Former Vice President Mike Pence revealed that he wrote his forthcoming book, What Conservatives Believe, in an effort to persuade Republicans not to continue down the path his old boss, President Donald Trump, has led them.

Pence made the comments during an appearance on Going Big! with Kevin Gentry, where he said:

I wrote the book largely because I wanted people to know that while the the great contest of ideas in America has been between right and left for generations now, that increasingly while that battle between the right and the Republican Party, and the progressive left — increasingly more radical progressive left –in the Democratic Party goes on, that there’s a new fault line within Republican ranks. That I think Republicans face a new time of choosing, whether we’re going to stay on the path of the traditional conservative principles that have always defined our party for the last half century, or whether we are going to follow the siren song of populism unmoored to conservative principles.

And there are loud voices in and out of government, some of which have been able to influence the new Trump administration, in ways that are taking our party and our movement far afield from those traditional conservative underpinnings and, you know, where we’ve always been the party of a strong defense and we see America as leader of the free world, the arsenal of democracy, there are a rising chorus of isolationist voices in the Republican Party — I write about that in my book. Where we have always been a party committed to low taxes, including low tariffs and free trade, now, as we witnessed the president impose unilateral tariffs on friend and foe alike until the Supreme Court stepped in and used the constitution to turn him back.

And most poignantly to me is while we’ve been a pro-life party and the party of the sanctity of life throughout most of my adult lifetime, and now we have voices from the administration on down that are marginalizing the right to life in our party, suggesting it’s only a state issue. So I felt inspired to simply put together a book that described first and foremost what those principles are. And secondly, to juxtapose them against those crosscurrents on the left and on the populist right. And I’m looking forward to traveling the country and engaging in a great debate.

Because I do think as people look to the future, Kevin, I think it’s gonna be more important for us to figure out what we’re for before we decide who we’re for in the next presidential election. I think Republicans ought to do a lot of soul searching. Look, I make the point, I know Donald Trump better than his most ardent defenders know him, okay? And he is not ideological. In fact, he often bristled when I would refer to policies as conservative. He would, with a wave of a hand, say to me, “That’s just common sense.” But now, as you see, the stops and starts on our support for Ukraine under this administration, nationalizing American businesses, unilateral tariffs, price controls on everything from pharmaceuticals to credit cards. All of this gives, I think, should create a backdrop for a very healthy debate over whether we’re going to stay moving in the direction on these issues that President Trump has led our party, or whether we are going to reground ourselves back to those timeless conservative principles, I think that have always made not only our party successful, but more importantly have made America strong and prosperous and free.

Watch above via Going Big! with Kevin Gentry on YouTube.

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