On Friday, former Vice President Mike Pence made the surprise, historically unprecedented announcement that he will not be endorsing his former boss in 2024 — during an interview with Fox News’ Martha MacCallum.
But to watch the broadcasts of the very platform on which the former Veep choice to reveal his decision would be to barely know that information, according to a new report from Media Matters for America. In the three-day span between when Pence broke the news, on Friday, through the end of day Monday, the network spent approximately four minutes discussing Pence’s break with Trump.
The news was mentioned on Fox during hosts Neil Cavuto’s and Bret Baier’s shows briefly Friday. Host Laura Ingraham noted the announcement during her show that evening, when she said Pence “should just go down to the border and start welcoming people in because he might as well do that and start working directly for Biden.”
Though it has periodically displayed hints of backbone — its call for Biden in Arizona in 2020, owner Rupert Murdoch’s distaste for Trump, and the resulting on-air ambivalence, in the early days of the 2024 primaries — it appears the network has returned to its former status: cowering before the power Trump has over its viewers.
Both CNN and MSNBC spent, in aggregate, more than an hour discussing the news over the same stretch of time. You can read the full Media Matters report here.
In a post-announcement interview with CBS Sunday, Pence elaborated, saying his decision was about Jan. 6 but also about Trump’s “fiscal responsibility,” position on abortion and foreign policy.
“I mean, the president’s reversal just last week on TikTok — following an administration where we literally changed the national consensus on China — is the reason why, after a lot of reflection, I just concluded I cannot endorse the agenda that Donald Trump is carrying into this national debate,” he said.
He continued saying he’s since “forgiven” Trump for Jan. 6.
“The president and I have profound differences. Many people think it’s just over January 6 — and frankly, the fact that the president continues to insist that I had the right to overturn the election that day is a fundamental difference,” he continued. “But I want to be clear that, you know, I’ve forgiven the president in my heart for what happened that day. As a Christian, I’m required to do that. I’ve prayed for him in that regard.”
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