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Mike Pence’s decision to end his presidential campaign on Saturday was a recognition of political reality and the need to consolidate the GOP field against Donald Trump. Others will have to follow his lead, preferably before the end of the year.
“Traveling across the country over the past six months, I came here to say it’s become clear to me, this is not my time,” the former Vice President said in Las Vegas at the Republican Jewish Coalition summit.
By temperament and experience, Mr. Pence would make a good President. But his campaign of traditional conservative policies and civility never caught on. MAGA voters wouldn’t forgive him for standing up to Mr. Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election, while anti-Trump voters wouldn’t forgive his four years as Mr. Trump’s loyal number two.
Mr. Pence deserved better because in personnel choices and policy advice he was crucial to the successes Mr. Trump had as President. He steered the former President toward his better cabinet choices and advisers, such as education secretary Betsy DeVos. If he was sometimes too wincingly loyal amid Mr. Trump’s impulsive policy riffs—Kim Jong Un is a helluva guy—that was the price of maintaining influence behind the scenes.
Critics who say he should never have accepted the VP nod should thank heaven he was there on Jan. 6, 2021. Mr. Pence stood up to Mr. Trump’s public and private pressure to stop the electoral vote count. He followed his conscience to recognize the constitutional limits of his role, and he did the right thing in a political crucible, though he had to know he was damaging his future presidential prospects. He deserves the public’s gratitude.
Mr. Pence also made a contribution this year in calling out the drift among some of his GOP competitors toward isolationism. He may have been the wrong messenger, but he offered a message that Republican voters should hear about Russia, Iran, China and an unprepared America. Hamas’s murderous invasion of Israel is a reminder of what can happen when a nation begins to believe it is safe from its enemies behind walls—or two oceans.
Mr. Pence didn’t endorse another candidate, but perhaps he will as the primaries approach. Mr. Trump said Saturday that Mr. Pence should endorse him as an act of loyalty for having chosen him as his running mate, but Mr. Trump betrayed Mr. Pence with his post-election pressure to betray the VP’s oath of office.
The GOP nominating race is frozen for now, with Mr. Trump maintaining a big lead and everyone else far behind. Many Republican voters have been sticking with Mr. Trump as a rebuke to the Democratic prosecutors who have indicted him four times.
But many of those same voters also say they are open to someone else. A surprising candidate usually breaks out as the voting approaches in Iowa. If someone does surge, the pressure will be on the others to get out. As Mr. Pence has done during his admirable career, the laggards will have to put the country above their political ambition.