前副总统迈克·彭斯周三宣布他正在竞选总统反对他的前老板唐纳德·特朗普，因为，他说，“不同的时代需要不同的领导。”
在爱荷华州的一次演讲中，彭斯清楚地表明了他所看到的这些差异，特别是在1月6日左右，以及在他看来，这些差异为什么让特朗普没有资格再次在白宫任职。除了对前总统的指责，彭斯还试图强调他自己的保守派诚意，包括他长期支持堕胎限制、宗教自由原则和缩小联邦政府。
“我知道我们能让这个国家起死回生。我们可以保卫我们的国家，保卫我们的边境。我们可以振兴我们的经济。我们可以让我们的国家回到平衡预算的道路上，”彭斯在得梅因与家人和支持者一起发表讲话时说。他的妻子，前第二夫人凯伦·彭斯介绍了他。他计划在提前投票的州进行游说，以在共和党总统候选人提名的道路上击败特朗普。
“我们可以捍卫我们的自由，给美国生活一个新的开始。但这将需要新的领导——在白宫和共和党，”这位前副总统说。
“我们的愿景将基于自由，”他说，并补充说，“在所有这些工作中，我们不会寻求分裂美国人民，而是呼吁他们本性中更好的天使。”
在任何其他竞选周期或与另两位前美国领导人一起，彭斯挑战特朗普可能会成为一个奇观——甚至是媒体马戏团——因为前副总统与他的票友竞选是多么不寻常。
相反，彭斯的竞选活动以一种安静得多的展示和回归保守主义根源的呼吁开始。他选择在得梅因社区学院的一个不起眼的活动场所发表演讲，数百名与会者聚集在一起，发表了一些言论，其中包括彭斯对包括特朗普在内的其他候选人提出的一些最尖锐的批评。
“保持观望是很容易的。但我不是这样长大的。我一直相信，谁得到的多，谁就需要的多，”彭斯说。“这就是为什么今天在上帝和我的家人面前，我宣布我将竞选美利坚合众国总统。”
这呼应了彭斯周三早些时候发布的一段视频，他在视频中说，“今天，我们的党和我们的国家需要一位领导人，正如(亚伯拉罕)林肯所说，他将呼吁我们本性中更好的天使。”在视频中，彭斯一次也没有提到或展示特朗普的图像或导致他们分裂的事件1月6日袭击美国国会大厦被一群亲特朗普的暴民。
相反，彭斯将这场比赛视为一场在总统乔·拜登(Joe Biden)领导下“陷入困境”的国家和彭斯所谓的激进左翼之间的战斗。
“我不需要告诉在座的任何人:这个国家有很多麻烦，”他在他的就职演说中说道。
虽然他吹嘘自己在特朗普政府中的服务时间——“我们一起减税，摧毁了ISIS，支持我们的盟友，勇敢地面对我们的敌人”——但他也再次试图强调他与特朗普在1月6日的分歧，重复了他的批评，即特朗普让他推翻选举失败的努力“危及了我的家人和国会大厦的每个人。”
“美国人民应该知道，在那一天，特朗普总统还要求我在他和宪法之间做出选择。现在，选民将面临同样的选择。我选择了宪法，我将永远如此，”彭斯说，后来他注意到他的儿子，一名海军陆战队员，有时提醒他，他们两人作为公务员做出了同样的承诺。
彭斯没有具体点名特朗普，但他表示，无视宪法或将其置于宪法之上的“任何人”都应该“永远不会”成为总统。
尽管如此，他说，“我理解许多人对2020年选举结果的失望。”
但是“选举关乎未来，”他说。他认为，他们在“愿景”上的差异导致了他在2024年挑战前总统的历史性不寻常的决定。
“鉴于我们的记录，也许可以问我为什么要挑战我的前竞选伙伴?但是让我真心实意地说，它始于我对美国人民和全能的上帝所做的承诺……终于对未来的不同憧憬。
他说:“我与我的前竞选伙伴和这个领域的其他人的分歧也与我们建立这场运动的价值观和政策有关。”
“当唐纳德·特朗普在2016年竞选总统时，他承诺以保守派的身份执政——我们一起做到了这一点。今天，他没有做出这样的承诺。”
彭斯还认为，特朗普一直在放弃对堕胎限制的支持，将这个问题视为“不便”，也没有计划解决该国的长期债务和支出问题。
这位前国会议员和印第安纳州州长周一向联邦选举委员会提交了文件，使他的候选人资格正式化。
直到2021年1月6日，彭斯一直是特朗普的忠实二号人物，这是特朗普竞选活动的高潮，特朗普试图向彭斯施压，要求他拒绝选举团的失败，彭斯作为副总统在宪法上无法做到这一点。
回头见，彭斯说他希望特朗普“会及时回心转意，他会看到他身边的法律顾问干部把他引入歧途，但他没有这样做。”
尽管如此，彭斯说，“在过去的几年里，我经常为他祈祷，今天我再次为他祈祷。”
尽管特朗普此后一再批评彭斯，但其他一些人认为，这位前副总统应该在更大程度上与特朗普较量。
例如，在特朗普被纽约大陪审团起诉后，同为总统候选人的阿萨·哈钦森(Asa Hutchinson)谴责了特朗普——特朗普否认了这些指控——彭斯在共和党的MAGA wing试图取消该案件的合法性时发出了类似的抱怨。他劝阻了前总统呼吁的抗议活动，但指出他们有和平集会的第一修正案权利。
“彭斯非常有条理，也很有策略，”共和党全国委员会前通讯主任道格·叶禾说。“在政治上，他将在那些他认为最有利的事情上与特朗普正面交锋——并且着眼于历史，显然他正在努力这样做。”
其他人，如共和党捐赠者丹·埃伯哈特，他在竞选中支持佛罗里达州州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯，称赞彭斯，但担心他的支持程度。
“迈克·彭斯是一个真正的保守派，一个伟大的公仆。他只是没有得到共和党人的支持，他需要有竞争力。他在共和党中的净支持率为18%。这与詹姆斯·丹·奎尔竞选总统时不相上下，”埃伯哈特说。
然而，叶禾说，现在就把便士排除在外还为时过早。
“这就是为什么你看到这么多人进来，”叶禾说。“他们非常清楚地看到了特朗普的弱点。虽然他肯定会遇到一些障碍，但很明显，彭斯比任何人都清楚自己的弱点。”
预计彭斯将赢得福音派的投票，这是爱荷华州的一个重要群体，并宣传罗纳德·里根时代的保守价值观。在他的发布广告中，他展示了一张自己作为国会议员在椭圆形办公室与里根的照片。
为竞选奠定基础，彭斯今年已经至少八次访问爱荷华州，盟友们在5月发起了一个名为“致力于美国”的超级政治行动委员会。他还在11月出版了回忆录《上帝保佑我》。
“很难想象在这个社区里还有谁比迈克·彭斯更有信誉，”叶禾说。
扩展初级场
