Former Vice President Mike Pence could not have ushered himself off the 2024 presidential stage much quicker than he did on Friday.
Sure, he’ll remain in the race. He’s actually third in the RealClearPolitics aggregate of GOP primary polls — although well behind second-place Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and well, well behind first place, his former boss. He’ll plod along through the early debates and may continue to draw high-ish single-digit numbers in the polls.
However, I think we’ll look back in 12 months and agree that his candidacy effectively died with four words uttered on an Iowa stage on Friday: “That’s not my concern.”
Former Vice President Mike Pence could not have ushered himself off the 2024 presidential stage much quicker than he did on Friday.
Sure, he’ll remain in the race. He’s actually third in the RealClearPolitics aggregate of GOP primary polls — although well behind second-place Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and well, well behind first place, his former boss. He’ll plod along through the early debates and may continue to draw high-ish single-digit numbers in the polls.
However, I think we’ll look back in 12 months and agree that his candidacy effectively died with four words uttered on an Iowa stage on Friday: “That’s not my concern.”
During one particularly contentious moment in the back-and-forth between Carlson and Pence (of which there were a few) both of these issues converged for Carlson, who noted that seemingly endless aid — both in the form of money and in the form of military equipment, which (as you doubtlessly know) also costs money, and quite a bit of it — is being extended to Ukraine by the United States.
Carlson accused Pence of “being distressed the Ukrainians don’t have enough American tanks [when] every city in the United States has become much worse over the past three years.”
“Yeah,” Pence assented.
“All around, there’s not one city that’s gotten better in the past three years,” Carlson continued, to applause. “Drive around, there’s not one city that’s gotten better in the United States, and it’s visible
“Our economy has degraded, the suicide rate has jumped, public filth and disorder and crime have exponentially increased — and yet your concern is that the Ukrainians, a country most people can’t find on a map, who’ve received tens of billions of U.S. tax dollars, don’t have enough tanks.”
Carlson then said it was “a fair question to ask, like, where’s the concern for the United States in that?”
As the crowd was applauding Carlson for the question, Pence decided to deliver the four words which might be the epitaph on his campaign: “That’s not my concern.”
“Tucker, I’ve heard that routine from you before,” he continued. “That’s not my concern.”
Now, to be fair, roughly two hours after Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk tweeted this clip from the forum — hosted by TheBlaze and The FAMiLY Leader, an Iowa-based conservative Christian organization — Pence tweeted this “is what we used to call FAKE NEWS” and posted a longer clip with more context.
“I’m running for president of the United States because I think this country is in a lot of trouble,” he said. “I think that Joe Biden has weakened America at home and abroad. And, as president of the United States, we’re going to restore law and order in our cities, we’re going to secure our border, we’re going to get this economy moving again and we’re going to make sure we have men and women on our courts — at every level — that will stand for the right to life and defend all the God-given liberties enshrined in our Constitution.