Mike Pence on the Brian Kilmeade Show - Full Interview

Given our record it might be fair to ask why I'm challenging my former running mate. Let me say from my heart, it begins with a promise that I made to the American people and to Almighty God.

And it ends with different visions for the future of our nation and our party. Brian, thanks for having me on this morning. I'm speaking to you from Iowa, but it's great to be on the airwaves of The Brian Kilmeade Show all across America.

By the way, that's the foundation. You were a radio guy before you became a politician, correct? I was never as big as Brian Kilmeade, but I had a little syndicated radio show in Indiana and I just loved it. Your listeners should just know I'm not only an old talk radio show host, but I'm a talk radio listener and we appreciate your voice out there every day, Brian. Thanks Mr. Vice President. So I had a chance to watch Governor DeSantis speak on Long Island and when he showed up, you know, people are enthusiastic to see him, but Trump supporters showed up and they were heckling him and I thought, what planet am I on? I go, there's Trump people heckling Governor Ron DeSantis to conservative Republicans. Do you find that here you are running and you're against your former running, maybe in 10 others, and sometimes are you getting pushback because of the statement you made why you're running? Well, look, look, you know, there's a saying in NASCAR, you know, that rubbing is racing. So, you know, that's all part of it.

That's fine. But, you know, for us, for me, my family, Karen and I spent the last couple of years really reflecting and praying about the future. But when I looked at the way Joe Biden and the Democrats have weakened America at home and abroad, when I see the crisis at our border, when I see inflation at a 40 year high, when I see the steady assault on our values, we just felt a duty to step forward and offer our experience, not just as vice president, Brian, but you and I had known each other a long time. You know, I was a governor of a state that balanced budgets, cut taxes, achieved record employment and expanded school choice. And I also was a leader of House conservatives.

I battled against the big spenders of my own party. And when I think of the challenges that we're facing at home and abroad in the wake of the failed policies of President Joe Biden, I think this now is a time for all of us. Whatever the cost, now is the time for all of us to step forward, to offer our experience and our background to turn this country around.

And I hope people go to mikepence2024.com, find out more about our cause and we'd love to earn their support. So the problem was with entitlements, it's become a third rail because as soon as we remember Paul Ryan, as soon as Paul Ryan came out and said, hey, you know what, we got to take a look at Social Security, we got to take a look at Medicare, these entitlements. Now you have a Paul Ryan actor throwing grandma over the cliff and you think to yourself, no, no, we're trying to solve a problem.

No, but you don't like old people. So when Donald Trump ran, he said, you know what, we're going to just forget that. It's tough to be a politician and tell people you're going to cut entitlement programs. And that's where people have stood out. But you're coming onto the scene saying we have to, we don't have enough money for our bills.

Well, we just don't. Look, Social Security and Medicare are scheduled to go bankrupt in the next five to 10 years. When that happens, the law will require those programs to be cut. We owe Americans that are in retirement or facing retirement soon better than that.

But it's even bigger than that today. I mean, Joe Biden's policy is insolvency. He won't even talk about responsible reforms of entitlements that are 70% of our federal budget. And as I said yesterday, my former running mate has the same policy that Joe Biden has on this, that we're never going to talk about Social Security and Medicare.

Well, I got to tell you, as a new grandfather, we had three granddaughters in the last two years. I think we owe our girls better than that. If we wait 25 years, all the choices are going to be bad. If we provide leadership today, if we say to Americans over the age of 40, nothing's going to change for you.

We're going to keep all the promises we've made to you in the system you paid into. But for Americans under the age of 40, we can create a better deal to replace the New Deal programs. I think in exchange for slight modifications of those programs, we can let people invest part of their payroll tax in a personal savings account and get double or triple the rate of return you're getting in Social Security. So these are all ideas I think the American people are ready for because finally, Brian, I think the American people are seeing the relationship between the national debt and their pocketbook.

