Mike Pence to run in 2024: what are his main discrepancies with Donald Trump?

Former Vice President Mike Pence is bidding for the Republican presidential nomination and takes to the stage on Wednesday evening against seven others in the first GOP debate. Although Pence will be facing former boss Donald Trump in the presidential run -- but not the debate as the front runner is avoiding it -- his candidacy shows the completeness of their dramatic break. The gap between the running mates in the last two elections had been growing over the past few years.

The January 6 Capitol riot

The biggest bone of contention was Pence’s refusal to call for the overturn of the 2020 election results. The ex-vice president wrote about how this issue widened their rift in his memoir, “So Help Me God”, released late last year.

Trump didn’t have the support of his vice president when he called on thousands of supporters to attack the Capitol while legislators were certifying the Electoral College results.

The former president had tweeted that his second-in-command didn’t have the courage to overturn the outcome of the election. This resulted in Trump supporters chanting to hang Pence, who later said that the ex-head of state was irresponsible in tweeting what he did.

Years after the violence and in the run-up to the primaries, Pence has been more vocal about Trump, saying that the former president’s reckless words endangered everyone at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Handling the covid-19 pandemic

While both Trump and Pence were involved in the government’s response to the pandemic, there were instances where they appeared to have differing views.

For example, Pence, as the head of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, was often more measured in his public statements and emphasized the importance of following public health guidelines. For his part, Trump occasionally downplayed the severity of the virus and expressed a desire to reopen the economy quickly.

Total ban on Muslims entering the US

One issue in which Pence openly disagreed with Trump was years ago when they were still campaigning for the 2016 elections. Trump had called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.”

Then-Governor Pence responded by tweeting that such proposals were “offensive and unconstitutional”.

Kid gloves off

For the most part, Trump and Pence worked together for the four years they were in office despite their differences, and generally maintained a public display of unity and support.

However, now that he has officially thrown his hat into the presidential ring, the former VP is likely to become one of Trump’s harshest critics, as the highest office in the country will be on the line. How that goes down with the blinkered MAGA cult remains to be seen.