On Monday, former Vice President Mike Pence and his campaign committee officially registered to enter the presidential race. He officially announced the bid on Wednesday in Des Moines, Iowa, which was also his 64th birthday.
While making a speech, Pence declared that he is running for president against his former boss, Donald Trump, because, he said, “Different times call for different leadership.”
He even brought up the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, noting that the chaos that took place all because Trump supporters were not happy with the 2020 presidential election, made him ineligible to ever serve in the White House again.
“The American people deserve to know that on that day, President Trump also demanded that I choose between him and the Constitution,” he said. “Now, voters will be faced with the same choice: I chose the constitution and I always will.” Furthermore, he went on to suggest that Trump should be disqualified from returning to power. “I believe that anyone who puts themselves over the constitution should never be president of the United States,” he said. “And anyone who asked someone else to put them over the constitution should never be president of the United States again.”
Confident that he could lead the country in a better direction, he said, “I know we can bring this country back. We can defend our nation and secure our border. We can revive our economy. We can put our nation back on a path to a balanced budget. We can defend our liberties and give America a new beginning for life. But it will require new leadership — in the White House and the Republican Party,” the former vice president said. “Ours will be a vision grounded in freedom,” he said, adding, “In all this work, we will not seek to divide the American people but instead appeal to the better angels of their nature.”
Former Vice Pres. Mike Pence takes aim at Donald Trump, calls him unfit to serve as he launches presidential campaign. @rachelvscott reports. pic.twitter.com/Lxc9yhWbvf
— Good Morning America (@GMA) June 8, 2023
RELATED: Former Vice President Mike Pence Files To Run For President
Of course, Mr. Pence, 64, also took shots at Democratic President Joe Biden. He argued that neither he nor Trump knows how to “treat each other with kindness and respect even when we disagree.”
While it’s going to be interesting to see Pence and Trump face off for the Republican nominee, Biden is also confident that he will be elected for another term.
“When I ran for president four years ago, I said we were in a battle for the soul of America. And we still are. We — you and I — together we’re turning things around and we’re doing it in a big way,” Biden said in a video announcement. “It’s time to finish the job. Finish the job.”