Wait, LOL Pence is raising money to run in 2024?

[Non Swing Voter]

He has the personality of untoasted bread and Trump's base literally hates him now.  Why does he think he has a snowballs chance?

[Bootes Void]

the cynic in me makes me think that Quayle story might boost his standing a bit

[tosk]

I get that pence-hating is fun, but it seems pretty obvious he could win. By no means likely, but to suggest he doesn't have a chance is, itself, silly.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Pence is too boring to be Prez in the Oval Office again

[SnowLabrador]

He could win the general election; I feel like he's less outwardly offensive than Trump, even if his views are abhorrent. The primary is a different story.

[Podgy the Bear]

He is banking that the obese and aged Trump with undisclosed health issues will be in no condition to make a run in 2024.

[TodayJunior]

Fat chance of this happening. Even if he were to run and win the primary, he’s so DOA in the general. With “Pious Pence”, Democrats can’t lose 2024 even if they tried.

If you think Gavin Newsom running against Trumpism won the day on Tuesday, just think of the ads in 2024. It’s going to be an embarrassing loss for the GOP.

[Heebie Jeebie]

Pence
*already has near universal name ID
*is a former veep, the most normal kind of presidential candidate imaginable
*loyally supported Trump through years of scandal
*except on Jan. 6, but no Republican is going to want to talk about 1/6 during a campaign anyway
*is despised by both the far left and the far right, and is hence poised to be seen as a moderate

If Trump doesn't run, Pence is both the most likely nominee and the best candidate Republicans could nominate.

[Ferguson97]

the cynic in me makes me think that Quayle story might boost his standing a bit

0.25% of the population will have heard of this story at all, and most of them are partisans.

[SWE]

He could find a niche as the only serious opposition to Trump. He'd have no chance in a primary but he could win a state here or there and get publicity to publish a tell all book that the most annoying members of society will read

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

As I said above Pence is so boring, he won't be Prez, he mostly was Veep of the Senate, telling McConnell twhat to do, Veeps have advisory roles as Prez of Senate, they're not just Veeps

[dw93]

Pence
*already has near universal name ID
*is a former veep, the most normal kind of presidential candidate imaginable
*loyally supported Trump through years of scandal
*except on Jan. 6, but no Republican is going to want to talk about 1/6 during a campaign anyway
*is despised by both the far left and the far right, and is hence poised to be seen as a moderate

If Trump doesn't run, Pence is both the most likely nominee and the best candidate Republicans could nominate.

Disagree. There are a good amount of people in the middle, both center left and even center right, that despise him for being too much of a Trump lackey prior to Jan. 6th, and he's way too socially conservative. The only way I see Pence as the most likely nominee is if Trump doesn't run and 2024 is looking like a 1996 style win for the Democrats, keeping the likes of DeSantis, Noem, and other supposed "rising stars" in the GOP to keep their powder dry until 2028.

[AltWorlder]

It’s pretty funny in an ironic way how the evangelical candidate is so weak now compared to twenty and forty years ago.

[Heebie Jeebie]

Pence
*already has near universal name ID
*is a former veep, the most normal kind of presidential candidate imaginable
*loyally supported Trump through years of scandal
*except on Jan. 6, but no Republican is going to want to talk about 1/6 during a campaign anyway
*is despised by both the far left and the far right, and is hence poised to be seen as a moderate

If Trump doesn't run, Pence is both the most likely nominee and the best candidate Republicans could nominate.

Disagree. There are a good amount of people in the middle, both center left and even center right, that despise him for being too much of a Trump lackey prior to Jan. 6th, and he's way too socially conservative. The only way I see Pence as the most likely nominee is if Trump doesn't run and 2024 is looking like a 1996 style win for the Democrats, keeping the likes of DeSantis, Noem, and other supposed "rising stars" in the GOP to keep their powder dry until 2028.

You could say that about 95% of elected Republicans in the country, and 100% of those who might seek the nomination in 2024.  Being a Trump lackey is not going to differentiate Pence from the crowd in the slightest.

