Ex-Trump official calls Pence a ‘Manchurian candidate’ on Steve Bannon show: ’Mike you are dead politically’

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Former Vice President Mike Pence was the target of fury from two ex-Trump White House officials on Tuesday after he reasserted the fact that he did not have the authority to halt the 2020 election’s certification in a speech.

Mr Pence found himself at the centre of criticism from his ex-boss and other Trump loyalists like former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley this week after he declared in a speech on Friday that Donald Trump was “wrong” to say he could have prevented Joe Biden from being elected president by interfering in the Electoral College process.

“President Trump is wrong,” Mr Pence said. “I had no right to overturn the election.”

On Tuesday, two of the furthest-right members of Mr Trump’s White House team unloaded on him for his lack of loyalty, referring to the former VP as a “Manchurian Candidate” and warning that he had no political future.

The warning came on Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast, where the ex-chief White House strategist was joined by Mr Trump’s trade adviser, Peter Navarro.

"Mike's not the sharpest tool in the shed. He was never a pure Trump guy ... Mike Pence was the Manchurian candidate and the prisoner of Marc Short,” said Mr Navarro, referring to Mr Pence’s chief of staff and political ally who has remained loyal to Mr Pence since the pair left the White House.

“Mike you are dead politically,” added Mr Navarro.

The phrase “Manchurian candidate” comes from a 1959 novel by Richard Condon, which was filmed in 1962 and 2004, and refers to someone secretly or unwittingly working for a hostile power.

Elsewhere in the podcast Mr Bannon showed continued appetite for the baseless and false claims spread by his former boss about 2020; part of the Tuesday episode of his podcast was dedicated to a conspiracy theory that has convinced some Republicans that their allies in the Wisconsin state legislature have moved to decertify the state’s 2020 results. That is of course false; such a bill has been introduced by one solitary lawmaker, and it has yet to make any progress or see support from the GOP leaders in the state’s legislative branch. Bills have no effect until they are signed into law anyway, and Wisconsin’s Democratic governor would be a highly unlikely candidate to agree to such a move.

Such conspiracy theories have not stopped the vast majority of the GOP from remaining under the thrall of Mr Trump. The ex-president remains the widespread favourite to win the 2024 GOP nomination, and he is expected to announce his future plans in politics once the 2022 midterm season concludes.

Mr Pence’s words earned him the praise of anti-Trump conservatives and other critics of the former president and his ongoing effort to sow distrust in the US election system, however, it also earned him accusations of committing intra-party violence.

“Well, you know, I think, look, Mike Pence is a good man, an honest man, I think he did what he thought was right” on January 6, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley told Fox News. “But I will always say ... I’m not a fan of Republicans going against Republicans, because the only ones who win when that happens are the Democrats and the media.”