Former President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to grumble about Mike Pence, claiming his former vice president went to the “Dark Side” and is “making up stories” about him.
“For 7 years Mike Pence only spoke well of me. Now he’s decided to go to the ‘Dark Side.’ Why didn’t he do this years before,” Mr Trump wrote.
“Was just watching Mike Pence make up stories about me, which are absolutely false,” the former president continued.
“I never said for him to put me before the Constitution – I don’t talk that way, and wouldn’t even think to suggest it,” Mr Trump added. “Mike failed badly on calling out Voter Fraud in the 2020 Presidential Election, and based on the fact that he is at approximately 2% in the Polls, with no money or support, he obviously did the wrong thing. His advisors have led him down a very bad path!”
Although it was unclear from Mr Trump’s posts, he seemed to be alluding to a speech Mr Pence gave in New Hampshire on Wednesday, during which Mr Pence took jabs at his former boss and populism.
“When Donald Trump ran for president in 2016, he promised to govern as a conservative. And together, we did just that,” the former vice president said. “But it’s important for Republicans to know that he and his imitators in this Republican primary make no such promise today.”
“The truth is Donald Trump, along with his imitators, often sound like an echo of the progressives they seek to replace,” Mr Pence blasted.
He said that Republicans face a choice in 2024: “Will we be the party of conservatism, or will we follow the siren song of populism unmoored to conservative principles? The future of this movement and this party belongs to one or the other — not both. That is because the fundamental divide between these two factions is unbridgeable.”
“You know there’s already a party that embraces appeasement abroad. There’s already a party that would ignore our national debt. There’s already a party that wants to marginalize the right to life,” Mr Pence said, adding that this is“not conservatism. It’s Republicanism that prioritizes power over principles.”
“The truth is the Republican Party did not begin on a golden escalator in 2015,” Mr Pence quipped.
Aside from the events of January 6, Mr Pence rarely rebukes his former boss so directly. But as the 2024 race heats up and the former vice president’s poll numbers are slipping, he seems to be pushing the same aggressive stance that he took on during the August GOP debate.
