It took just four words.
But those words proved to be a crack in Donald Trump’s armor and emboldened some Republicans and conservative media outlets to more openly attack the former president.
Trump remains the party’s most dominant figure and its most likely nominee in 2024. But perhaps for the first time since he left office, some in his party have concluded that criticizing him is not tantamount to swallowing a poison pill.
It’s not that the words uttered by Mike Pence were inflammatory. All he said was this: “President Trump is wrong.” And that “I had no right to overturn the election.”
That simple declaration was a major pushback to Trump’s recent declaration about overturning the election, one that declared his goal in starker terms than he had ever used.
Vice President Mike Pence speaks during a “Save the Majority” rally on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
The fact that Pence, the ever-loyal vice president, crossed that line was what changed the political debate, and that he did it in a speech to the conservative Federalist Society. And that he added this: “There is no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president.”
Sure, Pence wants to make his own run for the top job, and thus decided to go a step further in challenging his ex-boss.
Pence drew some blood. Steve Bannon called him a “stone-cold coward” who would take the words “to your grave.” The former president insisted he was right about Pence having such powers–nearly all constitutional scholars disagree–but his statement was mild by Trumpian standards.
PENCE REJECTS TRUMP CLAIM HE COULD HAVE INTERVENED IN 2020 ELECTION
Pence’s former chief of staff, Marc Short, joined in, saying Sunday on “Meet the Press” that Pence never considered blocking the Electoral College results on Jan. 6. “I think, unfortunately, the president had many bad advisers who were basically snake-oil salesmen, giving him…
Source : foxnews
