Spartanburg, SC – In theory, Nate Loop should be exactly the kind of political influence Mike Pence is planning for the 2024 presidential election.
The director of the Christian Music Store in Greenville since the age of 42 has been a major supporter of the GOP Evangelical Wing in South Carolina for 16 years. He has been fascinated with retirement for decades. He saw his bloc, led by like-minded Republicans with the leader of Greenville County, toppled because of Donald Trump’s insufficient loyalty.
However, whether the 2024 primary in South Carolina will have to choose between a former president trying to overthrow democracy and stay in power, or a former vice president who bailed him out by refusing to agree, Loof said. that he is likely to join Trump.
“Despite all of President Trump’s downsides, I will still accept him,” he said.
So when Pence returned to South Carolina last week for his ongoing pre-presidential campaign, this was the expected challenge: calculating the path to a critical state of early voting, not relying on two important components of major voters. .
His problem is: what part of the Republican Party do you see as your base? Asked Scott Huffmon, a professor of political science at Wintrop University.
Strong Trump supporters are still angry that Pence did not use his power to stay in power on Jan. 6, 2021, Huffmon said, and “Trump will never forgive him” for “hitting” Trump within four years.
“It’s a major tour for him to find Mike Pence’s South Carolina base, which has the potential to isolate both the pro-Trump wings of the party and never Trump,” Huffmon said.
One of Pence’s advisers said the analysis of the former Indiana Congressman and governor’s potential race is now the same as his and Trump’s resignations just 16 months ago – that views will change over time and Trump will dominate the country. Especially when competitors start criticizing him openly, he will shrink.
In addition, Pence has natural jurisdiction in South Carolina, said an anonymity adviser, who cited a penny-laden title gala Thursday night for the Spartanburg Carolina Pregnancy Center.
“When they sell 2,000 tickets on Pence’s name in a few weeks, it says something,” he said.
Submissive Victory Circle Roe v. About Wade
The leak of the Supreme Court’s majority opinion last week, which overturned a 1973 decision recognizing the constitutional right to abortion, has allowed Pence to show his good faith in the matter in the past. several decades.
On the occasion of National Day of Prayer at Rock Hill Baptist Church, Pence told 250 parishioners: False. “Dozens of them lined up after his words to say hello and thank him.
He then warned reporters that the majority in the Republican Congress, if it comes next year, should pass a national ban on abortion and insist on legislation on critical issues such as “purity of life” just decided by state legislators.
A few hours later, Pence appeared at the annual Spring Fund for a “crisis” pregnancy center, advising women against asking for an abortion and urging them to raise a baby or retire for adoption. There, while it is not accurate to say that his audience’s views represent the majority of the country, Pence viewed it more as a religious issue than a political one.
She described her entry into the gospel circle as a college student who attended a resurrection meeting in Kentucky in 1978, and her subsequent decision to intensify the abortion debate on Bible reading.
“I knew at the time that the reason for it was my reason,” she said, reminding viewers that if the roe is really upside down, it means opponents of abortion will have to pay attention to state houses. “And even though I don’t know if I’m going to come here to see it, I wholeheartedly believe that the day will come when the right to life will be the law of the land in every state in the United States.”
Alexia Newman, director of the Pregnancy Center and member of the Republican State Party, said voters know Pence is sincere in his beliefs and doesn’t just say what they want to hear.
“His record followed him,” he said. “It reflects what’s important to us in South Carolina.”
The legacy of January 6
Clearly, proclaiming important things to evangelical Christians was an integral part of Texas Senator Ted Cruz’s 2016 strategy to win South Carolina and then use it to win Super Tuesday in the southern United States.
The plan failed, Trump comfortably won South Carolina with 33% of the vote, while Cruz and Senator Florida. Marco Rubio is essentially second by 10 points, despite Trump being the newly registered Democrat, an abortion rights supporter and tabloids. A figure with a decorated personal story of women.
Pence’s counsel said he was surprised by Trump’s win in South Carolina in 2016, but later realized that many voters didn’t care that Trump was a stubborn fighter as long as he wasn’t a stubborn fighter for theirs. “We tried the good man’s approach to George W. Bush and we got John Roberts,” he said, referring to a Supreme Court judge who many Conservatives believe betrayed their case. “We tried to be good people [2012 GOP nominee] Mit Romney and see where it took us.
Pence’s problems in South Carolina are more complicated by the side of Trump supporters who not only have no problem with repeated election fraud that resulted in the motivation to attack the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, but believe they also turned Pence away. Trump and the country are not doing what Trump asked.
Jeff Davis is the president who calls himself the “new” Greenville GOP, a group that has really alienated the party state since winning over the local boss. (This weekend was hosted by long-time Trump confidant Roger Stone and conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell.) Trump at the White House.
“Mike Pence betrayed people,” he said. “I don’t think he has a big chance here in South Carolina.”
Vice President Pence helped shape the policies of the Trump administration in a very fundamental way. All he has to do is tell this story ”.
– South Carolina Senator Josh Kimberly (R)
It’s not clear how many Republicans have these “pens” and where they could have gone if Trump hadn’t voted.
A bigger problem for Pence is that Republicans, like Leope, previously headed the Greenville County GOP before it was taken over by the Davis group. Leope said he was a fan of Pence, which he had in the early 2000s. “I love Mike Pence,” he said. “I want Mike Pence to escape before I even meet Mike Pence.”
In fact, one of Trump’s actions in 2016 that ultimately made Leope a supporter was to choose Pence as his candidate. “Then he beat me.”
And four years after Trump appointed conservative judges and implemented conservative policies, Leuf said he was convinced Trump, after all, would be best for conservatives, even better than Pence.
Leope added that he is confident that he is not alone. “If Donald Trump runs as a party, Donald Trump will win in South Carolina,” he said.
Ironically, many of the traditional conservative goals achieved under Trump did not happen because he personally guided them, but because his usual lack of interest and length of attention allowed Pence and others to fill the void.
Many regulators withdrew from the executive branch because Pence’s office was able to appoint senior and mid-ranking officials, using its contacts in the business community and the Koch Brothers Americans for Welfare network of activists.
With more than 200 conservative federal judges, including three Supreme Court justices, appointed through the efforts of the Leonard Leo Federalist Society and Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell, Trump signed the documents.
And the tax cuts in 2017, which Republicans almost liked, were, first and foremost, the work of then -House Speaker Paul Ryan, who has been making the party a priority for decades.
Josh Kimberly, a South Carolina state senator and sponsor of three of Pence’s 5 trips, said many key voters already know Pence’s story and it is his responsibility to make sure everyone knows it.
“Vice President Pence helped shape the policies of the Trump administration in a very fundamental way,” Kimberly said. “All he has to do is tell it. You should say: here’s what I did. Not just what we did, this is what I did. Because I think a lot of people know this, but they need to know more.
Huffmon still doubts the strategy will work, especially when Trump is strong and repeatedly takes all the credit.
“This is what the natives believe,” Huffmon said, adding that a possible coup against Rowe Wade would give him more food thanks to the three judges Trump appointed to the Supreme Court. “Donald Trump could apply for a loan for these nominees.”
Source: Huffpost
