Pence: Trump upended ‘some aspects’ of GOP agenda but ‘hasn’t really changed the Republican Party’

President Donald Trump arrives with then-Vice President Mike Pence at a campaign rally in Traverse City, Michigan, on Nov.2, 2020.(Brendan Smialowski /AFP via Getty Images)

Pence is a former congressman and Indiana governor who served as vice president during Trump’s first term in office before breaking with his boss amid the Jan.6, 2021, attack on the U.S.Capitol as he oversaw congressional certification of the 2020 election results.

The former vice president gave a thumbs up to some of what Trump’s accomplished in his second term.

“I’ve been very proud of the fact of what this administration accomplished in securing our border.I was pleased that the administration turned aside from those that were talking about raising taxes on top marginal earners.They extended all the Trump-Pence tax cuts,” he highlighted.

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But Pence took issue with the second Trump administration for “embracing more big government programs and solutions, price controls on pharmaceuticals and credit companies, taking a position in private companies, the nationalization trend that has emerged, as well as marginalizing the right to life in so many ways and ignoring the scourge of mail order abortion pills around the country.”

“I am hopeful those advising the president are reminding him that it… was the conservative agenda that we governed on in our four years…that led to great prosperity for American families, for our economy and for strength in the world,” Pence said.

But the former vice president warned that “theRepublican Partytoday is experiencing a scourge of some ‘-isms.’ We’ve seen protectionism show itself in unilateral tariffs that the Supreme Court of the United States recently turned back.We’ve seen some voices of isolationism that question our support for Israel, that would leave allies like Ukraine to fend for themselves.”

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And Pence added, “I think that on the fringe and on the margins, voices of antisemitism in the party all need to be confronted, because none of those things represent what conservatives believe.”

But many Republicans would take issue with the former vice president’s argument that Trump hasn’t transformed the GOP.

“Donald Trump has tremendously altered the makeup of the Republican Party and the issues that it focuses on,�

Williams emphasized that Trump “has altered the voter base of the Republican Party” and taken “the values and trajectory of this party in a different direction… It’s never going back to the way it was before.”

2024 GOP presidential nomination, as part of a large field that unsuccessfully challenged Trump.

Pence formally announced his run for president in Ankeny, Iowa, on June 5, 2023.

While Pence, who became the first running mate in over 80 years to run against their former boss, regularly campaigned in the crucial early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, his White House bid never took off.

Struggling in the polls and with fundraising, he suspended his campaign just four and a half months after launching it.

“It was clear to me that there’s a portion of the Republican Party today that’s being drawn aside by the siren song of populism unmoored to conservative principles.I spoke out against that as a candidate.Our foundation, Advancing American Freedom, has been championing that conservative agenda and will continue to,” Pence noted.

The offices of Advancing American Freedom, the policy and advocacy organization founded by former Vice President Mike Pence, in Washington, D.C., on March 18, 2026.

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Asked if there’s another White House run in his future, Pence didn’t rule anything out.

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“I will tell you, I’m not a long-term planner,” he answered.“We’ll let the future take care of itself.”

But he added, “For me, for my family, it really is all about the issues and values that first drew me to the Republican Party.Those are conservative values.And reminding our party and sharing with people across the country what conservatives believe and why it will make America stronger and more prosperous is really the calling of my time.”

Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in the swing state of New Hampshire.He covers the campaign trail from coast to coast.”