After White House chief strategist Steve Bannon and chief of staff Reince Priebus offered strongly-worded statements on Thursday afternoon at CPAC condemning the media as “the opposition party” to the Trump team, Vice President Mike Pence offered an evening address to a boisterous audience. Of course, he lobbed some jabs at the media of his own.
Pence reminisced about his CPAC past addresses and how he came to embrace conservatism thanks to the example set by Ronald Reagan. The Vice President also channeled the President by invoking their electoral victory from November.
Recapping the states the ticket won “that no Republican had carried in a generation,” Pence slammed the media for not foreseeing Trump’s victory: “The establishment never saw it coming. I mean, the media, the elites, the insiders, everybody else who profits off preserving the status quo, they dismissed our President, forgotten every step of the way.”
“And worse yet, they’re still trying to dismiss him. They’re still trying to dismiss all of us. They should have learned on Election Day is this is not a government by the elites, by the media or for establishment. What November 8th, showed even if they didn't listen, this is still government of the people, by the people, and for the people,” Pence added as the crowd rose to their feet.
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Near the conclusion of his speech, Pence implored those in attendance to remain vigilant to the left’s so-called resistance:
Men and women of the conservative movement, this is our time and I promise you, the President and I will work our hearts out to make America safe again, to make America prosperous again. But the success of our movement, and more importantly, the success of our country, depends as much on all of you as those on us. We must — we must all of us rise to the challenge before us, tomorrow and every day thereafter.
It was here that Pence brought up how the left not only has their base, but an all-too-willing media to help them out:
The other side is not sitting idle and their allies in the media are more than willing to amplify their defense of the failed status quo every single day. Now more than ever, as we did before when this movement won back the Congress in 2010...or won back the White House in 2016, we got to do what we did before. We got to mobilize. We got to march forward as if it's the most important time in the history of our movement because it is.
In another allusion to the media, Pence pleaded with the conservative crowd to “make your voices heard in town halls, with your family and with your friends, on the internet, social media” and/or anywhere in which “common sense conservative messages are most desperately needed.”
Here’s the relevant portions of the transcript from CPAC 2017:
Conservative Political Action Conference 2017
February 23, 2017
7:54 p.m. Eastern
VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE: I just knew our new President would reignite our cause and renew it in our own day and he did just that. President Trump won a historic victory all across the United States of America. [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] Think about it. 30 out of 50 states and including states that no Republican had carried in a generation. President Donald Trump turned the blue wall red. [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] And you know what? The establishment never saw it coming. I mean, the media, the elites, the insiders, everybody else who profits off preserving the status quo, they dismissed our President, forgotten every step of the way and worse yet, they’re still trying to dismiss him. They’re still trying to dismiss all of us. They should have learned on Election Day is this is not a government by the elites, by the media or for establishment. What November 8th, showed even if they didn't listen, this is still government of the people, by the people, and for the people. [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] And last November, the American people rose up, demanded a safer America, a more prosperous America and great American again. That's why the American people elected Donald Trump as President of the United States of America and President Donald Trump is already delivering for the American people.
(....)
8:07 p.m. Eastern
PENCE: Men and women of the conservative movement, this is our time and I promise you, the President and I will work our hearts out to make America safe again, to make America prosperous again. But the success of our movement, and more importantly, the success of our country, depends as much on all of you as those on us. [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] We must — we must all of us rise to the challenge before us, tomorrow and every day thereafter. The other side is not sitting idle and their allies in the media are more than willing to amplify their defense of the failed status quo every single day. Now more than ever, as we did before when this movement won back the Congress in 2010 and won back the Congress — or won back the White House in 2016, we got to do what we did before. We got to mobilize. We got to march forward as if it's the most important time in the history of our movement because it is. [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] Men and women of this movement, there is no time like the present. So, make your voices heard in town halls, with your family and with your friends, on the internet, social media. All those places were common sense conservative messages are most desperately needed cause this is our time.
