Donald Trump called on his former vice president Mike Pence to endorse him Saturday hours after his once-loyal lieutenant bowed out of the 2024 Republican presidential valley.
“Everybody that leaves seems to be endorsing me,” Trump mused at the Republican Jewish Coalition annual summit in Las Vegas, Nevada Sunday.
“I don’t know about Mike Pence. He should endorse me. He should endorse me. You know why? Because I had a great successful presidency and he was the vice president. He should endorse me. I chose him, made him vice president, but people in politics can be very disloyal.”
The duo had a falling out in the final weeks of their administration after Trump called on Pence to not certify the results of his 2020 election lost, which he continues to incorrectly insist was fraudulent.
In the run-up to the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot, Trump and his allies mounted a pressure campaign to entice Pence into rejecting electoral college votes as part of a strategy to keep the-then president in power despite his election defeat.
He refused to do so, contending that he lacked the constitutional authority and has adamantly stood by that decision since.
Just before the deadly riot, Trump had posted on social media that Pence “didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution.”
Pence was evacuated from the Senate floor alongside lawmakers when a mob of angry Trump supporters bludgeoned their way into the Capitol to prevent the congressional certification, some of them chanting for the vice president’s execution.
“President Trump’s words were reckless. They endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol. But the American people deserve to know that on that day, president Trump also demanded that I choose between him and the Constitution,” Pence later reflected.
“Now, voters will be faced with the same choice: I chose the Constitution and I always will.”
The former vice president said that he was dropping out of the 2024 arena earlier Saturday at the Republican Jewish Coalition annual summit, an announcement that caught supporters by surprise.
During his speech, Pence alluded to a key mantra of his 2024 campaign by emphasizing the difference between populism and conservatism.
“It’s become clear to me that this is not my time,” Pence said during his remarks. “I’m leaving this campaign but let me promise you I will never leave the fight for conservative values.”
Pence had been the fifth-highest polling contender nationally in the RealClearPolitics aggregate. But he was struggling to court donors and reportedly mired with a cash shortage.
He was even in danger of not making it to the third GOP debate on Nov. 8. Pence had launched his campaign in June on his birthday.
Nevada holds its caucus on Feb. 8 and will be the third Republican presidential nominating contest.
Trump is the faraway frontrunner, with a 46.5 percentage point lead over his nearest rivals according to the latest RCP polling aggregate.
