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Donald Trump and Mike Pence had a falling out during their tenure as president and vice president that was well-documented. It stemmed from the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, when Pence would not agree to block the certification of the 2020 presidential election results, as Trump had wanted. Four years after serving in office together, Pence showed what he really thinks of Trump by withholding an endorsement for his former running mate during Trump’s second bid for the White House. During that election, Trump’s new running mate, JD Vance, shed additional light on why Trump really pulled away from Pence.
According to Vance, Trump took issue with how Pence and others tried to strong-arm him into policies they preferred. “All of these people, Jake — they came into office thinking that they could control Donald Trump,” Vance said during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” in October 2024. “Mike Pence thought he could control Donald Trump?” CNN’s Jake Tapper interjected. “Yes, he did,” Vance replied. Further in that CNN appearance, Vance said those officials, including Pence, “want America to get involved in a ton of ridiculous military conflicts.”
Vance had mentioned the former vice president’s penchant for war on the campaign trail and how it led to the rift between the former VP and Trump. “I think, in reality, that if Donald Trump wanted to start a nuclear war with Russia, Mike Pence would be at the front of the line endorsing him right now,” Vance said on the “All-In” podcast in September 2024. Prior to that, Pence had given his own account about why he and Trump no longer saw eye-to-eye.
Why Donald Trump lashed out at Mike Pence
While JD Vance claimed Donald Trump had a falling out with his former vice president over war policies, Mike Pence believed it all stemmed back to their disagreement over how the election results were handled ahead of the January 6 United States Capitol attack. “For four years, we had a close working relationship. It did not end well,” Pence wrote in his memoir, “So Help Me God,” released in November 2022. Pence wrote about his decision to participate in the certification of the 2020 election results. “I knew it would be hurtful to my friend for me to participate in the certification. But my duty was clear,” he wrote. Pence also added that he believed the former political allies “parted amicably” at the end of their term together.
Meanwhile, the pair did not remain on amicable terms when they ran against each other in their race to clinch the nomination for the Republican party. In a scathing post on Truth Social in August 2023, Trump went scorched-earth, referring to him as “Liddle Mike Pence,” who had “gone to the Dark Side.” This pertained to the pair having differing views (to put it mildly) over how the 2020 election results were handled.
After going to political war in the primaries, the relationship between Trump and Pence seemed to soften. “He couldn’t cross the line of doing what was right, in my opinion,” Trump said, rather diplomatically, while discussing Pence on the “Flagrant” podcast in October just prior to the 2024 presidential election. A month later, Pence took the high road and extended an olive branch to his former running mate when he won the election. On X, formerly Twitter, Pence sent “sincere congratulations” to both Trump and Vance.
