(DailyVantage.com) – Former Vice President Mike Pence said during an April 13 appearance on Fox News that Republicans would choose someone “better” than former President Donald Trump in the 2024 Republican primary.
Dismissing Trump’s overwhelming support in the polls, which place the 45th president as the most popular candidate by far, Pence insisted that the election cycle was still too early to determine whether Trump would be the Republican nominee.
Pence said that while Trump was the only person who could have defeated Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016, Republicans would have “better choices” in the upcoming 2024 primary.
In a veiled attack on Trump, Pence said the Republican Party would “choose the right standard bearer to meet this moment.” The former Vice President then added that he would soon make a decision as to whether he himself would run for president in 2024 and that the decision would be made in a matter of weeks.
Asked by Fox News host Martha MacCallum whether Trump’s legal issues in New York should disqualify him from being the next Republican presidential nominee, Pence refused to provide an answer and instead remarked that such decisions should be made by the voters. Pence declared he was “confident” that Republicans would choose the best nominee for 2024, but did not say who the best nominee would be.
During the interview, Pence also expressed opposition to Trump’s claim that Ukraine was not of vital strategic importance to the United States. Pence argued that the US should always fight against the enemies of “freedom” abroad and he described the US as “the arsenal of democracy.”
While Pence served as Trump’s running mate in the 2016 and 2020 elections, he is not expected to be Trump’s running mate in 2024 after tensions between the two arose following their 2020 electoral defeat. Trump is reportedly interested in choosing a woman to be his 2024 running mate, with reports alleging former news anchor Kari Lake to be the current frontrunner.
As of writing, the most recent Morning Consult poll places Trump’s primary support at 56 percent and Pence’s support at 7 percent.
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