third GOP primary debate in Miami on Nov. 8.
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Comments
He won’t be missed.
So long, farewell, Auf wiedersehen, good night,
I hate to go and leave this pretty sight.
So long, farewell, Auf wiedersehen, adieu,
Adieu, adieu, to yieu and yieu and yieu.
Good thing.
“It was all a bad dream. I woke up and found out nobody gives a shit about me.”
“It’s not my time”
And it never will be.
According to another news report on Townhall:
“the Republican Party is moving in a different direction than his values.“
No, he proved he had no values other than his own self interest when he could have required states to review their action in November 2020.
It never was
Look at the comments above.
The idiocy of the Trumpistas who would mock a man who stood by Trump – up until the point he tried to steal and election – is so telling.
Hiding behind their pen names because they fear what those around them might think if they actually revealed who they are.
You are no better than the jerk-wads hiding behind the Antifa, the BLM, the Jew-Hating and the racist masks.
You sicken me.
TTTO: Ring of Fire – Johnny Cash
Red, it’s a-glowin’ red
That hat, on a Trumper’s head
And I’m crazed, with wild desire
To throw it in the fire
I stood there just screechin’ like a loon
And I howled howled howled
Like a dog up at the moon
‘Cuz it’s Trump, Trump, Trump
Muh hair’s on fire
Muh hair’s on fire
How did he try to steal the election.
Did he threaten the live of anyone, no.
Trump challenged the election in the courts and he lost.
Trump told his supporters to go home in peace.
As ar as my nom de plume, you don’t like it tuff shit.
A she/her/it/him of their convictions. Your partner must be very proud.
Yes she is and you didn’t answer my question on how Trump tried to steal the election.
I’m going to assume that this question is asked in good faith, so I’ll answer it as such.
” Pence has said Trump went beyond asking him to pause the count for an audit and urged him to reject the Biden electors outright, in the hopes of tipping the election in Trump’s favor..”
Listen to Pence’s words in several interviews. Read his biography. This is Trump attempting to overturn an election – to steal an election.
Biden’s a liar. Trump is a liar. Pence is not a liar.
“… in the hopes of tipping the election in Trump’s favor…”
There is the lie from Pence. It attributes motive to Trump – when in fact it was to delay certification long enough to investigate the many allegations of wrongdoing and election tampering …
Every time someone points out sworn statements of wrongdoing, even video evidence of cheating, you dumbass liberals jam your fingers in your ears and scream “it was never proven” …
Congratulations shit for brains, your perverse stupidity gave us Biden who has depleted the SPR, military readiness, an alien invasion, record inflation, and the verge of WWIII.
Worth it, dummy?
why are you feeding the troll?
If Pence had no authority to reject electors or pause the acceptance of electors why did Congress subsequently pass a law saying that the VP couldn’t do any of that?
It didn’t. It passed that law in 1877. The new law increased the number of congressmen who had to make an objection before congress could consider it,
The only argument that Pence did have the authority after all, was that the 1877 law was invalid. If so the new one is just as invalid. So the new law doesn’t affect the argument at all.
So what is this Trump wanted to go beyond pausing the count.
Did Trump threaten Pence in any way. Did he try to bribe Pence. If he only wanted an audit, it sounds fair to me.
You’re saying Pence is not a liar, how do you know that. Were you there when Trump allegedly ask Pence to do these things. Well.
Here’s Pence’s quotation about what Trump was asking.
“I think it’s important that the American people know what happened in the days before January 6,” Pence said. “President Trump demanded that I use my authority as vice president presiding over the count of the Electoral College to essentially overturn the election by returning or literally rejecting votes. I had no authority to do that.”
And how do I know that Pence is not lying? You’re right. I was not there. But I’m curious, what would Pence’s motivation be for lying?
On the other hand, you’re taking the word of Trump. Why? Because of his history of telling the truth? His selfless, lasting devotion to those who have served him?
It’s not a matter of who’s lying. I don’t think there’s any dispute about the facts here.
I don’t think Trump disputes that.
And that is not a question of fact but of opinion. John Eastman advised Trump that Pence did have such authority, and Trump quite properly, relying on that advice, asked Pence to use it. Pence quite properly took independent legal advice from Mike Luttig, who told him he did not have the authority, so he followed that, as he should.
Trump doesn’t seem to understand that just because Eastman has an opinion doesn’t mean it’s right. He doesn’t understand that Pence did not work for him, was not his employee or his subordinate, and had not only the right but the duty to take his own legal advice and to follow it.
But none of that means Luttig was right and Eastman was wrong. Luttig and Eastman are both eminent constitutional scholars, among the most respected in the nation. Attempts to paint Eastman as some quack are just dishonest. Luttig himself rejects that utterly. The fact is that neither of their positions is obviously right, or obviously wrong.
