Former President Donald Trump thinks his former vice president will have a "hard" race in 2024 should he run for president.
"I don't want to say," Trump responded when asked by CBN about Mike Pence's chances. "If Mike got in, I think it would be a hard one for him. I think it would be a hard one. I understand where the base is. I love the base. The base loves me. I think it would be hard, but Mike was a good guy. I thought he was a very good vice president. He was my friend."
Pence in late March announced his "Freedom Agenda" for the GOP, the latest in a series of indicators he's planning to mount a run.
He highlighted the plan's contrast with Trump, telling reporters: "Elections are about the future, and frankly the opposition would love nothing more for conservatives to talk about the past or to talk of the mess they've made of the president. And I think by relentlessly focusing on the future we can stop the radical left, we can turn this country around, we can win the Congress and statehouses back in 2022, and we can win back America in 2024 and beyond."
The pair have publicly grown apart following the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol.
Trump told CBN he hadn't spoken to Pence "in a long time."
"A long time is four or five months. I haven't spoken to him in a long time. And he's a nice man. He disappointed me on one thing because I think he should have sent the votes back to the legislatures," he added.
Trump told CBN he will decide on 2024 after this year's midterm elections. Until then, he plans to tout what the Biden administration is doing wrong.
"Everything I said was right," Trump exclaimed. "I'm not just talking about energy or on the border. I'm talking about religion. I said these people are against evangelicals. I said they're against Israel. I said they're against organized religion, frankly. They're against all of the things that you and I, and most of your viewers, stand for. And when I said that during debates and elsewhere, people sort of weren't sure. I turned out to be right. And I've had many people say, as good as I think we were, they said, you were the best at it. You were the best, and they want me back."
via newsmax