Mike Pence Urges Conservatives to Look Forward as a Trump Cloud Hovers

WASHINGTON — Purple-and-blue spotlights flashed from the ceiling as former Vice President Mike Pence walked onstage. Anthemic music pumped from the lodge ballroom audio system surrounding him. Just a few viewers members lifted cellphones to snap footage.

However the festive hues and heavy bass couldn’t distract from the truth that, for a lot of Republicans, the lifetime of the celebration was simply down the road within the nation’s capital, the place preparations had been underway for former President Donald J. Trump’s speech later within the day.

One of the crucial uncomfortable splits contained in the Republican Celebration was on clear show on Tuesday because the two-time working mates — and potential rivals on the 2024 presidential marketing campaign path — had been set to supply competing visions for the nation from two Marriott resorts separated by lower than a mile in downtown Washington.

Mr. Pence went first, giving a speech on Tuesday morning that overlooked the form of effusive reward for Mr. Trump that he had commonly injected into his addresses as vice chairman. As an alternative, he drew delicate distinctions between Mr. Trump’s fixation on the 2020 election and his personal desire to battle the subsequent political battles.

“Some individuals might select to deal with the previous, however elections are concerning the future,” Mr. Pence mentioned.

He made solely passing reference to Jan. 6, 2021, as a “tragic day,” days after the Home committee investigating the Capitol riot had detailed Mr. Trump’s refusal to name off the violence on Jan. 6, 2021, and the concern that members of Mr. Pence’s Secret Service element felt for his or her lives.

The listening to prompted scathing editorials from two newspapers managed by the Murdoch household: The New York Submit mentioned the revelations confirmed that Mr. Trump was “unworthy” to be president once more, whereas The Wall Avenue Journal opined that Mr. Trump had “completely failed” to deal with the disaster.

And on Monday, information emerged that two of Mr. Pence’s prime aides had testified to a federal grand jury in Washington as a part of the Justice Division’s felony investigation into the occasions surrounding the riot.

In his speech, Mr. Pence repeatedly referred to the “Trump-Pence” administration’s accomplishments as he known as for a motion of cultural conservatives to show again a “pernicious woke agenda” that was, he argued, “permitting the novel left to proceed dumping poisonous waste into the headwaters of our tradition.”

Mr. Pence celebrated the Supreme Court docket’s current ruling eliminating the federal proper to abortion, noting that the choice had been made doable due to three justices “appointed by the Trump-Pence administration.”

“We save the infants, we’ll save America,” he mentioned.

A light-mannered former governor of Indiana, Mr. Pence described himself as centered on the long run and keen to inform President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia issues he “didn’t need to hear.”

However he couldn’t escape the direct distinction with Mr. Trump. When Mr. Pence completed his speech, the primary query from the viewers of younger conservatives at a Younger America’s Basis convention was about Mr. Trump “and the divide between the 2 of you.”

“I don’t know that our motion is that divided — I don’t know that the president and I differ on points, however we might differ on focus,” Mr. Pence mentioned.

Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence had been in considerably common contact after leaving workplace, talking a number of occasions by telephone in conversations that averted dialogue of the Capitol riot, in line with their advisers. In an interview final 12 months, Mr. Trump mentioned that he had by no means informed Mr. Pence he was sorry for not performing faster to cease the assault — and that Mr. Pence had by no means requested for an apology.

However a rivalry has flared up behind the scenes.

On Monday, Mr. Pence introduced that his ebook about his time within the administration, “So Assist Me God,” could be revealed on Nov. 15. The ebook has been a supply of pressure with Mr. Trump, who, when he discovered in early 2021 that Mr. Pence had a ebook deal, was nonetheless musing about acquiring considered one of his personal.

However in most elements of the publishing trade, Mr. Trump was broadly seen as a threat. The previous president appeared annoyed that Mr. Pence had gotten a deal, and inside days of studying about it, he attacked the previous vice chairman whereas talking to a bunch of Republican donors at a Republican Nationwide Committee occasion at Mar-a-Lago, seizing on Mr. Pence’s refusal to do what Mr. Trump wished on Jan. 6, 2021.

The 2 males’s paths have additionally differed this 12 months alongside the midterm marketing campaign path. They’ve backed opposing candidates in a number of major races, together with the Republican governor’s contest in Arizona, which might be determined subsequent week, and the celebration’s major for governor in Georgia, the place Mr. Pence’s choose, Gov. Brian Kemp, simply defeated his Trump-backed challenger, David Perdue.

Mr. Pence is broadly seen as contemplating a presidential bid in 2024, however he would face stiff challenges.

In a New York Occasions/Siena School ballot of Republican voters this month, simply 6 % mentioned they might vote for Mr. Pence if the 2024 Republican presidential major had been held at present, in contrast with 49 % for Mr. Trump and 25 % for Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida.

Maggie Haberman contributed reporting.