Trump is fighting against himself

With Donald Trump warning of a “bloodbath” if voters fail to elect him in November, it is no surprise former US vice-president Mike Pence has refused to back his ex-boss’s campaign for a return to the White House. For four years Mr Pence was Mr Trump’s unfailingly loyal deputy. But since becoming the target of Mr Trump’s ire over the “stolen” 2020 election and the January 6, 2021 insurrection by the former president’s supporters targeted at the US Capitol, Mr Pence clearly has become even more disenchanted by his former boss.

Last Sunday Mr Pence rounded on Mr Trump over the latter’s frequently repeated campaign assertion that those convicted of crimes for January 6 were “hostages” and “unbelievable patriots”. Mr Trump vowed to free them if he were elected. “I think it’s unfortunate at a time that there are American hostages being held in Gaza that the president (Trump) would refer to people that are moving through our justice system as hostages,” Mr Pence said. He has a point.

Earlier, Mr Pence, who was the key to winning crucial evangelical support for Mr Trump in 2016, warned that the former president, in his current campaign, was “pursuing and articulating an agenda that is at odds with the conservative agenda we governed on during our four years”. Referring to Mr Trump “starting to shy away from a commitment to the sanctity of human life”, he added: “I cannot in good conscience endorse Donald Trump.” Mr Pence clearly is not the only influential Republican dismayed by Mr Trump’s resort to over-the-top rhetoric. Having lost her bid for the Republican nomination, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, one of the Trump administration’s standout performers, is also defying demands she support Mr Trump.

Mr Trump’s warning of a “bloodbath” if he doesn’t win was made in reference to the motor industry and imports from Mexico and was taken out of context by many. But it does him no credit. If January 6 and the crisis surrounding his implausible and unproven claim he was robbed of the presidency did anything, it was to demonstrate the strength of America’s democracy and the institutions that underpin it at a time of immense challenge. Mr Trump’s irrational hyperventilating is doing neither him nor perceptions of the 2024 race for the White House any good. Mr Pence’s and Ms Haley’s refusal to back him should serve as a sharp reminder of the deep divisions that continue to dog the Republican Party even as the Trump nomination bandwagon appears unstoppable.