Pence Could Thaw ‘Frozen’ GOP Primary – The American Spectator

On Jul 15, 2023

Veteran news anchor Brit Hume has just accurately summarized the 2024 election process: “It’s frozen and has been for many, many weeks now.”

With the help of a patently politicized Department of Justice, former President Donald Trump has retained a commanding lead among Republicans. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has solidified his spot as Trump’s major contender, while a stream of secondary candidates has splintered the remaining vote. In the absence of some dramatic breakthrough, the GOP seems inevitably stumbling toward renominating Trump, even as doubts of his electability intensify.

Meanwhile, the Democrats are frozen in their own dilemma. Signs of President Joe Biden’s corruption, incompetency, and senility are mounting daily. The Democrats’ sole consolation at this point is the prospect of a rematch against Trump. (RELATED: Joe Biden, the Totally Non-Senile Alpha Male)

Polling consistently shows that the American public dreads a rematch. If the GOP nominates a strong alternative to Trump, the Democrats would be forced to face reality with Biden, and if the Democrats then ditch Biden, the public would get what it wants: a vigorous debate about the future of the country, not a rehash of 2016 and 2020.

It’s now clear that Trump and the Democrats share a genuine fear of DeSantis. Even though his current lead is huge, Trump relentlessly attacks the Florida governor. The barrage of charges, of which only Trump is capable, are personal, inaccurate, and hysterical. He blasts “DeSanctimonious” for trying to “wreck” Social Security, for mishandling COVID worse than New York’s then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, for trashing Florida’s economy, and, worst of all, for being “disloyal” to Trump himself. It’s clear from both the venom and the frequency of the attacks that Trump sees DeSantis as the major impediment to renomination.

The Democrats are equally focused on destroying DeSantis. They consistently seek to brand him as “too right-wing for even Trump” and “more dangerous than Trump.” Biden is desperate to run against Trump. The prospect of facing a young, articulate, popular opponent with an incomparable resume and a successful record as governor of a major state lays bare Biden’s vulnerability.

The danger for the GOP — and the hope of the Democrats — is that Republican opposition to Trump remains fragmented, allowing him to win the early primaries with a minority of the vote and to lock up the nomination before the opposition can solidify behind DeSantis, or some other alternative.

At this point, what could thaw the “frozen” electoral process? It may be fanciful, but here’s a possible scenario.

Former Vice President Mike Pence’s candidacy seems to be going nowhere. He’s mired among the “other candidates” with low single-digit support. As Hugo Gurdon, the editor-in-chief of the Washington Examiner, devastatingly wrote recently:

[Pence] is wasting everyone’s time and his donors’ money. The boredom he inspires is tinged with irritation at his precooked phrases, buttery-smooth radio ad delivery, and mock-casual shrugs that beg to be understood as those of a regular guy just like you. Pence has had forever to practice being interesting, but he just can’t do it.

Despite his failure to generate enthusiasm for his own candidacy, Pence is rightly regarded as a principled, thoughtful conservative and a thoroughly decent man. Most voters regard Pence’s finest hour as standing up to Trump’s pressure to overturn the 2020 election. He is now uniquely positioned to determine the outcome of this election. If Pence were to announce the cessation of his own candidacy, endorse DeSantis as the obvious conservative alternative to Trump, and then challenge Scott, Haley, Christie, Hutchinson, Burgum, et al., to follow suit, the GOP race could be drastically altered. It might finally be a two-candidate showdown, and GOP voters could decisively determine the party’s — and the nation’s — future. Trump would be forced to debate with DeSantis, and the governor’s youth, vigor, articulateness, traditional conservatism, and policy knowledge just might carry the day.

During the turmoil following the 2020 election, Mike Pence stepped heroically into the breach. He now has another such opportunity. He and the other minor GOP wannabe candidates have virtually no chance of winning the nomination, but, with Pence’s leadership, they could determine the outcome.

Pence could well be the catalyst to clear the field and save the country from the pain of a Trump–Biden rematch and four more years of chaos. Will he answer the call and once more rise to the challenge?

Garland S. Tucker III is retired Chairman/CEO of Triangle Capital Corporation and author of Conservative Heroes: Fourteen Leaders Who Shaped America, From Jefferson to Reagan (ISI Books) and The High Tide of American Conservatism: Davis, Coolidge, and the 1924 Election (Emerald Books).

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