Fox News host Harris Faulkner challenged former vice president and current presidential candidate Mike Pence to defend a claim during a recent interview on Fox’s “The Faulkner Focus.”
The surprise pushback came when Pence argued that former President Donald Trump does not hold conservative principles.
During the interview, Pence again painted himself as a conservative rather than a populist and took shots at Republicans who have forgotten true conservative values.
Faulkner asked Pence to clarify his comments, saying, “I’ve heard you talk a lot about that. Why is that key with voters you think?”
The Daily Caller captured Pence’s reply:
“I think it’s the choice that Republican primary voters face. I know there are a lot of ways to slice this. I still believe that the majority of Republican primary voters believe in a strong national defense, American leadership in the world, believe in limited government, fiscal responsibility and growth, believe in the right to life, and traditional values.
“But frankly, there are voices, including the former president, and some of his imitators in this race that are articulating a set of policies that are described as populism but they’re unmoored to conservative principles —”
Faulkner interjected, “Can you give me an example?”
Watch:
Faulkner-Cuts-Pence-Off-Asks-Him-To-Explain-Claim-About-Trump-s-Principles
Pence replied:
“Well, I, well let’s begin with fiscal responsibility. Joe Biden’s policy about the national debt, which is now larger than our nation’s economy, Joe Biden’s policy is insolvency. He won’t even talk about reforming the kind of entitlements that are 70% of the federal budget.
“Donald Trump’s position is identical to Joe Biden’s. Other candidates in the field have said it should be for some other president down the road.
“I’ve been willing to say, ‘Look, I’m a conservative.’ I’m not in a bad mood about it but you know me, Harris, for a long time I have been in these fights for fiscal responsibility and reform.
“If I’m president of the United States, we will bring common sense reforms to those policies. Another one has to do with taxes. When we were in office we cut taxes, the largest tax cut and tax reform in American history. Donald Trump today actually proposes a 10% tariff on all goods coming into the United States.
“The tax foundation says it could cost 500,000 jobs. And at a time when we’ve had 17% inflation across the country, the last thing we need is to raise the cost of goods at the border.”
A recent CNN poll affirmed that Trump is the clear frontrunner in the GOP field of presidential hopefuls, leading by at least 30 percentage points.
The second GOP debate, which Trump will not participate in, will air Sept. 27 at 9 p.m. Eastern Time.
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