What an asshole

Pence rebuffs Trump on tariffs, Russia and January 6 pardons

Former Vice President Mike Pence criticized President Donald Trump’s across-the-board tariffs on Monday, arguing that a looming “price shock” to the economy and potential shortages will lead Americans to “demand a different approach” from the White House.

In an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Pence rebuffed Trump’s recent comments that children in the United States will have to make do with fewer toys.

Trump’s first-term vice president also said he sees some of Trump’s actions as sharp breaks from what he said were the successes of their administration. That includes “wavering support for Ukraine” in its war with Russia and the “marginalizing the right to life” that Pence said followed Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s selection as health and human services secretary.

Now watching Trump’s return to power from the sidelines, Pence said he plans to make a public case on those issues — in part so that Trump might hear arguments those in his White House aren’t making.

“Whatever the future holds for me, I’m going to try and be a consistent voice for those conservative values that I think are not only the right policy for the Republican Party, but I think they’re the best way forward for a boundless future for the American people,” Pence said.

The former vice president’s comments came the day after he received the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage award for his actions on January 6, 2021, the day Trump supporters attacked the Capitol. Pence faced pressure from Trump to use his constitutional role presiding over the counting of electoral college votes to seek to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

In the interview, which took place at the JFK Presidential Library in Boston, Pence said Trump “sent the wrong message” by pardoning or commuting the sentences of more than 1,000 supporters who rioted at the Capitol.

“I was deeply disappointed to see President Trump pardon people that engaged in violence against law enforcement officers that day. The president has every right under the Constitution to grant pardons, but in that moment, I thought it sent the wrong message,” the former vice president said.