Former Vice President Mike Pence is trying to move on after his fall out with former President Donald Trump — and he’s not alone.
Across the country, “Never Trump” Republicans have begun to make moves to separate big Republican donors from Trump loyalists.
Pence, who is reportedly homeless and “couch surfing” with friends in Indiana, made the first official move of his post-Trump political career this week.
The former vice president is expected to announce a policy-focused fundraising committee. The goal is to keep Pence connected to the big-money Republican donors now that he’s out of Trump’s inner circle.
With a fundraising committee at hand, Pence would be able to keep an eye on a potential 2024 presidential run.
“Starting his own group would give Pence a foothold in the fundraising world, allowing him to maintain relationships with donors in case he decides to run for president in 2024,” NBC News reported.
“Pence is not expected to make an announcement about his own future campaigns until after the 2022 midterms, and advisers caution he has not made a final decision about whether to run.”
Other Republicans have begun to work to separate Trump from the Republican Party as well.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump, is launching a political action committee to push back against a House GOP leadership team and political party that he says have become too closely aligned to the former president.
The “Country 1st” PAC, unveiled in a six-minute video released Sunday, will challenge the current direction of a GOP that Kinzinger says has wrongly become a “Trump-first party” to the detriment of the nation, as seen by the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
The goal of the PAC is to say, “Let’s take a look at the last four years, how far we have come in a bad way,” Kinzinger said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “How backward-looking we are, how much we peddle darkness and division. And that’s not the party I ever signed up for. And I think most Republicans didn’t sign up for that.”
Kinzinger also cites the GOP’s efforts to remove Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney from the leadership team because she voted to impeach Trump.
“Republicans must say enough is enough,” Kinzinger says in the video. “It’s time to unplug the outrage machine, reject the politics of personality, and cast aside the conspiracy theories and the rage.”
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The Associated Press contributed to this article