Former Vice President Mike Pence has been forced to invest $150,000 into his own campaign after his strategy of attacking his former boss backfired.
Last week, Pence accused Trump of “appeasement” and “signaling retreat” following the massive slaughter by Hamas in Israel.
Pence also blasted Trump over his statements on Hezbollah, a terrorist group which was noticeably silent during his administration.
Last month, Pence also accused Trump of “talking the language of appeasement” of Russia.
“When Donald Trump ran for president in 2016, he promised to govern as a conservative. For four years we governed as conservatives,” Pence said.
“He’s backing away from America as leader of the free world, talking the language of appeasement in the face of Russian aggression in Eastern Europe and the war raging in Ukraine,” Pence added.
“With regard to entitlements, Howie, Donald Trump’s position is identical to Joe Biden’s. Neither one of them even want to talk about what’s mostly driving security,” Pence continued.
Watch
Mike Pence: "If Ukraine doesn’t defeat Russia…Americans will have to die for Ukraine'.
— 🇺🇸 PENNSYLVANIA IS TRUMP™ (@RED_IN_PA) September 17, 2023
You first, Traitor Pence! pic.twitter.com/ty6tI4WjNh
It’s no wonder Mike Pence is now forced to invest into his own campaign.
The former VP has raised just $3.3 million in the third quarter with little cash on hand.
🚨Report: Mike Pence's campaign is facing a debt problem. His campaign has $1.2 Million on hand but has built up over $620,000 in debt. pic.twitter.com/OH8oiwuhs8
— The Calvin Coolidge Project (@TheCalvinCooli1) October 15, 2023
NBC News reported:
Former Vice President Mike Pence’s 2024 campaign faces a potentially existential cash squeeze, with debt already piling up.
The campaign told NBC News it will report having raised $3.3 million in the third quarter, with $1.2 million cash on hand and $620,000 in debt, when its campaign finance filing is due to be made public Sunday.
Pence himself chipped in $150,000 from his personal funds, the campaign said.
Pence’s numbers reveal a campaign under serious strain, operating on completely different financial terrain from that of his rivals, and they raise questions about his ability to continue to compete in the GOP primaries.
Racking up debt, in particular, has long been a sign of presidential campaigns in trouble — and potentially on the verge of ending.
The last GOP presidential primary season offers an ominous parallel from this moment eight years ago:
Then-Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign reported just under $1 million in the bank and $161,000 in debt at the end of the third quarter of 2015, the equivalent moment in that election cycle.
That’s when he dropped out of the race.
As Politico reported, a Pence ally granted anonymity to assess the campaign frankly said he plans to stay in the race despite what this person said was a “brutal” fundraising quarter for Pence.
“That debt number is gonna be impossible to pay back,” the Pence ally said. “When he drops out he’s going to have to do debt-retirement fundraisers.”
A neutral Iowa Republican operative, granted anonymity to assess Pence’s campaign frankly, said it was difficult to see how Pence would make it to Iowa and its evangelical-rich caucuses.
“Sounds like a medium-sized Senate race,” this person said of Pence’s fundraising haul.
In fact, some Republicans close to Pence had urged him to weigh a bid for Indiana’s open Senate seat in 2024 instead of seeking the presidency — an overture Pence declined.
READ: Mike Pence: Trump Isn’t ‘Conservative’ Because He Would End the War in Ukraine
