The shadow primary race is in full swing for former Vice President Mike Pence. He hasn’t announced yet, and he’s battling Nikki Haley for last place in the polls, but it looks like he’s ready to soon enter the presidential fray.
He’ll hope to make a splash at the NRA convention today. And it’s being held in Indiana, giving Pence the homestate advantage.
An advisor tells Politico that he’ll discuss the Louisville and Nashville shootings, while advocating for mental health investment, more armed officers in schools, and the death penalty for committers of such mass shootings. But he’ll leave out talking about the red flag law, an issue Trump has flirted with supporting. By not mentioning it, he’ll be declaring his opposition to the idea, putting Trump on the defensive when it comes to gun control.
The red flag laws would allow police to have more action to take power if they find an at risk person in possession of a gun, as well as banning bump stocks. As noted by Politico, Pence did previously advocate for the red flag law while he was in the Trump administration. After his tenure as vice president, he reversed course on the issue through his advocacy group, Advancing American Freedom.
Politico asked the Pence camp for comment. They simply replied with a 2018 article in which the headline read, “Democratic California Senator Dianne Fienstein Can’t Hide Her Glee,” when discussing gun control options with Trump.
This will be the first time Trump and Pence will be speaking at the same event since the two left office.
The gloves are clearly off in the race. When asked about Pence’s statements on January 6, Trump swung hard saying, “I guess he decided that being nice isn’t working because he’s at 3% in the polls, so he figured he might as well not be nice any longer.”
Pence’s actions at the NRA convention today spells out his strategy quite clearly. Walking a tightrope like Nikki Haley, who criticized Trump but only through a fundraising memo from her campaign manager, Pence will subtly and all too cautiously jab at Trump while not expressly doing so. It presents an overly calculated, careful approach, probably one that will label him as an establishment, consultant-fed politician in most voter’s eyes.
Add comment