‘We ought to set aside this talk’: Pence’s take on systemic racism meets a new test

The vice president is flipping between backing his boss’s tough talk and articulating a more conciliatory approach to the protests sweeping the nation.

As protests unfolded over the latest police killing of a middle-aged black man, an African American bishop asked Mike Pence a simple question: How can you personally reunite a racially splintered nation?

Pence, a devout Christian of the born-again stripe, calmly replied that he would orient the country toward God and away from “voices of division” demanding transformational change — or, in his words, talking “too much” about systemic racism. “The faith community, I believe, has before and can again pay an enormously important role in healing the divide in our country,” Pence said to the clergy and congregants seated around him. What doesn’t help, he volunteered, is “this talk of institutional bias, or racism, within law enforcement.”

“It’s a challenging time to be in law enforcement, but I would tell you that Donald Trump and I know and believe that the men and women of law enforcement — our white officers, our African American officers, our Hispanic, Latino and Asian officers — they’re the best of us and we ought to set aside this talk… about institutional racism and institutional bias,” Pence advised.

The vice president’s comments came during a Colorado Springs campaign stop in September 2016, two days after police officers fatally shot 43-year-old Keith Lamont Scott — spurring both peaceful protests and violence in the streets of Charlotte, N.C.

Four years later, after the police killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man whose death sparked worldwide demonstrations, Pence is quietly changing his message to fit a new moment without appearing to be in conflict with his boss. As President Donald Trump and other senior administration officials dispute the very notion of systemic racism within local and federal law enforcement agencies, Pence has acknowledged that a nationwide conversation is needed on those very topics. The adjustment in Pence’s approach comes as he works to neutralize Trump’s antagonistic outbursts — including tweets comparing protesters to “thugs” and taunting Democratic leaders over scenes of chaos in their states — and chart his own course as a compassionate conservative who could expand the MAGA base if he ran on his own in 2024.