Mike Pence crashes and burns
Mike Pence is quickly learning that if you want to become the Republican presidential nominee in 2024, you must be a monster. Unlike Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis, who are fluent in the languages of angry and crazy, Pence doesn’t come across with the same maniacal vibe, and he knows it. So, how can Pence stand out and clinch the nomination?
Pence must believe that his best shot to attract voters is with draconian policy, and his strategy is to go even farther to the right than his rivals. In doing so, Pence hopes Republicans would see him not only as the most conservative candidate but a strong leader who is not afraid to demand even crazier laws than Trump and DeSantis.
In a recent interview with the Associated Press, Pence announced a new malevolence: abortion should be off the table in nonviable pregnancies. To be clear, even when a physician concludes that there is a slim or even a 0% chance of a fetus’ survival, Pence wants mother to be forced to carry pregnancies to term.
Pence apparently knows that doctors disagree and cite countless situations in which women reasonably conclude that continuing a pregnancy is not worth the risk, not to mention the potential for substantial physical and emotional suffering. However, such an appreciation of science and women’s dignity are unconscionably absent from today’s Republican mind.
Pence insists that forcing women to stay pregnant in such situations is no less than an “extraordinary opportunity in the country today to restore the sanctity of life to the center of American law.” Based on his own supposed anecdotal evidence of “courageous women and families” who “had a healthy pregnancy and a healthy delivery” after being warned by a doctor of nonviability, Pence claims he wants “to always err on the side of life.”
So far, Pence has out-crazied his rivals on this issue. Although Pence’s announcement is evil and scary, it is not surprising given his standing in the race. On Friday, Pence campaign aides revealed that they raised a measly $1.2 million in the second quarter. Committed to America, a super PAC that supports Pence, raised only $2.6 million, bringing the combined total to only about $3.8 million.
Pence has also not yet reached the 40,000 individual donors that the Republican National Committee requires to participate in the GOP primary debate next month, according to a report from the New York Times. Pence seems to be pinning his hopes on the idea that lurching to the right will propel him forward. His monster position on women’s autonomy reveals he has lost touch with positioning himself to win the general election as he scrambles to claim the Republican nomination. You can smell the desperation.
Ron Leshnower is a lawyer and the author of several books, including President Trump’s Month