A lot has been written, said, and discussed about former Vice President Pence’s visit to Georgetown University, from the walkout, to the protests, to whether he will support former President Trump in 2024 and much more. But the one question that ultimately needs to be answered is what Mr. Pence believes is the future of the conservative movement. The event was promoted as an opportunity for him to speak on that very issue but was instead used by him as a platform to criticize the left and further isolate voters closer to that end of the political spectrum.
Mr. Pence is a complicated figure in the United States. Since the announcement of a Trump-Pence Republican ticket for the highest office, he has been a loyal supporter of Mr. Trump, defending even some of his most notorious policies. But the insurrection on January 6th, 2021 changed everything. Once considered a ‘Trump loyalist,’ he was viewed as quite the opposite among some members and supporters of his party as he attempted to certify the 2020 presidential election results, to the extent that Speaker Pelosi worried about the trustworthiness of his Secret Service on that day.
Following the events of January 6th, Mr. Pence visibly distanced himself from Mr. Trump, by attending President Biden’s inauguration ceremony without the former President and publicly endorsing Republican primary candidates that Mr. Trump did not. This made him an interesting figure, as many (including those on the left and center) saw him in a more positive light as a man of strong values who stood his ground even as the very people whose interests he had represented on a national level for decades were loudly chanting to hang him. All this made the event intriguing, as Mr. Pence was the highest-ranking (in terms of office held) Republican who was not overtly a supporter of Mr. Trump, and therefore could have a unique perspective on conservatism in this country.
Upon a gracious introduction by Grace Xu, Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service’s Managing Director, and Mo Elleithee, Executive Director of Georgetown University’s Institute of Politics and Public Service, Mr. Pence set the stage perfectly for an honest, respectful, and insightful discussion about the direction of the Republican party amid our polarized political climate by reiterating that he is a “conservative, but [he is] not in a bad mood about it.” It is undeniable that Mr. Pence represents a lot of conservatives in this country as he is a family man guided by his faith. But in today’s political climate, more moderate or progressive members of the audience hoped for him to rise above party politics and lead the increasingly radical Republican party through a challenging period.
It was easy to recognize through the cheers, applause, and standing ovation that the crowd was relatively evenly split between supporters of Mr. Pence and individuals who didn’t necessarily agree with him on policy issues but wanted to hear his case. This was also clear when Mr. Elleithee’s remark that Democrats and their supporters might feel “demeaned when they hear that their legitimate concerns, that their feelings, that their situation is dismissed as just wokeism” was followed by a huge round of applause from some members of the audience. This proved that the event was Mr. Pence’s opportunity to win over those who did not support the radical direction that many candidates of the Republican party are taking, rather than simply invigorating those who were already his supporters and were more likely to vote red in the upcoming midterm elections.
There was definite disappointment among some attendees, as Mr. Pence did not grasp that opportunity and instead continued the narrative of blaming all of the nation’s issues, from inflation to immigration, on ‘wokeism’, the Biden Administration, and the Democrats. He insisted that “freedom is under attack” and “the country is in a crisis,” all of which is due to “big government, big media, big tech, and big business” pushing a “woke agenda.” Yes, Mr. Pence has made it all but clear that he would not be former President Trump’s running mate in 2024; when asked about if he would support Mr. Trump should he run in the 2024 presidential election, he simply replied, “there might be somebody else I’d prefer more.” But he is still a long way from denouncing Mr. Trump’s role in the January 6th insurrection, as a student requested during the event.
To those on the left, Mr. Pence is a homophobic, anti-abortion racist who enabled a lot of the behavior for which former President Trump is criticized. To those on the right, he is a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican, in that order. But to students attending an event featuring a former Vice President of the United States, there was hope that he would be a voice of reason and inclusivity, perhaps ushering in a return to the era of conversations about policy that do not become personal. An era in which Senator John McCain publicly defended then-Senator Barack Obama in one of his own town halls. An era in which Secretary Hillary Clinton urged her supporters to give then President-Elect Trump an “open mind and chance to lead.”
With the midterm elections just days away and many battleground states seeing incredibly close races, this was an opportunity for Mr. Pence to persuade the audience, particularly those who were looking to support a Republican party that is not led by Mr. Trump’s radical ideology, that there are more moderate members in the party such as himself, and for him to steer the party in a new direction. Instead, he chose to alienate those people by continually blaming everything seemingly going wrong in this country to the “policies and beliefs of the American left.” He has overtly created a distinction between the voter base his party serves and the ‘American left,’ as though his party will not even try to reach out to the left and address their concerns, as observed by Mr. Elleithee. So, the question to Mr. Pence is simple. Is this the future of the conservative movement?
