'Unmoored from conservative ideals': Pence rips into MAGA for having no 'moral foundation'

19 June

Former Vice President Mike Pence in Bedford, New Hampshire on August 5, 2023 (Image: Shutterstock)

Former Vice President Mike Pence is sounding the alarm over what he describes as a dangerous shift within the conservative movement, warning that it is at risk of losing its philosophical foundation. In an essay for National Affairs, Pence cautioned that the American right is being overtaken by a force antithetical to traditional conservatism.

“The question for today’s conservatives is clear: Will we remain a party of enduring principles, or will we succumb to populism unmoored from conservative ideals?” Pence wrote in the piece, co-authored with a founder of the conservative Heritage Foundation.

The essay laments what Pence calls an “existential identity crisis” among conservatives and criticizes the movement’s turn toward “populist fervor” and the “transformation into the anti-woke movement.”

“A political movement once united by a commitment to limited government, moral order, and a robust defense of American ideals now appears fractured, its purpose clouded by populist grievances and ideological drift,” he wrote.

He continued: "By the time [President] Donald Trump won his second term, much post-election analysis correctly framed his victory not as a triumph of conservative ideals, but as a mere repudiation of a decadent and debauched Democratic Party.”

“While such opposition can attract allies and can even win elections when Republicans are out of power, it cannot serve as a movement’s moral foundation. Conservatism cannot be defined solely by what it isn’t,” the former vice president added.

While Pence stops short of naming Trump — his onetime running mate turned political adversary after the events of Jan. 6, 2021—the critique echoes familiar themes from Trump’s post-presidency agenda.

Last month, Pence said during an interview that it was disheartening to see Trump revert to the same kind of rhetoric in his second term that had contributed to the 2021 Capitol riot.

In an interview with NBC, Pence also voiced criticism of Trump’s tariff strategy and various foreign policy choices.

“The initial reciprocal tariffs that he unveiled would be the largest peacetime tax hike on the American people in the history of this country,” Pence said at the time, referencing the broad tariffs Trump introduced on the nation’s major trading partners in early April.

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