Washington Mike Pence, former Vice President of Donald Trump, stands with a hundred bikers in front of a Harley-Davidson showroom in the state of Iowa. The US Republican left his jacket at home, instead he is wearing a leather vest and sunglasses. He’s about to hop on a Harley himself and roar around with Republican supporters, past corn fields, pick-up trucks and Burger King.
The biker appearance last weekend was part of his plan to prevent Donald Trump from running again for the presidency. Pence will be visiting Iowa more frequently in the coming months as the state becomes the first to vote on who will be the Republican presidential nominee in February 2024.
With his entry into the race, Pence is opposing Trump: his former boss, whom he has loyally defended for years like no other Republican. Trump is also applying for the 2024 candidacy and wants to challenge US President Joe Biden.
A total of ten Republicans are vying for the nomination, and according to CNN, two more are expected to join Pence: former New Jersey governor Chris Christie and North Dakota governor Doug Burgum. Further applications are not excluded.
Iowa becomes the first US state to vote on who will be the Republican presidential nominee.
(Photo: Reuters)
The overcrowded field of candidates suggests that many Republicans feel capable of overthrowing Trump, even if he is way ahead in the polls. They also seem to be counting on the 80-year-old Biden being defeated in a direct duel.
Pence supports US aid to Ukraine
Pence differs from Trump in foreign policy in particular, because he is one of the few Republican presidential candidates who are in favor of aid to Ukraine.
Among the Republican contenders for the presidential nomination, Pence falls into the camp of world leaders, along with former UN ambassador Nikki Haley and Senator Tim Scott. Shortly after the Russian invasion in February 2022, Pence had visited Ukraine’s border with Poland.
It is in the highest American interest to fence in Russia, he said over the weekend in Iowa. “A war is raging in Europe and that is causing trouble for our country as well,” he said. In a speech in November, he called on his party to stand united behind aid to Ukraine. “There can be no place for Putin apologists in the conservative movement. There is only room in this movement for champions of freedom.”
The 2024 US election is crucial for Europe
Trump, on the other hand, is threatening an immediate end to support for Ukraine if he is nominated and wins the election.
>> Read here: Donald Trump’s CPAC Speech – “I Will Prevent World War III”
The election in November 2024 is therefore decisive for the relationship with Europe – and for the Ukraine war, should it then continue. Voting out Biden, the victory of a NATO-critical Republican and his entry into the White House, according to German diplomats, would be a disaster for the painstakingly repaired transatlantic relationship.
So far, the US has been the mainstay of Ukraine’s defense, with the Biden government approving around $113 billion in military, economic and humanitarian funds.
The US aid to Ukraine is considered crucial for the outcome of the war.
(Photo: AP)
The aid is increasingly being criticized, including in the US Congress, which may have to vote on a new billion-euro tranche this summer. Republican candidate Ron DeSantis described the Ukraine war as a “regional conflict” and questioned the aid.
Biotech entrepreneur and presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy also criticizes US support. “The United States must focus on its priorities and scale back its involvement in the Ukraine war,” the 38-year-old told Handelsblatt.
On Capitol Hill, however, such isolationist voices are in the minority, with most Democratic and Republican lawmakers and senators supporting aid to Ukraine. After all, they want to prevent a Russian victory at all costs – also to deter China.
A majority of US citizens also support the funds for Ukraine, although support for them is slowly falling.
Pence has a key constituency on his side
In internal party polls, Pence is still in the single digits, but you shouldn’t underestimate him. Because domestically he is addressing a clientele that has alienated Trump. Long-time governor of the deep red state of Indiana, Pence is well-regarded by the important Evangelical constituency and has close ties to Christian organizations.
Pence is very religious and fights against abortion and same-sex marriage. He considers the greatest threats to society to be “family instability, single-parent households, the decline in family formation and an explosion in sexually transmitted diseases”.
Shortly before the US Supreme Court overturned federal abortion rights last summer, he said, “Nothing has destabilized our society more in the past 50 years than legal abortion.”
Trump successfully used his vice as a link to the Midwestern Republican establishment and big-donor scene. He now has to do without these advantages. It is not yet clear who Trump’s new “running mate” could be.
>> Read here: “We don’t want to end up like Germany” – DeSantis’ bumpy start to the campaign
Pence also benefited from being loyal to Trump. He stood by him in two impeachment trials, even when Trump boasted about sexual assault as a candidate. In return, the vice got a conservative majority in the powerful Supreme Court – a dream of the religious right in the USA.
The break only came after the lost presidential election of 2020. On January 6, 2021, fanatical Trump fans stormed the Capitol, who believed Biden’s election victory to be manipulated. Some of them wanted to hang Pence and set up a gallows in front of the US Congress because they wanted to certify the election results as legal.
Trump had called for protests and did nothing for hours to de-escalate. Pence, meanwhile, says Trump’s “recklessness” endangered his family and everyone who was in the Capitol on Jan. 6. “History will hold Donald Trump accountable,” he wrote in his memoir.
More: Republicans are more diverse than Biden’s Democrats — at least on the campaign trail