Regarding his social conservatism...it doesn't matter how socially conservative he is--what matters is how his views are presented on the 6:00 evening news.  And the media has always bent over backwards to apologize for retrograde Republican social views.  Pence is no more socially conservative than  Bush was in 2000 or 2004, or than Romney was in 2012.  All Pence would need would be a good campaign manager to slap some of the old "compassionate conservatism" polish on the Republican reactionary turd, and David Muir and Lester Holt and the rest will gobble it up.

[beaver2.0]

What else is he going to do?  I assume he's set for life with speeches so why not have a little fun and run for president?

[Pericles]

What else is he going to do?  I assume he's set for life with speeches so why not have a little fun and run for president?

Yeah, I think it would be better to try than for him to spend the rest of his life wondering if he could have won.

[Non Swing Voter]

What else is he going to do?  I assume he's set for life with speeches so why not have a little fun and run for president?

he'll get destroyed, how is that fun?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

It’s pretty funny in an ironic way how the evangelical candidate is so weak now compared to twenty and forty years ago.

Reagan wasn't really "the Evangelical candidate" in the sense that Dubya was; he just made common cause with them (against an incumbent who was an actual Evangelical!). But, yeah, that style of Republican politics is pretty thoroughly discredited now, even though there's still obviously a lane for extreme social conservatism presented differently.

[Obama-Biden Democrat]

He is banking that the obese and aged Trump with undisclosed health issues will be in no condition to make a run in 2024.

Trump is starting to show his age, he looks a lot more haggard now.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I am beginning to think that the "Pence is doomed/Pence has no shot" narrative might be a little exaggerated.

That being said he would need someone else to also run, attack Trump 24/7 and basically nuke each other or Trump to not run.

As to the general election it depends on the economic and the popularity of Biden as President, but I can more easily see Pence winning a general election than Trump at this stage.

It is so easy to forget that most Republican politicians are craven opportunists and the media influence types aren't much better, basically chasing ratings and money.

I am reminded of a quote by George Will. "The only thing similar to the modern Republican Party is the Communist Party in the 1930's. They were the biggest proponents of opposing fascism until the Non-Aggression Pact between Stalin and Hitler, at which point they turned on a dime and became isolationists overnight. This continued until June 22, 1941 when instantly they were the biggest opponents of Fascism again".

[AltWorlder]

Reagan wasn't really "the Evangelical candidate" in the sense that Dubya was; he just made common cause with them (against an incumbent who was an actual Evangelical!).

Yeah Reagan wasn't the evangelical candidate, but it was the apogee of Moral Majority and televangelist power so he had to recognize their authority, he was pretty friendly to social conservatism, the astrology aside.

But, yeah, that style of Republican politics is pretty thoroughly discredited now, even though there's still obviously a lane for extreme social conservatism presented differently.

Everything's gone more racial.

[Inmate Trump]

Maybe Pence has some serious dirt with proof against Trump that is bolstering his attitude toward running for he nomination?

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Pence would be very easy to beat, he has no Appeal to Minorities, he only maximized the WC females and Vets groups in 2016 that ended Hillary's campaign

Since, the Insurrectionists Hawley, Cruz and Trump and even Pence won't win and it's doubtful that Bush W would endorse any of the Rs

Trump being up in a Rassy poll is not being ahead, Trump has to be ahead in You Gov and a Rassy poll, that do both internet and phone polling to be ahead

Also, it all depends on 2o22, the Rs are trailing in VA, which s CRITICAl for Trump to win and he isn't ahead and AZ Kelly was ahead by nine pts

Watch out for FL and OH, the polls are showing Gov, Sen FL and OH Sen too close for comfort

Trump overperformed polls in 2020 prior to Insurrectionists

[GlobeSoc]

The only way that he, or any other discredited republican, could ever hope to affect the outcome of the general election is by being an independent or third party "Utah candidate". The McMullin result in 2016 shows how unlikely this is to actually win the state, but who knows, perhaps an endorsement from Romney and the governor could put a plurality in reach. Even if this gambit was successful, it would only matter if the Electoral College was extremely close.

As for the idea of him getting anywhere in the primary, LOL.

[ShadowRocket]

A scenario where wins the nomination via a divided opposition and being seen as the safe choice, basically the Romney 2012/Biden 2020 path, doesn't strike me as being implausible.

But that probably requires DeSantis and few other candidates bombing on the national scene.