Mike Pence rebuked Donald Trump’s claims this week that, as vice president, he could’ve overturned the 2020 election, outright calling the twice impeached former President “wrong.” But for the hosts of “The View,” Pence’s words were 13 months too late.
“I heard this week that President Trump said I had the right to overturn the election. President Trump is wrong,” Pence said, while speaking to The Federalist Society on Friday. “I had no right to overturn the election. The presidency belongs to the American people and the American people alone. And frankly, there is no idea more on American than the notion than any one person could choose the American President.”
Host Sunny Hostin was unmoved by Pence’s remarks, particularly because they didn’t come when Trump was first baselessly calling for the election to be overturned. You can watch the full discussion on “The View” in the video above.
“I don’t know that 13 months later, you know, you get applause for for doing the right thing,” Hostin said. “If the bar is that low, my God, where are we?”
Hostin then called attention to Pence’s own political record, both as vice president and as governor of Indiana before that, saying that his worry for constitutional rights is a bit ironic, considering bills he signed into law.
“So you know, give me a break. He is who he has always been,” Hostin continued. “He sold his soul to Donald Trump and now to speak in front of the Federalist committee. OK, but the fact that the Republican party, in my view, is normalizing violence is going to beget more violence.”
Ana Navarro pointed out that it did take Pence 13 months to push back on Trump’s words, but applauding him for doing so at all. That said, Navarro noted that she thinks Pence spoke out because he had to, not because he wanted to.
“I’m not sure what choice he has, right? Because Donald Trump is never ever going to admit he lost,” Navarro said. “And Donald Trump is never ever going to forgive Michael Pence for not having gone along with his conspiracy. And Mike Pence — as long as Donald Trump controls the Republican party, which he does right now — is never ever going to have a political future. And so given that, the least he could do is try to recover a modicum of dignity.”
She added though that Pence chose the wrong audience for his words.
“I would say to Mike Pence, if you feel so strongly about this, then instead of speaking in front of the Federalist Society, you should go speak in front of the January 6 committee,” Navarro said.