Mike Pence says the movement he once helped lead has drifted from the creed he signed up for, NBC News reports. In a Meet the Press interview that aired Sunday, the former vice president argued that President Trump's second administration has strayed from the small-government, free-market, anti-abortion framework that has long defined Republican conservatism, invoking Ronald Reagan as the standard. Pence credited Trump's enduring appeal with GOP voters but insisted those voters still broadly favor limited government, low taxes, skepticism of tariffs and nationalization, and a firm anti-abortion stance.
Pence singled out abortion policy and the Justice Department's so-called "anti-weaponization fund" as prime examples of the break. He criticized the administration for leaving access to abortion pills largely untouched and for treating abortion as an issue for states alone, and faulted the choice of a health secretary he labeled "pro-abortion." On the fund, which a judge has temporarily halted and which could compensate people who say they were wrongly targeted by the federal government, Pence warned that Jan. 6 rioters might benefit, calling that prospect "deeply offensive." He predicted Republicans could hold Congress in the midterms—but said it would be due more to what he called Democratic "extremism" than to his party's current direction.
Pence gave a similar interview Sunday on Face the Nation, CBS News reports. "My hope is the administration will drop it, drop the idea entirely," he said of the $1.776 billion fund. "People that assaulted police officers on Jan. 6, and vandalized our Capitol should not get one dime of taxpayer money from that fund or anywhere else." He added that he is offended at the storyline embraced by some who are aligned with Trump that Capitol Police were actually to blame for Jan. 6: "There's clearly been an effort by some to rewrite that history, but I don't expect it'll work."
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