Former Vice President Mike Pence’s scheduled speech in New Hampshire this week was discovered to contain sections that were directly copied from a previous address given by his former boss, Donald Trump.
The prepared remarks intended for Pence’s speech at the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy were found to have passages lifted from Trump’s speech delivered nearly four years ago. However, it should be noted that Pence did not actually include the specific lines in question during his speech, according to Politico’s report.
During his planned speech, Mike Pence was set to declare the following statement: “If we want our families and communities to thrive, America must be the ultimate destination for work, investment, innovation, construction, mastery of a trade, and entrepreneurship. We aim to attract businesses to America, encourage their presence, and provide employment opportunities for American workers.”
This two-sentence passage bears a notable resemblance to the words uttered by Donald Trump during a speech at the New York Economic Club in November 2019, as evidenced by the archived transcript of his remarks from the White House.
However, the report highlights that Pence’s prepared speech diverged from his former boss’s after that particular passage. “We aspire for every American to have the means to achieve their American dreams,” Pence stated in his planned remarks.
While Trump in 2019 had said, “My mission is to put our country on the very best footing to thrive, excel, compete and to win.”
The resemblance in Mike Pence’s prepared remarks carries significance as he sought to position himself as a Republican figure with a legacy predating the Trump era. In his speech, Pence made a deliberate effort to highlight policy differences that set him apart from the Trump administration, including expressing criticism of their excessive spending practices.
While Pence has yet to formally declare his candidacy for the presidency, as a potential Republican contender, he is expected to join the crowded field vying for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. He has indicated that he will announce his decision “well before late June.”