(NewsGlobal.com)- Former President Donald Trump hasn’t officially announced whether he’s going to mount a White House run in 2024 yet, but if he does, it almost certainly will be with a new running mate.
In a recent interview Trump gave with the Washington Examiner, he all but ruled out bringing back Mike Pence as his vice president should he decide to run for president.
Speaking from his Mar-a-Lago resort, Trump said of potentially selecting Pence as his running mate:
“I don’t think the people would accept it.”
For most of the Trump administration, the relationship between the president and vice president had been very good. The pair seemingly played very well off of each other, and they worked together quite well.
That all changed very quickly, though, following the 2020 presidential election. Trump claimed there were many instances of voter fraud that led to him losing the election to Democrat Joe Biden.
Then, leading up to January 6, 2021, Trump tried to get Pence — in his role as president of the Senate — to block the certification of the Electoral College results. Pence ultimately refused, saying it was his constitutional duty to certify the results.
Trump insisted then — and still insists today — that Pence had the authority not to certify the results. He believed that not certifying the results of certain states that were in question could have allowed the Trump administration to remain in the White House for a second term.
The whole ordeal — including the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol building on that same January 6 day and the events afterward — caused a rift between Trump and Pence. Many of Trump’s followers have distanced themselves from Pence, with some even having some harsh and threatening words for him.
Still, Trump told the Washington Examiner that he thought Pence was a “really fine person.” He added, though, that their relationship was probably broken and couldn’t be fixed. As he explained:
“Mike and I had a great relationship except for the very important factor that took place at the end. We had a very good relationship. I haven’t spoken to him in a long time.”
For his part, Pence seems to be laying the groundwork for his own potential run for the Republican nomination in 2024. He has entered the public arena by giving various speeches and making his thoughts known on some of the biggest political issues of the day.
He has continued to say he believes the former president is just “wrong” to say that he had the power to overturn the 2020 election. Pence hasn’t shied away from bashing Trump in public, either.
Speaking to Republican donors this month, the former vice president said:
“There is no room in this party for apologists for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin,” Pence said, referring to Trump saying Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a savvy move by the Russian president.
Pence added:
“We cannot win by fighting yesterday’s battles or by relitigating the past.”