I think Luttig ultimately has the better position, but Eastman’s core point is valid. The Electoral Count Act of 1877 is unconstitutional. To argue, as so many do, that Congress decides disputes over electors because the Electoral Count Act says so, is to say that Congress decides because Congress said so, which is obviously ridiculous. Thomas Ferry, the acting vice president in 1877, held that he had the right to decide such disputes, and Eastman agrees with him; the Congress at the time disagreed with him, so it’s not surprising that it passed a law that enshrined its view, but that doesn’t make it correct.
Where I think Eastman goes wrong is that the constitution doesn’t say who counts the votes. If it had said the vice president counts the votes, then I think Ferry in 1877 and Eastman in 2021 would have been right. But it doesn’t say that. It just says the votes “shall be counted”. So who decides which votes should be counted is unresolved.
“Demanded” Milhouse? Maybe an unnecessary embellishment? And what some people seem to grasp is that Donald Trump was the Chief Executive. He was constitutionally empowered and required to take care that the laws were enforced. He didn’t have to defer to anyone’s opinion.
Yes, Concise, he demanded. And he had no authority to do that. Pence did not work for him, and did not have to defer to his opinion. I think he still doesn’t understand that.
Nonsense Milhouse. That obnoxious language is a self-serving characterization by Pence himself or maybe even suggested by Smith. Unless you’re privy to a transcript of the exchange between Pence and Trump? Did you get it off of Meadows’ wire? (that’s sarcasm by the way, just to forestall some silly response from you) Regardless, it does nothing to alter the legal or constitutional positions of either party.
Yes, he demanded. Pence’s word alone would be enough for me, since unlike Trump he doesn’t do self-serving characterizations, but in fact Trump’s rage at his not doing as he was told is strong evidence that it was a demand. He’s still outraged at Pence’s insubordination. He still doesn’t understand that the vice president doesn’t work for the president, is not his subordinate, and does not take orders from him.
So apart from that sanctimonious windbag Pence, you’ve got nothing? Well, that’s convincing.
The courts never ruled on any of the information that there were major problems with the votes. They used every excuse they could come up with to not have to do their jobs.
I don’t think most of the fraud stuff ever got into court…. There was no standing,, something like that. But.. you are spot on.. He lost.. But we lost more.
Look, a NeverTrumper typed words.
Another asshat finds their way LI to bash Trump.
Good, to make you happy, I will vote for Bernie Sanders.
Hahaha….someone is taking this news hard.
Mike, is that you?
I’m quite possibly the most down voted comment yet? 😂😂😂
The Pence spokesman has entered the chat…
Pence and his campaign were a joke. He ‘dropped out’ of the race like I ‘dropped out’ of the Olympics.
If every single other candidate died in a plane crash tomorrow, he would STILL have a 0% chance of ever being President.
For me, the issue was not whether you thought he did the ‘right thing’ or not. He simply REFUSED to stand behind the decision he made, and insisted that he was simply a helpless pawn that had no power to do anything.
He made a decision, and then like the coward he is, tried to weasel out of it by claiming that he didn’t actually do anything.
Like Mitt Romney, Pence hides behind the thin veneer of being a ‘nice guy’, but when you actually ask anybody to tell you what he has actually DONE that makes him a ‘nice guy’, they can’t actually give any examples other than he talks nice.
He’s simply a coward that stands for nothing and talks nice, then uses his ‘niceness’ as an excuse for why he never, EVER actually fights for his alleged principles.
We’re long done with the weasel RINOs.
TY Olinser,, so very well said.
“He’s simply a coward that stands for nothing”
That is simply not true. He was under tremendous pressure to not certify the election but stated he thought The Constitution forced him to do so and did. I and many others including you, I presume, disagree but many smart legal minds agreed with him.
That he then thought he had any chance of winning the nomination which required getting Trump supporters to switch to him was delusional. Not sure what he thought his path to victory was.
One never knows what the Constitution permits until you put the requisite clause under review.
That takes action.
The VP certification of an election is not a symbolic thing. At least we could have gotten a ruling by forcing an action.
And there’s where you’re wrong. There is no “VP certification of an election”. The VP does not certify the election. He simply chairs the meeting at which the votes are counted. The constitution does not give him any authority in the matter. Nor does it give congress any authority.
You’re also wrong in your claim that he should have done something. He took legal advice and was advised by one of the most eminent constitutional scholars in the country that he had no authority to reject any electors. So he had the positive duty not to. It would be a violation of his oath to deliberately do the wrong thing in the hope that the courts would then uphold it. His duty was to obey the constitution as he understood it, and that is what he did.
Yeah, which is why they changed the obligations and duties of the vice president almost at the start of the next Congress.
Let me ask you, if a Democrat vice president were in this situation how do you think he would have reacted? Don’t worry, we’ll get an answer to that question in 2024.
chrisboltss: if a Democrat vice president were in this situation how do you think he would have reacted?
