WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday that he “found the language and images” President Donald Trump has used in recent weeks to depict himself as a Jesus-like figure “offensive,” and called on the president to ease his public feud with the pope.
“I think the president was right to take that one image down and his ongoing argument with Pope Leo, I think, has abated to a degree, and I welcome that,” Pence told MS NOW in a wide-ranging interview at the offices of his political organization, Advancing American Freedom.
“I think the Pope has every right to express himself in a manner that he believes is consistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the president has every right to express his view and his agenda for the American people,” Pence said. “If I was advising him — as I did every day for four and a half years — I’d say: Let the pope be the pope, and you be the president.”
It marks the first time Pence — who regularly describes himself “a Christian, conservative and a Republican, in that order” — weighed in on Trump’s recent provocations of faith communities and the leader of the Catholic Church.
The former vice president also broke with Trump on the economy, offering a notably candid assessment of the headwinds facing American workers and businesses heading into the 2026 midterms.
Pence credited Republicans in Congress and Trump for extending the 2017 Trump-Pence tax cuts in their One Big Beautiful Bill last summer, but acknowledged that in the broader economic picture, there was reason for concern. “I think had they not done that, had those taxes gone up while tariffs were going up, I think our economy would be struggling even more than it is today,” he said.
Asked by MS NOW if he sees an economy that is struggling right now, Pence replied, “I think the economy has been impacted by the uncertainty around the president’s broad-based tariffs.”
Pence’s organization has supported legal challenges to those tariffs, which the former vice president views as anathema to conservative principles, and he said he was “heartened” when the Supreme Court struck them down. That contrasts directly with Trump, who lashed out at the justices over the ruling.
“I know he’s not happy about it,” Pence said of Trump. “But the Constitution is quite clear that taxes originate in the Congress, not by the president — and that includes what our founders called imposts, which are tariffs.”
Those tariffs, leveled against “friend and foe alike,” as Pence described them, have contributed to strained U.S. relations with allies across the globe.
When German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in February that “the United States’ claim to leadership has been challenged and possibly lost,” Pence said he understood what had informed that view.
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“I certainly do,” Pence told MS NOW. “I visited Ukraine twice since the initiation of hostilities. I think the military in Ukraine, President Zelenskyy, have responded with courage and innovation against the overwhelming force of the Russian military. And I truly do believe free nations in the world need to continue to give Ukraine what they need to defeat and repel that Russian invasion.”
Asked if America was doing that, Pence was direct. “I think that’s an open question,” he said. “I was disappointed to hear my successor recently boasting about the fact that we had ended support for Ukraine.”
Pence said he has never spoken with his successor, Vice President JD Vance. But he noted that Vance was once a vocal critic of the Trump administration when Pence served in it.
“I remember the vice president was a pretty strong critic of our administration during our four years, and showed up a lot more on your network than a lot of other Republicans,” Pence told MS NOW. “I don’t begrudge him that. I don’t — people change their opinions, and he’s changed his views.”
But ahead of 2028, those views — and more — will surely matter.
“When I look at 2028,” Pence said, “I think it’s going to be more important to focus on what we’re for before we focus on who we’re for.”
MS NOW will air more of this wide-ranging exclusive interview next week.
Emily Gold, Lillie Boudreaux and Jesse Rodriguez contributed to this interview.
Ali Vitali is MS NOW's senior congressional correspondent and the host of "Way Too Early." She is the author of "Electable: Why America Hasn’t Put a Woman in the White House … Yet."