Indiana governor Mike Pence addressed a Utah policy forum Thursday at the invitation of Senator Mike Lee, who helped lead an insurgency of anti-Donald Trump delegates at the Republican National Convention just weeks ago.
Lee hosts the annual Utah Solutions Summit, which gathers to discuss ideas about the U.S. workforce, and Pence appeared in his capacity as an elected official. Despite Lee’s longstanding skepticism of Trump, Pence had nothing but praise for the Utah senator and his “strong, conservative leadership”.
“I’m grateful for Senator Mike Lee’s invitation, his great leadership on this Utah Solutions Summit, and [I] just appreciate his strong, conservative leadership on the national stage,” Pence said at the beginning of his remarks. “Utah should be proud of the leadership of both of your senators and the great delegation in Washington, D.C.”
Despite the apolitical purpose of Pence’s presence at the event, his address alternated between his governing record and Trump’s platform. He called the presidential nominee a “broad-shouldered American leader who truly believes in the American dream” and touted the candidate’s education agenda, giving his remarks the flavor of a low-fat stump speech. Still, Lee made clear to the local Deseret News that he was just a “huge” fan of the governor, and that Pence’s appearance did not “involve his status as Donald Trump’s running mate”.
“Support for a running mate is not quite the same as any decision one might make about the presidential candidate,” he said.
Lee’s distrust of Trump has an extended and, at times, strident history. He said that Trump “scares me to death” in May, ranted about him to Newsmax TV in June, tried to unbind delegates pledged to vote for him at the party convention in July, and resisted endorsing him all the way through August. On Thursday, the first day of September, Lee’s attitude hadn’t changed much. The Associated Press reported that he has only reached the point of discussing his concerns about Trump’s views on federalism—with Pence, not Trump.
In public, at least, Pence didn’t try to change Lee’s mind Thursday. He concluded his half-hour speech with a call to prayer—mindful of the religious Utah environment that has been inhospitable to Trump throughout the election—but not “for any one candidate or any one cause”.
“I encourage you also in these challenging times in our nation to do what I know so many people in Utah do and in the Pence family does, and that is to bend the knee,” Pence said. “I don’t ask you today to pray for any one candidate or any one cause, but I do encourage you in the 68 days that remain in this campaign to pray for our country, to pray that we would see our way through these times.”