The gusher of spending in Washington, the mountain range of debt that we have in Washington, dollars that we owe to countries like China is driving the 40-year high inflation that's eating away at America's family budgets. I think the American people are ready for an honest conversation. And as we said in our launch of our campaign yesterday here in Iowa, we're going to gauge the American people. We're going to be honest, and we're going to offer compassionate and common sense reforms to save our nation from a debt crisis and preserve these programs for the future.

So I'm going to give you two tough questions. You might have the answer, but you might know it's unpopular. Would you raise the retirement age? You saw it happen in France when they did that. It's laughable. They don't want to work, and they want to retire young, but they wanted to raise it to 64.

The whole country shut down. Does Mike Pence want to raise the retirement age? Yeah, and the retirement age in America is already above that. President Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill sat down back in the 1980s, and they negotiated a long-term phase-in of a higher retirement age. They preserved Social Security for another 30 years.

That's what it's going to take. But that's not all that's on the table. Look, Americans are living longer. We celebrate that.

My mother's 91 years young, lives on her own. Look, I think we can have a responsible conversation about this. But again, I'm not talking about less benefits. I'm talking about it's not a zero-sum game.

Either you could change these programs for younger Americans, combine it with letting them invest a portion of their payroll taxes in an all-American company mutual fund like we have $10 million. You know, George Bush tried that. I mean, you were Congressman Mike Pence. George Bush tried that. But George Bush tried that, and it did not work. But that was when our national debt, Brian, that was when our national debt was a fraction of what it is today. And I really do believe, as I've traveled the country, the American people are ready for some honest leadership.

This is where we have to go. Because if we leave this unchecked, honestly, Brian, our national debt will increase by five times in the next 25 years. And if we let it go till then, if we keep kicking the can the way Joe Biden and my former running mate are doing right now on this issue, all the choices that our children and grandchildren will face will be bad. It'll either be cutting programs or massively increasing taxes. We are the American people better than that.

I want to move through a little bit. Now, I know you're vehemently pro-life, but America isn't. So they're somewhere between, I think, the stat show around 12 to 14 weeks. So are you saying return the decision to the states, or are you saying get abortion to zero? Well, thank you for saying my stand on the right to life is well known and widely known. I'm pro-life.

I don't apologize for it. When I was in Congress, I authored the first legislation to defund Planned Parenthood that ever passed the Congress of the United States. When I was governor, we advocated for the right to life and adoption reform.

I think if you're going to be pro-life, you've got to be pro-adoption. And I couldn't be more proud to have been part of an administration that appointed three of the justices that sent Roe v. Wade to the ASHE of history. But it's important, Brian, look, as we come up on that anniversary of that historic decision that ushered in a new era for life in the country. It's important to remember the courts did not return the question of abortion to the states.

They returned it to the states and the American people. And I've been advocating pro-life legislation in states around the country, celebrating it in my home state and elsewhere where pro-life advances have been made. But the American people also elect presidents.

We also elect congressmen and senators. And I will tell you, if I'm president of the United States and in the 15-week bill that's been proposed by Senator Lindsey Graham makes it to my desk, I'll sign it in a heartbeat. I mean, that would simply align America's laws to most of the rest of the Western world. Brian, in the European Union, abortion is limited to before 12 to 15 weeks.

That's the standard. The American standard today, Joe Biden and the Democrats standard today, abortion on demand all the way up to the moment of birth. That's what China, North Korea and Iran's laws about abortion say. I think at every level people could count. If Mike Pence was president of the United States, we would stand for and advance the cause of life with principle and compassion every day.

At 15 weeks, not six. Well, look, I support a heartbeat bill too. And if it was put on my desk, I'd sign that as well. And I will tell you, this notion that it goes too far, as my former running mate said, I think was put to the lie in places like Georgia and Ohio where governors signed a heartbeat bill and then they won landslide victories by almost 20 points in Ohio and an incredible victory with Brian Kemp against a formidable Democrat candidate in Georgia. Look, we've got a long way to go to win hearts and minds in this country.

But I think if we do so with compassion, with generosity, with prayer and with principle, the day will come when we restore the sanctity of life to the center of American law. Vice President Mike Pence, our guests and Mr. Vice President, Republicans are increasingly getting dissatisfied with spending money in Ukraine. I personally think it's so worth America's interests, our own self interest for Ukraine to be successful. Would you fully fund the Ukrainian effort to beat Russia?

