Once Donald Trump no longer had any intraparty rivals for the 2024 nomination, a variety of the former president’s Republican skeptics did exactly what they were expected to do: They fell in line out of a sense of party loyalty.
To be sure, GOP officials such as New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Whip John Thune, and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp didn’t seem overly pleased about throwing their support behind Trump, but they’re partisans; it’s an election year; and if Republican primary voters and caucus goers rallied behind the former president, they didn’t feel as if they had much of a choice.
But former Vice President Mike Pence reminded them late last week that Republicans do, in fact, have a choice. “Donald Trump is pursuing and articulating an agenda that is at odds with the conservative agenda that we governed on during our four years,” the Hoosier told Fox News on Friday, “and that’s why I cannot in good conscience endorse Donald Trump in this campaign.”
There’s no shortage of relevant angles to these developments, some of which we kicked around late last week, but looking ahead, what arguably matters most in a story like this is the broader scope: When it comes to prominent former members of Trump’s team, Pence has all kinds of company. I’m reminded of this Washington Post report from the fall:
No president has ever attracted more public detractors who were formerly in his inner circle. They are closely watching his rise — cruising in the GOP nomination contest and, in most polls, tying or even leading President Biden in a general election matchup — with alarm. Among them are his former vice president, top military advisers, lawyers, some members of his Cabinet, economic advisers, press officials and campaign aides, some of whom are working for other candidates.
It’s been a challenge to keep up with just how many former top officials from Trump’s team have either denounced him,…
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