Mike Pence in 2024-- please tell me it's not happening

Politics & Elections
1

Now the it is looking like Biden is going to win (happy dance), this means that Mike Pence will not be the outgoing VP in 2024, and therefore is not likely to be nominated for president.

As someone who has lived under him as governor, in Indiana, this is a very nice side effect of Trump losing (assuming he does, but I’m leaning hard toward assuming right now).

Am I right in thinking this? There isn’t any real possibility that the Republican party could try to resurrect Pence’s career in 2024, and put him up as a presidential candidate?

The guy is juts awful. Honestly, back when people didn’t think Trump had any hope of winning the presidency, we (in Indiana) were all quite happy to have him selected as the VP candidate, because in Indiana, you can’t hold one office while running for another, so he had to resign the governorship, and we loved getting rid of him. Even quite a lot of Republicans loved getting rid of him, and the fat was, he probably would not have been re-elected.

In fact, I actually quite like the Republican governor we have now (I didn’t vote for him, it just doesn’t crush me that he won), because he is so much better than Pence, and it’s not a small thing that Indianapolis has a Democratic mayor, who gets along really well with the governor. Our governor, FWIW, mandated masks and limited restaurants to carry-out way before many other states did. He even instituted a moratorium on driving, albeit, it was not punishable, but if you were stopped for another reason, you would be told to go straight home, and the note would be on your citation if you got one.

Anyone else have any other feelings on this? Anything I’m missing? Is there any reason Pence might be the 2024 nominee that I have not thought of?

2

If Pence had come off the greatest economic rise in history in 2024 and had the will of the Republicans behind him, maybe he would have the inertia to move to the Big Boy Desk. With 4 years of wilderness behind him, the taint of his handling of Covid, and the complete and utter lack of any charisma of his own I would say that he is done if Biden pulls this off.

3

IMO …

It depends on where the Rs are in 2024.

  • If they want to run an overt Xian platform and candidate to usher in the Xian theocracy Pence has a decent chance.
  • If they want to run a white supremacist authoritarian Pence will be left behind staring at his shoes as far more ruthless men come to the fore.
  • If they want to run a traditional establishment R, a la Romney (but younger), Pence is tainted goods and will be about like Buttigieg was for the Ds in 2020. Plausible … but not really.

Tell me where the R’s head(s) will be in 2024 and we’ll know his chances.

Said another way: Remember how well Dan Quayle did after his first term as Veep ended with the defeat of his President? Like that.

OTOH …

One thing Trump has shown in spades is that competence is totally not a prerequisite to be given, or to do, the job. Pence has that qualification nailed.

4

Thank goodness. Pence is scary, and way more insidious than Trump. (And for the record, I never voted for him.)

If there is anything “good” thing about Trump, it’s that nothing he does is sneaky. Everything he does, you see coming. I mean, fat lot of good it might do to see the truck roaring down on you if there isn’t time to jump out of the way, but at least if you live, you can give the police a description. If you live.

Pence is sneaky. We could suddenly be living in a theocracy, and not have seen it coming.

Not that I think Pence has the charisma to pull that off, but I think he has the inclination.

It would never even occur to Trump to do something without fanfare.

5

Charisma counts for a heck of a lot in American presidential elections, and IMHO Pence doesn’t have nearly enough of it to get elected.

6

Pence would be better than Trump, I think, but a bipolar chimpanzee with a meth addiction would be better than Trump so that’s not saying a lot. I’d even be tempted to blame some of his worst behavior as VP on having to follow Trump’s orders, but if he was that bad as Indiana’s governor I can’t give him the benefit of the doubt.

I agree he has no charisma and nothing to energize anyone but evangelicals so he probably would never win a nomination.

(Check back in 4 years to see how wrong I was. :woozy_face:)

7

If you go back to JFK the only VP who did not run for prez is Dick Cheney. ( Also Agnew but he was a convicted crook and resigned in disgrace. )

Nixon,Johnson, Humphrey, Bush Sr. , Gore, Biden

8

It’s not going to be Pence. The Republicans only win when they run people who can get the media and the public to pay attention to them, and Pence has no personality or charisma.

I don’t know who the next candidate is for the Republicans. These cleaned up focus-grouped personalities like Marco Rubio don’t work for the base. It might be a big problem for them.

9

And Quayle. (VPs who didn’t run.) Who was also from Indiana.

10

I doubt Pence runs. He can make a lot more money in the private sector and speaking circuit. He knows the weird relationship with his wife will be the butt of endless jokes. And, he’s not the alpha male type that will probably dominate in 2024 R primaries

11

If I had to guess the GOP 2024 candidate right now, I’d guess Trump. Or one of his kids. I think the party is still, very firmly, the party of Trump.

12

Took me a minute to realize Xian = Christian. At first I thought of an administration full of terra-cotta warriors (which admittedly would be an improvement over the current administration).

13

I’m not counting that chicken yet, but I am enjoying the thought of Agent Orange watching the counts like someone stuck in quicksand as the tide rolls in…

14

Quayle ran in 1999 but dropped out in August 99 after doing badly in Iowa straw poll

15

That’s his single biggest handicap. I mean, he may actually have some charisma, but for the past five years or so, he’s looked as colorless as his hair by comparison to Trump.

And I think he’s considered a known quantity by the public, even if that’s not actually completely accurate. I mean, he may have some charisma in there somewhere, but after five years of being completely and absolutely overshadowed by Trump, the perception of him is that of a uncharismatic politician with some weird religious baggage.

16

@ the OP: If you think Pence is bad, people like Tom Cotton would be considerably worse (from a Democratic standpoint.) You should be hoping Pence runs in 2024.

17

You all are forgetting that if Trump does not win, he will be eligible to run again. You know if he is still alive and not in prison.

18

And not, ahem, a guest of a foreign country.

19

Pence doesn’t have the personality to win a GOP primary in this era unless the path is cleared for him. Which it won’t because there’s going to be a whole heap of Republicans seeking to be the heir to Trump just like for twenty years all you ever heard from Republican presidential candidates was how great Ronald Reagan was.

20

Pence may want to run in 2024. We don’t know what the weather will be like at the time but if Trump endorses him he has an outside chance of winning the primaries. What he has working against him is a general distrust from the rest of the party, even the Trumpists. He’s considered an ignorant religious zealot by his own party, nobody likes this guy. Kamala will beat him soundly.