彭斯不是本周唯一一个从特朗普忠诚者转变为挑战者参加2024年竞选的人。
前顾问和前美国广播公司新闻撰稿人克里斯·克里斯蒂周二发起了他的竞选活动在新罕布什尔州，另一个关键的提前投票州。
彭斯加入了一个拥挤的初选领域-早期民调显示，特朗普目前领先于他的竞争对手。
到目前为止，彭斯和川普在共和党初选中的主要挑战者是:克里斯蒂、德桑蒂斯、妮基·黑利、哈钦森、维韦克·拉马斯瓦米和蒂姆·斯科特。
Mike Pence, kicking off 2024 campaign, suggests Trump can 'never' be president again
Former Vice PresidentMike Pencedeclared on Wednesdaythat he is running for presidentagainst his former boss -- Donald Trump -- because, he said, "Different times call for different leadership."
In a speech from Iowa, Pence made clear what he saw as those differences, particularly around Jan. 6 -- and why, in his view, they made Trump ineligible to ever serve in the White House again. Beyond his rebuke of the former president, Pence sought to stress his own conservative bona fides, including his longtime support of abortion restrictions, religious liberty principles and shrinking the federal government.
"I know we can bring this country back. We can defend our nation and secure our border. We can revive our economy. We can put our nation back on a path to a balanced budget," Pence said in a speech in Des Moines along family and supporters. His wife, former second lady Karen Pence, introduced him. He plans to barnstorm the early-voting state to beat Trump on the road to the Republican presidential nomination.
"We can defend our liberties and give America a new beginning for life. But it will require new leadership -- in the White House and the Republican Party," the former vice president said.
"Ours will be a vision grounded in freedom," he said, adding, "In all this work, we will not seek to divide the American people but instead appeal to the better angels of their nature."
In any other campaign cycle or with another pair of former U.S. leaders, Pence challenging Trump would likely have been a spectacle -- a media circus, even -- given how unusual it is for a former vice president to run against his ticket mate.
Instead, Pence's campaign debuted with a much quieter display and an appeal for a return to conservatism's roots. He chose to set his speech at a nondescript event space at a Des Moines community college, with a few hundred attendees gathered for remarks that also included some of the sharpest criticism yet that Pence has thrown at other candidates, including Trump.
"It would be easy to stay on the sidelines. But that's not how I was raised. I have longed believed to who much is given much will be required," Pence said. "That is why today before God and my family I am announcing I am running for president of the United States of America."
