Using a report from Politico praising Mike Pence for putting distance between himself and the twice-impeached Donald Trump with his “Freedom Agenda,” New Republic’s Alex Shepard suggested people should not be applauding the former vice president since he is just repackaging Trumpism.
To kick things off, Shepard suggested Pence is an empty suit who is only famous nationally because of Trump, with the columnist writing, “… he’s a charisma-free, ultrareligious guy with the hair of a Lego figurine who is best remembered for the time a fly spent several seconds on his head. Pence is a national figure because he’s a loser: In the summer of 2016, no one thought Donald Trump could win and therefore no one wanted to be his vice president. Pence saw a low-risk opportunity to boost his profile. Four years later, Trump’s supporters nearly killed him.”
Getting that out of the way, Shepard said a deep dive into Pence’s plan would reveal some of Trump’s nearest and dearest campaign pledges have been taken up by the former VP — just in a kinder and gentler way.
Citing Politico’s Alex Isenstadt writing, “Pence is releasing a 19-page policy platform on Thursday aimed at casting himself as a figure of the future and moving the country “forward to ensure that the best days for the greatest nation on earth are yet to come.” It’s the kind of statement most prospective presidents would make, but in this case it’s also an implicit swipe at Trump, who is focused on relitigating the 2020 election as he weighs a comeback bid,” Shepard added, “When you actually examine Pence’s policy platform, what you see is … a lot of stuff that Donald Trump and Mike Pence did while running the country.”
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Writing, “It’s heavy on Pence’s hyperreligious obsessions: Its first list of items is focused on ending federal funding for abortions domestically and abroad, repealing the Johnson amendment (which prevents churches from endorsing candidates), and supporting ‘religious freedom.’ These were never big Trump priorities,” he added, ” the former vice president’s action plan gets Trumpier still”
“Pence notes, for instance, that as president he will prioritize finishing the wall on the southern border and ‘immediately deporting all’ undocumented ‘criminals and gang members.’ Sanctuary cities would be ‘banned.’ There would be severe limitations on the granting of H1B visas, and immigrants would be required to prove that they were ‘financially stable’ before entering the country,’ the columnist explained before adding, “Pence continues to tread within Trump’s anti-China footprints, stressing that the country is an economic and security threat. The only recognizable difference here is that Pence doesn’t follow Trump into the wilderness of Vladimir Putin–worship or admiration for his regime.”
“All in all, there is scant evidence in this policy brief to support the idea that Pence has meaningfully different ideas from Donald Trump, other than the fact that he’s somewhat squishier on the issue of whether he should be murdered by rioters during an assault on the U.S. Capitol,” he wrote. “Other than that detail, Pence, like the rest of the Republican Party, remains in thrall to Trump.”
You can read the entire piece here.
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