Al Gore presides over Electoral College vote in 2001
Nope, what Pence was chairing on 1/6 was whether their were objections to any slate of electors from any state and when there were, as in AZ, Congress would recess for two hours to their respective cauci and debate and then when reconvened would vote as to accept the electors
If a slate of Electors submitted ballots for Obama, or a French national, or a person under the age of thirty five, you are saying Pence and the Congress are powerless or have no authority to reject those electors?
There were member of the House ready to submit a motion to object in order to give state legislators another look at those ballots because of possible fraud. The only way for the House to stop the motions from being entered was to hold an emergency session of Congress. But where would the Democrats in Congress find an emergency on January 6th. Hmmm…. where would they indeed.
Seems like Pence was in a hurry for something.
MarkS: what Pence was chairing on 1/6 was whether their were objections to any slate of electors from any state
The claim was that “VP certification of an election is not a symbolic thing”. Certification has nothing to do with the VP, who has only a ceremonial role. Under the Electoral Act, if the states follow the safe harbor provisions of the Act, then their decision “shall govern.” Whether the Act is constitutional has never been adjudicated.
They changed the Electoral Count Act, which already said the VP had no authority in the matter, enshrining the view of Congress in 1877. The change had nothing to do with reducing the VP’s authority, since it couldn’t be reduced any more; all it did was to reduce the power of individual congressmen to raise objections.
You ask what a dishonest VP would have done, one who didn’t give a **** about his oath or the constitution. That is precisely the point. Pence was the most suitable candidate precisely because he showed that he is honest, he does have character, and he does his duty.
And that is exactly what Pence did, and had every intention of doing. That is not what Trump demanded of him. Trump, on Eastman’s advice, demanded that Pence exercise his own authority, in defiance of the unconstitutional Electoral Count Act, to exclude the votes of electors who, in his opinion, had not been properly chosen. Luttig advised him that he had no such authority, so he declined to exercise it.
Such votes would be counted, but the person they were cast for could not win. The question in 2021 was not about disqualifying a candidate, but of disqualifying electors themselves, saying that those electors had not been properly chosen. It seems obvious that someone must have the authority to do that, but the constitution is completely silent on who might have it. Hence the dispute between Ferry and Congress in 1877, which Congress unilaterally resolved by passing a law saying it was right. As part of the compromise of that year Hayes agreed to sign that law, but that doesn’t make it right.
Downvote Zachriel all you like, but their point is correct. We know what at least one Democrat VP would have done, because he did it. He could have objected to the Florida electors whose votes defeated him, and he didn’t.
“One never knows what the Constitution permits until you put the requisite clause under review.”
The Democrats play this game every day, and half the time they get away with it. That’s why they gain ground and we lose it. That’s why when they get elected they’re “in power,” not just “in office.”
And as I said, it doesn’t matter whether we think it was right or wrong.
LEADING UP to Jan 6th, Pence made multiple interviews and statements that he was ‘debating’ and ‘considering’ all evidence. He certainly thought he had the ability to make a different decision.
Then magically after Jan 6th he ‘had no choice’. Funny how he didn’t say that BEFORE then.
As I said, he’s simply a coward. He badly underestimated how much backlash he was going to get, and tried to weasel out of it by claiming he was simply a helpless pawn.
All the way up to Jan 6th he was hoping that SOMEBODY ELSE would make the decision for him and save him from actually having to do something, and finally was forced to do it.
Plenty of legal minds disagree. To act like this issue was ‘settled’, and that he had no ability to do something different, is patently ridiculous, and just demonstrates that he has no leadership.
Stand behind the decision that you made, man.
Olinser, he took legal advice on what authority he had. He consulted Mike Luttig, who advised him that the Electoral Count Act is valid and he had no authority. Having done so he was bound to follow that advice.
Right, because as everybody knows, once you take legal advice from a single person, it is never wrong and you are utterly incapable of doing anything but exactly what they advise you.
I’ll give you a hint. You even used the word yourself.
ADVISE.
Pence made a decision to act on that ADVICE. Whether it was the right decision or wrong decision, he’s a coward and a weasel for not standing behind it.
He made a decision, and he’s been trying to weasel out of it ever since by claiming he was nothing but a helpless pawn.
You’ll notice I didn’t say whether he was right or wrong.
I’d have at least some measure of respect for him if he was actually willing to stand behind the decision he made.
But he’s not. That’s why he’s a coward, and why NOBODY respects him.
Bullshit. He never once said he was a “helpless pawn”. That’s your word. He has said, correctly, that he had no authority. He believes this because he obtained the best legal advice he could get. The purpose of consulting legal experts is to find out what is the law; if you’re not going to accept the advice you get then what’s the point of asking for it? Having determined to his own satisfaction that he had no legal authority he was ethically bound not to do as Trump demanded.
