Donald Trump and his former Vice President Mike Pence, two potential Republican candidates for the 2024 US presidential election, held rival rallies in Arizona on Friday.
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The pair, whose successful 2016 campaign landed the Republican billionaire in the White House, are now estranged after Mike Pence’s refusal to block certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory, and support rival candidates for governor of this southwestern US state.
This remote duel in Arizona – Mr. Pence was in the capital Phoenix to support Karrin Taylor Robson, Mr. Trump in Prescott Valley to support Kari Lake – came the day after revelations about the situation of the former vice- president during the assault on the Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021.
Mike Pence, who was there to oversee the certification of the election results, had to hide to escape the rioters like many parliamentarians on both sides.
His bodyguards “began to fear for their own lives” and to “say goodbye to their families,” a White House official said on condition of anonymity before the House committee investigating the events of the January 6.
Duel interposed
Donald Trump had long refused to call on his supporters to leave the Congress building and even reproached his vice-president in a tweet for not wanting to block the certification, fueling the grievances of the protesters.
“Arizona finally has a chance to have a SUPER governor. Vote for Kari Lake,” Donald Trump wrote Thursday on his Truth Social social network.
After keeping the crowd waiting for more than two hours, he began his Friday speech by talking about immigration (a major campaign issue in Arizona), a state that shares a long stretch of border with Mexico.
Before quickly slanting towards the 2020 election: “The election was rigged and stolen and our country is now systematically destroyed because of it”, he launched to a crowd which ignited in return.
For his part, Mike Pence — who had tweeted upstream that he was “looking forward to campaigning with the next governor of Arizona @Karrin4Arizona!”– spoke about twenty minutes in front of an audience seated in a warehouse.
He hailed the accomplishments of “four years of the Trump-Pence administration”, briefly criticizing the candidate backed by the former president for having previously been a supporter of the Democrats and for her initial opposition to Mr. Trump.
“The Arizona Republicans do not need a governor who supported Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton,” noted Mr. Pence, also believing – in reference to Mr. Trump’s accusations regarding the 2020 election – – that “if the Republican Party allows itself to be consumed by the grudges of the past, we will lose”.
Donald Trump, who retains a strong hold on the Republican Party, is flirting more and more openly with the idea of running for president in 2024.
Mike Pence multiplies his interventions at conferences or appearances with local election candidates. He does not rule out running against his former running mate, assuring to pray on the issue and that he and his wife Karen will go “where we are called”.