Editor's note: Former attorney Dean Obeidallah is the host of SiriusXM Radio's daily program “The Dean Obidala Show.” Follow him on the thread. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. Read more opinion pieces on CNN.
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Former Vice President Mike Pence's announcement last week that he would not support Donald Trump for president in 2024 was a real bombshell.
Pence pledged during last year's first Republican presidential debate to support Trump even if the former president was convicted, but has now said “in good conscience” he will no longer consider the former vice presidential candidate. They have reached the conclusion that it is not tenable. .
But the reasons Pence cited for his decision were nothing more than a list of bland policy issues. Pence, for example, said he disagreed with President Trump's “walking away from our commitment to confronting the national debt.”
Pence continued, “I've seen him start to shy away from addressing the sanctity of human life. And last week, he took a tough stance on China, forcing ByteDance's sale of TikTok. He has completely reversed his stance of supporting the efforts of my administration.”
This is a far cry from Pence's own words, who have repeatedly sounded the alarm about Trump's character and the danger he poses to our country. Given that Mr. Pence has already done the difficult part of publicly breaking with Mr. Trump and speaking out against the former president, it is important to note that rather than watering down his message over policy differences, he We need to gain solid experience and move forward.
Mr. Pence has repeatedly criticized Mr. Trump's efforts to pressure him to unfairly block the certification of Joe Biden's election victory on January 6, 2021. (He was indicted on charges of conspiracy and obstruction in an election interference case as a result of his efforts to compromise the election.) House of Representatives, which he lost in 2020. (Trump, of course, denies his wrongdoing).
For example, when Mr. Pence announced his candidacy for president in June 2023, he passionately told voters what happened on January 6th. “The American people should know that on that day, President Trump also asked me to choose between the president and the Constitution,” Pence continued, “I chose the Constitution, and I will continue to do so. I guess so.''
Mr. Pence made this point even more bluntly in August, saying on Fox News: “The American people have a right to know that President Trump and his advisers didn't just ask me to pause. They asked me to refuse to vote…in essence. [2020] election. ”
These comments provide a far more compelling reason to take a stand against Trump than the policy disagreements that Mr. Pence listed on Friday.
And there's the fact that President Trump's actions leading up to the January 6th attack put the lives of Pence and his family at risk. In fact, Pence made that point point-blank at the annual Gridiron Club Dinner in Washington, D.C., last year. He said, “Trump was wrong. I had no right to overturn the election.” Pence also said Trump's “reckless comments put my family and everyone in the Capitol that day at risk.” He added the bone-chilling sentence:
Mr. Pence was not being hyperbolic. President Trump had a “heated” phone conversation with Pence on the morning of the Capitol attack, evidence collected by the House committee investigating the January 6 attack shows. Shortly after, Mr. Trump added a line to his Ellipse speech explicitly calling on Mr. Pence to join his effort to overturn the election.
And after the crowd began pouring into the Capitol, President Trump again criticized Pence on social media, saying, “Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what he needed to do to protect our country and our Constitution.” I wrote. As the commission documented on January 6, many rioters responded to the tweet shortly before renewed efforts to storm buildings in various locations. And when President Trump heard his supporters chanting, “Go after Mike Pence,” the vice president responded, “He deserves it,” a former White House aide testified.
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Mr. Pence has spoken openly about his break with Mr. Trump, often citing the events of January 6. And this is what Mr. Pence must repeat now to make sure voters fully understand how dangerous Mr. Trump is to our country.
Mr. Pence, a longtime Republican, can speak to mainstream patriotic conservatives who were thinking of holding their noses and voting for Mr. Trump and argue that doing so would be a grave mistake.
Pence already has the perfect message for Trump supporters past and present, as well as those on the fence about Trump.
Those are the words he said when he announced his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election. “A man who puts himself above the Constitution should never be President of the United States. And a man who asks others to overturn the Constitution should never be President of the United States again.” Amen.