Pence says fighting GOP’s big government drift is his life’s calling

EXCLUSIVE – Former Vice President Mike Pence says his fight to keep the Republican Party from straying too far from its conservative roots and principles, amid rising populism within the Republican Party and governing drift in President Donald Trump’s second administration, is “my life’s calling right now.”

And Pence challenges the conventional wisdom that Trump, since winning the White House a decade ago, has upended and completely transformed the Republican Party.

“I’m convinced that while President Trump has changed some aspects of the Republican Party’s agenda, he hasn’t really changed the Republican Party,” Pence argued in an exclusive interview last week with Fox News Digital, months before the release of a new book promoting the conservative agenda.

Sitting in his Washington, D.C., office at Advancing American Freedom, his policy and advocacy organization that has grown in recent months, the former vice president emphasized, “We intend to be a voice for what conservatives believe and have always believed, which is fiscal responsibility, traditional values, strong defense, and American leadership.” »

ONLY ON FOX NEWS: PENCE SAYS Trump ‘turned a deaf ear’ to GOP ISOLATIONISTS

President Donald Trump arrives with then-Vice President Mike Pence to attend a campaign rally in Traverse City, Michigan, November 2, 2020. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

Pence is a former congressman and governor of Indiana who served as vice president during Trump’s first term before breaking with his boss amid the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol while overseeing Congress’ certification of the 2020 election results.

The former vice president praised some of Trump’s accomplishments during his second term.

“I have been very proud of what this administration has accomplished to secure our border. I have been pleased that the administration has turned away from those who were talking about raising taxes on the highest marginal income earners. They have extended all of the Trump Pence tax cuts,” he said.

PENCE URGES SENA TO “RESTORE PUBLIC CONFIDENCE” THROUGH NATIONAL VOTER ID ACT

But Pence took issue with the second Trump administration for “adopting more large government programs and solutions, price controls on pharmaceuticals and credit companies, taking positions in private companies, the nationalization trend that has emerged, as well as the marginalization of the right to life in many respects and ignoring the scourge of mail-order abortion pills across the country.”

“I hope those who advise the president remind him that it is the conservative agenda we have governed on during our four years that has led to great prosperity for American families, our economy and strength around the world,” Mr. Pence said.

But the former vice president warned that “the Republican Party today knows the scourge of certain ‘-isms.’ We have seen protectionism manifest in unilateral tariffs that the United States Supreme Court recently rejected. We have heard isolationist voices questioning our support for Israel, which would leave allies like Ukraine to defend themselves. »

And Pence added: “I think the fringe and fringe voices of anti-Semitism within the party all need to be confronted, because none of those things represent what conservatives believe.”

But many Republicans would dispute the former vice president’s argument that Trump has not transformed the Republican Party.

“Donald Trump has dramatically changed the makeup of the Republican Party and the issues it focuses on,” Ryan Williams, a veteran GOP strategist and communicator, told Fox News Digital.

Williams pointed out that Trump “changed the voting base of the Republican Party” and took “the values ​​and trajectory of this party in a different direction…It will never go back to the way it was.”

FOX NEWS EXCLUSIVE: PENCE ACCUSES DEMOCRATS OF WITHHOLDING DHS FUNDING “UNCONSCIOUS”

Although he does not aim to return the party to its pre-Trump image, Pence said his mission is to remind people that Republicans believe in a strong national defense of American leadership in the world. We believe in a free market economy and limited, fiscally responsible government. We believe in the right to life and traditional values. »

“These are the principles that have guided our party for more than half a century and have been for the good of the American people,” he added.

Pence said he hoped that “not only will we see this administration return to our roots of conservatism, but we will see House, Senate and state candidates across the country return to those core conservative principles.”

Republicans face tough political challenges, with the ruling party in the nation’s capital traditionally losing seats in midterm elections, and a difficult political climate fueled by economic concerns amid persistent inflation and Trump’s undervalued approval ratings.

But Pence said promoting a conservative platform is “not only a path to American prosperity and the vitality of liberty, but it is also a winning agenda.”

His new book, “What Conservatives Believe: Rediscovering the Conservative Consciousness,” due out in June, will likely bolster the former vice president’s efforts.

Pence ran on a traditional conservative platform, framing the future of the Republican Party against what he called the rise of “populism” within the party, as he ran for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024, as part of a broad group that unsuccessfully challenged Trump.

Pence officially announced his candidacy for president in Ankeny, Iowa on June 5, 2023. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)

While Pence, who became the first vice presidential candidate in more than 80 years to run against his former boss, regularly campaigned in the crucial early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, his White House bid never took off.

Struggling in polls and fundraising, he suspended his campaign just four and a half months after its launch.

“It was clear to me that a part of the Republican Party today is being sidelined by the siren song of populism unmoored from conservative principles. I spoke out against this as a candidate. Our foundation, Advancing American Freedom, has championed this conservative agenda and will continue to do so,” Pence noted.

The offices of Advancing American Freedom, the political and advocacy organization founded by former Vice President Mike Pence, in Washington, DC, March 18, 2026. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)

When asked if there would be another White House bid in the future, Pence didn’t rule anything out.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“I’ll tell you, I’m not a long-term planner,” he replied. “We will let the future take care of itself.”

But he added: “For me, for my family, it’s all about the issues and the values ​​that first drew me to the Republican Party. They are conservative values. And reminding our party and sharing with people across the country what conservatives believe and why it will make America stronger and more prosperous is truly the calling of my times.”