Former US Vice President Mike Pence is emerging as one of the last Republicans in Washington willing to publicly criticize President Donald Trump's new administration, the Associated Press reported, quoted by BTA.
This is a particularly unpleasant role for the former vice president, whose refusal to break off relations with Trump defined the time they were together in office until the two fell out over Trump's refusal to accept the results of the 2020 presidential election. and his efforts to stay in power.
The non-profit organization he heads, Advancing American Freedom, has spent nearly $1 million on ads opposing Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s pick for health secretary. Pence has been giving speeches urging the president to stand with longtime foreign allies and lobbying members of Congress, while aides have been writing letters and op-eds.
This weekend, he published an article he wrote more than a decade ago about the limits of presidential power after Trump declared that "He who saves his country breaks no law".
Pence and those who work with him at his organization have stressed that they are not seeking to assume the mantle of hardline anti-Trumpism. They intend to praise the administration when they agree with it and express concern when they disagree with its actions, championing traditional conservative principles that have fallen out of favor now that Trump's populism, embodied in his "Make America Great Again" policy, is in vogue.
Pence has clashed with Kennedy Jr. - who has since been confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Health and Human Services Secretary - over past comments he made in support of abortion rights. Pence's group is now also lobbying against Lori Chavez-Deremer, Trump's pick for Labor Secretary, accusing her of favoring unions, and plans to spend the coming months pushing for increased military spending, deficit reduction and repeal of the 2017 tax cuts. in constant, as well as in attempts to convince Trump to stop imposing tariffs on allies.