Former Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday, April 19 touted the energy accomplishments of the Trump administration to a friendly audience at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda.
Pence, a former Indiana governor who said he grew up in “a gas station family” and worked as a gas station attendant, said he has always felt “a personal connection to American energy.”
Standing before a packed ballroom, Pence said “U.S. energy independence” achieved under the Trump/Pence administration created American jobs and bolstered the U.S. military.
“For decades, America lived at the mercy of foreign energy suppliers,” he said. “We need a strong energy sector in America harnessing the God-given resources and unleashing them to our people.”
Pence, who has been giving speeches nationally for several months, is widely expected to formally launch a presidential run. And, with 2024 on the horizon, at least one political analyst suggested energy could be a way for Pence to remind Republican voters about his part in Trump-era policies without being seen as too connected personally to the polarizing former president.
Pence is “trying to find a way to thread the needle of touting his work on conservative causes as vice president while distinguishing and separating himself from Donald Trump,” said Stephen Stambaugh, a Cal State Fullerton political science professor.
“If he’s going to be successful, he will need to find an issue that captivates the public,” Stambaugh added. “Energy policy has some potential for that due to gas prices and inflation even though he’s a little late to that debate.”
On Wednesday, Pence placed the blame for inflation and rising gas prices on the current administration. In Yorba Linda, the price for a gallon of regular gas at a Chevron near where Pence spoke was $4.99, more than $1 higher than the current national average of $3.68, according to the American Automobile Association.
Pence also took shots…
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