Donald Trump had a message for former Vice President Mike Pence after he refused to endorse Trump in the 2024 presidential election.

“I couldn’t care less,” Trump said.

“I couldn’t care less. We need patriots. We need strong people in our country. Our country is going downhill very fast, very rapidly,” he told reporters, according to Fox News.

“Millions of people coming across the border, coming from jails, from prisons, coming from mental institutions and insane asylum terrorists. We need strong people in this country. We don’t need weak people,” he continued.

Fox News shared some of the footage:

Pence declared on Fox News that he will not be endorsing Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.

“It should come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year,” Pence said.

“During my presidential campaign, I made it clear there were profound differences between me and President Trump on a range of issues. And not just our difference on my constitutional duties I exercised on January the 6th,” he continued.

WATCH:

Fox News reports:

Trump, the only Republican still in the presidential primary after Nikki Haley suspended her campaign earlier this month, was declared the winner in the Florida primary election late Tuesday evening.

The comments were similar to Ohio Republican Bernie Moreno, who also won his primary contest to be his party’s nominee for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, when he urged Republicans to rally behind Trump — whether they disagreed with his personal antics or not.

“I am so sick of Republicans that will say ‘I support President Trump’s policies, but I don’t like the man,'” Moreno said, drawing some reaction from the crowd. “This is a good man. This is a great American.”

He continued: “This man wakes up every day fighting for us, fighting for this country. He loves this country like no other leader in this nation has ever loved this country.”

Moreno, who Trump endorsed in the contest, triumphed over Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose and state Sen. Matt Dolan in the Republican primary on Tuesday. He will face third-term U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, in November.

Since the Republican primary for the presidency has become a one-man race, Trump Republicans are urging others in the party to support the former president as the GOP looks to win back the White House and a majority in the U.S. Senate.

“The conservative movement is coming to a crossroads,” Pence said in a statement, according to The Hill.

“I intend to go forward fighting for the foundational conservative principles our movement has always extolled,” he added.

From The Hill:

While Pence ran against Trump in the 2024 primary, a former vice president declining to support his old boss and running mate is still a remarkable and unusual development. Pence joined a lengthy list of other former Trump administration officials who have kept their distance from the former president, even as he cements his place atop the Republican Party.

Nikki Haley, who served as Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, has yet to endorse the former president after suspending her own primary campaign earlier this month. She said Trump would have to earn the votes of her supporters, but he has not made much of an appeal to do so.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who as recently as 2020 was working closely with Trump on debate preparations, has also declined to back the former president after ending his own primary campaign.

Former national security adviser John Bolton has been outspoken about his concerns regarding a potential second Trump term, as has former Trump chief of staff John Kelly. Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper has also said he would not support Trump in 2024.

But Pence’s decision not to back his old running mate is particularly notable. It is the first time in modern history a former vice president has declined to support the president under which he served.

 

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