Checks watch.
Hmm, there’s no time for Pence.
If you were waiting for your moment, it was Jan. 6 2023 and you missed it.
Pence is a filthy rat. Fuzzy you were right, Ramaswamy is an oily weasel. I was so hoping he wasn’t that, oh well. DeSantis just can’t gain traction. And damn, but he got things done.
RFK Jr. is a vile dirt bag. Setting him up as stalking horse was an incredible mistake. Same with Tucker playing footsy with him. Someone needs to hardball him, but that won’t happen.
I still think (with no evidence whatsoever) Newsom’s internal poling is horrific.
And people wondering why he visited China. He’s Nancy’s heir apparent. Someone very connected in the family needs to mind the Grift Shop and act as patron to servile clients. The CCP/Chinese appreciate that sort of thing. He’s a few rungs above comprador. No matter what happens, Gavin is that.
I was taken in by Ramaswamy. RFK Jr is not a dirtbag. I disagree with him on most everything but he is a serious person with his own beliefs. Newsome is a trash weasel who will say anything he thinks someone wants to hear to advance his political life.
You weren’t taken in by Ramaswamy, you became bettered informed, same as me. The detractors quoted and requoted things about his voting, or not voting or registering weird party. They even attacked his folks for not being political animals. That sort of thing pisses me off. Just ordinary parents getting bloodsported. I hate people that do that sort of thing.
RFK Jr. ruined peoples lives. He used environmentalism to expropriate private property from rural ranchers. Most of that happened late 80’s through the 90’s. I’ve not the motivation to search through newspaper archives to prove it to you.
One easy search is the NYT archives: https://tinyurl.com/mue6urkc
Notice the patronage sham, the frontman for venture kleptocrats – much of that land was wrested from family ranchers. I know of huge tracks of public land he locked up, because I’ve been to those places before and after.
The fight between he and DiFi was far more nasty than the NYTimes lets on. There’s far more of that sort of thing in small regional newspapers 1990’s. That’s on you to find.
Was not nor ever shall be. Maybe he can hookup with Liz Cheney, another perrenial nothing.
Actually, I think Lizzy is going to join Newsome as his VP running mate. Perfect pair of feckless venal politicians
That matchup should get loads of Democrats and Republicans to vote for them.
After all, most Republicans can’t stand Newsome or Cheney, and no Democrat will vote for Cheney. After all, to them, she’s the spawn of Satan.
In the immortal words of Bugs Bunny: what a maroon, what an ignominious.
It never was your time, traitor.
You never JOINED the fight for conservatism, you mealy-mouthed weasel.
Pence was born to be a VP. Zero charisma but capable of bringing some votes to ticket.
The hubris of this man… Actually believing that he had a shot of being elected President… Good riddance, traitor…
Pence is proving once again that current or former veeps have both the hardest, and -paradoxically – the easiest pathway to becoming President
Pence chose the “never gonna be President” pathway.
I never thought Biden would ever become pResident, but he got 81 million votes when he couldn’t get 81 people to a rally.
But Pence doesn’t have a “machine” behind him rounding up mail in ballots that never made it to their original recipient.
“It’s Not My Time”
“No, I’m Not Giving the Campaign Donations Back”.
Why do you think I “ran” in the first place you schleps?
He should give them to Trump 🙂
He should give them to Ukraine, where he wants us to throw our money anyway.
I can’t say he’ll miss his moment because, well…
only for a moment, but the moments gone …
“Dust in the wind”
🎶
Unknown to Pence, but he suspended any hope of further political office on 1/6/21
Pence is the embodiment of the “values” that led us to the point where the left controls almost every institution. Even his precious corporations are run by leftists now. Bye, Mike.
Not your time, Mike, and it never will be.
“That’s not my concern.”
Pence never stood a chance even without the drama of January 6th.
Pence was a do nothing VP, a do nothing Rep. and a do nothing Governor. He is and has been weak and as stated by someone above there is no evidence he has ever actually accomplished anything notable himself. Now he was very good at positioning himself to be on the winning side without much regard to who was actually winning.
Pence did his job on Jan 6th. I say that even though I think it is absolute BS that Joe Biden got more votes than Obumbles did, nor do I believe that he actually beat Trump. There were just to many irregularities. Most of which were not properly investigated or prosecuted, IMHO.
But Pence for President was never going to happen regardless, he just doesn’t have that “thing” whatever it is to be president. Just take a moment in your mind and see if you can honestly see Pence giving an address from the Oval Office? In my mind it looks more like a SNL sketch (then new crappy ones, not the old ones.)
Ramaswamy made my”spidy” sense go off … hair on the back of my neck stand up.
Pence can go back to Indiana and get a job picking up dog sh*t in the city parks …
NO SHIT SHERLOCK