Trump and Pence return to Washington

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: As we reported yesterday, Donald Trump and his former vice president, Mike Pence, returned to Washington this week, but not as a team. Each of them spoke at separate events about their ideas for leading the country.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Could that mean they will run against each other for the Republican nomination for president in 2024? Here to discuss their speeches is WORLD’s Washington correspondent Leo Briceno.

Hello and welcome, Leo.

LEO BRICENO, REPORTER: Thanks for having me! Glad to be here.

BROWN: Why are these two separate events important?

BRICENO: Well former President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence were both in the oval office less than two years ago. For the Republican Party, they are very much still leaders of the conservative movement and both seen as likely candidates for the 2024 Presidential Republican Nomination. But there’s a key difference here. Unlike their race in 2016 or in 2020, these two are likely to be running against each other, not on the same ticket. These two events are symbolic of a larger question: Will the Republican Party continue to see Trump as the leader of the party and the candidate with the best shot at winning the white house or will voters look for someone new? Someone like Pence?

BROWN: What did Trump focus on in his address?

BRICENO: He briefly mentioned topics like women’s sports, inflation, election integrity, China, and education. But as you can hear here, Trump kept most of his focus one issue

TRUMP: But for this afternoon, I want to speak about some of the core elements of our agenda. And in particular public safety, which we have very little. There is no higher priority than cleaning up our streets, controlling our borders, stopping the drugs from pouring in, and quickly restoring law and order in America

Over the hour and 30 minutes he was on stage, Trump covered things like police funding and support, drug-use prosecution, federal use of resources to crack down on crime, homelessness, explicit underage material, border security and more.

TRUMP: Next year, our new majorities in Congress should vote to strengthen qualified immunity and other protections for our great police officers. They have to become our heroes.

I should note that former President Trump was speaking at the America First Policy Institute, a think tank organized by former officials from his administration.

BROWN: OK, so if Trump focused on public safety, what did Pence speak about?

BRICENO: He stated that Republicans need to rally together under an agenda build on the concepts that brought the conservative movement together in the first place. At multiple points, he pointed to principles that, in his words, had created the most prosperous nation in the world—things like a devotion to life, religious liberty, and self defense. Here he is speaking at the event hosted by the Young Americas Foundation.

PENCE: But in order to win, conservatives need to do more than criticize and complain. We must unite our movement behind a bold, optimistic agenda that offers a clear, compelling choice.

Pence also spoke on very specific policy issues like the Iran deal, Strategic partnership with Israel, cutting energy industry regulations, confronting China, and maintaining domestic fiscal discipline

BROWN: Did they mention each other at all?

BRICENO: Trump didn’t mention Pence. But the former vice president did briefly list off a few of the achievements that the administration had accomplished in their four years together.

BROWN: Now for the big question on everyone’s minds: Did either of them mention running for president in 2024?

BRICENO: Not explicitly. From the beginning, Pence’s address looked and sounded like a campaign speech—listing out a set of specific policy ideas built on a set of actionable ideals. But while he referenced the future of the Republican Party, he shied away from saying outright if he intends to run for office. Trump, similarly, never said he would run for office, but implied it a handful of times. He told audiences he wasn’t done fighting for them and he might just have to give an election race another go.

TRUMP: We may just have to do it again. We have to straighten out. I have to straighten out our country.

BROWN: Leo Briceno is our WORLD Washington correspondent. Thank you so much, Leo.

BRICENO: Of course. Thank you for having me.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: As we reported yesterday, Donald Trump and his former vice president, Mike Pence, returned to Washington this week, but not as a team. Each of them spoke at separate events about their ideas for leading the country.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Could that mean they will run against each other for the Republican nomination for president in 2024? Here to discuss their speeches is WORLD’s Washington correspondent Leo Briceno.

Hello and welcome, Leo.

LEO BRICENO, REPORTER: Thanks for having me! Glad to be here.

BROWN: Why are these two separate events important?

BRICENO: Well former President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence were both in the oval office less than two years ago. For the Republican Party, they are very much still leaders of the conservative movement and both seen as likely candidates for the 2024 Presidential Republican Nomination. But there’s a key difference here. Unlike their race in 2016 or in 2020, these two are likely to be running against each other, not on the same ticket. These two events are symbolic of a larger question: Will the Republican Party continue to see Trump as the leader of the party and the candidate with the best shot at winning the white house or will voters look for someone new? Someone like Pence?

BROWN: What did Trump focus on in his address?

BRICENO: He briefly mentioned topics like women’s sports, inflation, election integrity, China, and education. But as you can hear here, Trump kept most of his focus one issue

TRUMP: But for this afternoon, I want to speak about some of the core elements of our agenda. And in particular public safety, which we have very little. There is no higher priority than cleaning up our streets, controlling our borders, stopping the drugs from pouring in, and quickly restoring law and order in America

Over the hour and 30 minutes he was on stage, Trump covered things like police funding and support, drug-use prosecution, federal use of resources to crack down on crime, homelessness, explicit underage material, border security and more.

TRUMP: Next year, our new majorities in Congress should vote to strengthen qualified immunity and other protections for our great police officers. They have to become our heroes.

I should note that former President Trump was speaking at the America First Policy Institute, a think tank organized by former officials from his administration.

BROWN: OK, so if Trump focused on public safety, what did Pence speak about?

BRICENO: He stated that Republicans need to rally together under an agenda build on the concepts that brought the conservative movement together in the first place. At multiple points, he pointed to principles that, in his words, had created the most prosperous nation in the world—things like a devotion to life, religious liberty, and self defense. Here he is speaking at the event hosted by the Young Americas Foundation.

PENCE: But in order to win, conservatives need to do more than criticize and complain. We must unite our movement behind a bold, optimistic agenda that offers a clear, compelling choice.

Pence also spoke on very specific policy issues like the Iran deal, Strategic partnership with Israel, cutting energy industry regulations, confronting China, and maintaining domestic fiscal discipline

BROWN: Did they mention each other at all?

BRICENO: Trump didn’t mention Pence. But the former vice president did briefly list off a few of the achievements that the administration had accomplished in their four years together.

BROWN: Now for the big question on everyone’s minds: Did either of them mention running for president in 2024?

BRICENO: Not explicitly. From the beginning, Pence’s address looked and sounded like a campaign speech—listing out a set of specific policy ideas built on a set of actionable ideals. But while he referenced the future of the Republican Party, he shied away from saying outright if he intends to run for office. Trump, similarly, never said he would run for office, but implied it a handful of times. He told audiences he wasn’t done fighting for them and he might just have to give an election race another go.

TRUMP: We may just have to do it again. We have to straighten out. I have to straighten out our country.

BROWN: Leo Briceno is our WORLD Washington correspondent. Thank you so much, Leo.

BRICENO: Of course. Thank you for having me.

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