Brian, you're right. Providing the military support, the means for Ukraine to defend themselves and repel the Russian invasion is in our national interest. And I believe it's in the interest of the free world. Look, we're the leader of the free world.

We're the arsenal of democracy. While the Biden administration has been terribly slow in providing military resources to Ukraine, the Ukrainian fighters have taken the fight to the Russians. And I really do believe that anyone that thinks that Vladimir Putin would stop at the overruns of Ukraine has another think coming. I mean, I've met Vladimir Putin.

I've looked him in the eye. It's clear he's trying to reassert the old Soviet sphere of influence back in the days of the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe. And if he overruns Ukraine, it wouldn't be too long before Russian forces rolled across a border that we would have to send our men and women in uniform to fight. So I think we fight, we give the Ukrainians the ability to fight them there, repel the Russian invasion. I also think, Brian, and you've said this as well, I think the best way we could send a message to China that the free world will not tolerate their military aggression in the Asia Pacific is to continue to provide the support as the leader of the free world to the Ukrainian military to drive out the Russian invasion.

It's just amazing that this administration doesn't make a case for their own policy. It's nuts. General Jack Keane has done more to educate America about what's at stake and how China loses if Russia loses than anybody else. But I want you to hear, Britt, you're a great analyst who I know you like and I know likes you. But Brian, can I say something about that too?

Because number one, General Jack Keane is the national treasure. But I really think part of the reason why some in our movement are growing increasingly impatient with American support in Ukraine is because of the lack of confidence in President Joe Biden. I mean, that disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, the begging Iran to get back in the Iran nuclear deal, the weakness this administration has projected abroad and the failure to make the freedoms case in Ukraine, I think is eroding public support, including among many conservatives who know that the war in Ukraine is not our war, but freedom is our fight. But I'm going to continue to stand strong for that. While my former running mate, while others take a different posture, I'm going to lean into America's leadership. That'll be a big debate topic here. I want you to hear what Britt Hume said last night after you announced.

Cut to him. It's a little unclear to me what Pence is going to try to run on. You know, he can say he's a solid conservative. Nobody would dispute that. But the field is full of solid conservatives with views not really different from from Mike Pence's views, despite the New York Times assertions that the party's gone completely different.

It hasn't entirely at all. And if you're running to be the alternative to Trump, being a solid traditional conservative is where you want to be. But there are lots of people who can make that claim. So what do you say about Britt Hume, who I think you agree is fair?

He says it's unclear the lane you want. Well, I have boundless respect for Britt Hume, but he's not given the whole picture. I mean, truthfully, as we tried to describe today, and my wife did a wonderful job introducing us yesterday here in Iowa, is I've come to the conclusion, Brian, that I'm well known, but I'm not known well. I mean, most Americans know me as a loyal vice president standing by the president's side in an administration that advanced an agenda that made America stronger, more prosperous.

I stood by his side right up until my oath to the Constitution required me to do otherwise. But that's how most people know me. But what they don't know is that I was a conservative champion in the Congress. What they don't know is that I was a conservative governor that balanced budgets and achieved record employment. And so part of the story for us is just making sure the American people know that in these incredibly challenging times, we believe, and I say with humility, that my background and experience at the state level, at the federal level, in the Congress and representing America at home and abroad as vice president makes us uniquely qualified to lead an administration that would turn the country around. But secondly, as I said yesterday, that beyond our difference, our ongoing difference about my role on that fateful day two years ago, I have real differences with my former running mate on America's leadership in the world, notably about the war in Ukraine. I have real differences about our commitment to fiscal discipline and reform and tackling the national debt. And when I see the former president literally blaming election defeats in 2022 on overturning Roe versus Wade and starting to back away and others in the field backing away from an unambiguous commitment to the right to life. We're going to lay out a very clear choice. I'm going to run without apology on a solid conservative agenda and on my experience. Mr. Vice President, thanks so much. You're a radio guy. We're up against a heartbreak.