That echoed an announcement video Pence released earlier Wednesday in which he said, "Today, our party and our country need a leader that will appeal, as [Abraham] Lincoln said, to the better angels of our nature." In the video, Pence did not once mention or show an image of Trump or the event which caused their split: theJan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitolby a pro-Trump mob.
Instead, Pence cast the contest as a battle for a country that is "in trouble" under President Joe Biden and what Pence calls the radical left.
"I don't have to tell any of you here: This country is in a lot of trouble," he said in his kickoff speech.
While he touted his time serving in the Trump administration -- "together we cut taxes, destroyed ISIS, stood by our allies, stood up to our foes" -- he also again sought to stress his differences with Trump over Jan. 6, repeating his criticism that Trump's push to have him overturn their election loss "endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol."
"The American people deserve to know that on that day, President Trump also demanded that I choose between him and the Constitution. Now, voters will be faced with the same choice. I chose the Constitution and I always will," Pence said, later noting how his son, a Marine, has sometimes reminded him they both made the same pledge as public servants.
Without naming Trump specifically, Pence said that "anyone" who would disregard the Constitution or place themselves above it should "never" be president.
Still, he said, "I understand the disappointment that many still feel about the outcome of the 2020 election."
But "elections are about the future," he said. And their differences in "vision," he suggested, led to his historically unusual decision to challenge the former president in 2024.
"Given our record, it might be fair to ask why I am challenging my former running mate? But let me say with my heart, it begins with a promise I made to the American people and to almighty God … and ends with different visions for the future," he said.
"My differences with my former running mate and others who are in this field also have to do with the values and policies upon which we have built this movement," he said.
And "when Donald Trump ran for president in 2016, he promised to govern as a conservative -- together we did just that. Today, he makes no such promise."
Pence also argued that Trump has been retreating from his support for abortion restrictions, treating the issue as an "inconvenience," and has no plan to address the country's long-term debt and spending issues.
Former Vice President Mike Pence is greeted by supporters as he arrives with his wife Karen to make a U.S. presidential campaign announcement kicking off his race for the 2024 Republican presidential n...Show moreundefined
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
The former congressman and Indiana governor filed paperwork on Monday with the Federal Election Commission to make his candidacy official.
Pence was a loyal No. 2 to Trump until Jan. 6, 2021 -- the climax to Trump's campaign to try and pressure Pence to reject their Electoral College loss, which Pence was constitutionally unable to do as vice president.
Later, Pencesaidhe hoped Trump "would come around in time, that he would see the cadre of legal advisers that he surrounded himself with led him astray, but he hasn't done so."
Still, Pence said, "I have often prayed for him over the past few years, and I prayed for him again today."
While Trump has since repeatedly criticized Pence, some others have argued the former vice president should take on Trump to a greater extent.
For example, whereas fellow presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson condemned Trump following Trump's indictment by a New York grand jury -- on charges Trump denies -- Pence sounded similar complaints as the GOP's MAGA wing to try and delegitimize the case. He discouraged the protests the former president called for but noted their First Amendment right to peacefully assemble.
"Pence is very methodical and strategic," said Doug Heye, a former communications director for the Republican National Committee. "He's going to take Trump head-on on those things where, politically, he sees the best advantage -- and with an eye to history, as he's obviously trying to do."
Others, like GOP donor Dan Eberhart, who is backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the race, compliment Pence but are concerned with his level of support.
"Mike Pence is a true conservative and a great public servant. He just doesn't have the support among Republicans that he needs to be competitive. His net favorables with Republicans are 18%. That's comparable to Dan Quayle when he ran for president," Eberhart said.
However, Heye said it would be premature for anyone to count Pence out.
"That's why you see so many people getting in," Heye said. "They see a vulnerability with Trump, very clearly. And while he'll certainly have some obstacles, it's clear that Pence knows his weaknesses better than anyone else."
Pence is expected to court the evangelical vote, a significant block of Iowans, and campaign on Ronald Reagan-era conservative values. In his launch ad, he showed a photo of himself as a congressman in the Oval Office with Reagan.
Setting the groundwork for a campaign, Pence has already visited Iowa at least eight times this year, and allies launched a super PAC, called "Committed to America," in May. He also published a memoir, "So Help Me God," in November.
"It's hard to think of anybody who would have more credibility in that community than Mike Pence," said Heye.
Expanding primary field
Pence is not the only Trump loyalist-turned-challenger jumping into the 2024 race this week.
Former adviser and former ABC News contributor Chris Christielaunched his campaign on Tuesdayin New Hampshire, another pivotal early-voting state.
Pence joins a crowded primary field -- where early polls show Trump is ahead of his competitors right now.
Thus far, Pence and Trump's major GOP primary challengers are: Christie, DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Hutchinson, Vivek Ramaswamy and Tim Scott.
