Fox News’s Tucker Carlson savagely mocked Mike Pence on his show Wednesday evening during a moment of crosstalk with fellow Fox host Laura Ingraham.
The otherwise unremarkable moment comes as Mr Pence continues to stoke rumours of future political ambitions, including a potential 2024 run for the presisdency.
Mr Carlson has not labeled the vice president a “traitor” like many of Donald Trump’s fans did after the January 6 attack on Congress and Mr Pence’s refusal to take part in the effort to overturn the 2020 election. But he did paint the former VP as totally subservient to his ex-boss, despite that very public break with Mr Trump on Jan 6.
“Mike Pence, very nice guy, seems like a nice guy, but he spent four years getting bossed around by Donald Trump like a concubine,” said Mr Carlson.
“He was bossed around by his donors when he was governor of Indiana. He’s not in a position to lead anything,” the Fox host continued.
Mr Carlson has long been one of Donald Trump’s biggest backers in the Fox primetime lineup while at the same time facing intense criticism from the left over his embrace of far-right rhetoric on the topic of immigration, which critics and experts say echoes the white nationalist “replacement theory” which posits that white people are being marginalised by “invading” minorities in their countries of origin. Mr Carlson frequently uses such “invasion” rhetoric on his show.
Mr Pence has kept his political profile afloat since leaving the White House, and earlier this year endorsed against Donald Trump in the Georgia gubernatorial primary, scoring a rare victory that the ex-president’s 2016 GOP rival Ted Cruz could not replicate in Ohio’s Senate race with his endorsement of Josh Mandel there.
The presence of his previous running mate in a 2024 GOP primary would throw a wrench into the equation for Mr Trump’s presumed bid for the nomination, but the former president remains dominant in most if not all polling of the potential primary field.
