Dear Commons Community,

Former Vice President Mike Pence officially announced his presidential campaign in Iowa yesterday with a repudiation of Donald J. Trump, portraying his former boss as unfit for the presidency and going further than ever before in condemning the character and values of the man he loyally served for four years.

Before a crowd of several hundred on the campus of the Des Moines Area Community College, Mr. Pence focused on something that many in his party have tried to desperately avoid: Mr. Trump’s actions on Jan. 6, 2021.  As reported by The New York Times.

“Jan. 6 was a tragic day in the life of our nation,” Mr. Pence said. “But thanks to the courage of law enforcement, the violence was quelled, we reconvened the Congress. The very same day, President Trump’s reckless words endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol.”

He added: “But the American people deserve to know on that fateful day, President Trump also demanded I choose between him and our Constitution. Now voters will be faced with the same choice. I chose the Constitution, and I always will.”

No other major Republican candidate for president has even mentioned the attack on the Capitol in an announcement speech. Most elected Republicans have contorted themselves to avoid ever talking about that day — believing it only alienates their voters. A growing number of Republicans are going even further, trying to falsely reframe the attack on the Capitol as an inside job by the F.B.I. or by leftist groups pretending to be Trump supporters.

Instead, Mr. Pence described his own actions that day in certifying Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory as a decisive moment that proved his mettle, and Mr. Trump’s actions that day as disqualifying.

“The Republican Party must be the party of the Constitution of the United States,” Mr. Pence said to applause.

“Anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States,” he said. “And anyone who asks someone else to put them over the Constitution should never be president again.”

Mr. Pence’s use of the word “never” took him across a line he had not breached until now, even as he has criticized Mr. Trump since Jan. 6. His announcement speech put him closer to more outspoken Republicans such as former Representative Liz Cheney, who have described Mr. Trump as morally unfit to occupy the Oval Office.

With his remarks, Mr. Pence raised an immediate question for his campaign: As one of the criteria for participating in the G.O.P. primary debates, the Republican National Committee requires each candidate to sign a pledge that they will support the party’s eventual nominee.

Mr. Pence has put himself in the potential position of having to support a candidate in Mr. Trump, the front-runner in the Republican Party, who he said should “never” be president.

Despite that, only minutes after his speech, Mr. Pence promised in an interview with Fox News that he would support the Republican nominee for president, “especially if it’s me.”

Pence cannot have it both ways!

Tony

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