During a Thursday interview aboard his campaign bus, Vice President Mike Pence said that President Donald Trump is the last line of defense against dangerous left-wing mobs that are intent on ripping America apart, according to the Washington Examiner.

Pence contrasted reactions to the protests and rioting displayed by Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi with those of Donald Trump.

“When rioters were setting fire to one of the oldest churches in America and defacing our national monuments, Joe Biden sent out a press release. President Trump sent in the National Guard. The contrast with Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi is, this is a president who understands our commitment is to uphold the rule of law — law and order.”

Pence also referenced Pelosi’s defense of rioters tearing down statues.

“Nancy Pelosi said today in a press conference, when she was asked about rioters pulling down a statue in her hometown of Baltimore, something to the effect of: ‘They will do what they will do.’”

In a separate Thursday interview, Pence told Breitbart:

“I really believe that the American people know our President is a fighter and, as he said when he stood before Mount Rushmore, we’re going to fight for our military, we’re going to fight for a strong economy, we’re going to fight for all the liberties and values the American people cherish most. But also we’re going to fight for America.

We’re going to fight for all of the values and ideals and traditions of this country, which, again, to hear Joe Biden talk is to — he speaks about transforming America. President Donald Trump and I in our first three years — we were renewing America. We were making America great again and building on the foundation of all that’s best about this country.

But Joe Biden is driven by the agenda of the radical left. It’s an agenda to transform America.”

VP ⁦@Mike_Pence⁩: President Trump ‘Only Thing Between’ America and the 'Far Left' https://t.co/p3uRKYRMHb

— Trump War Room – Text TRUMP to 88022 (@TrumpWarRoom) July 11, 2020

While Trump and the Republicans have continued to condemn the pulling down of America’s historical monuments, Democrats have by-and-large stood idly by — if not cheering the removal of statues of historical figures as they fall, one by one — all under the guise of “peaceful protest.”

Pence vehemently disagrees, as he told the Washington Examiner.

“Tearing down statues is not protest. Engaging in public debate in your community about what appropriate displays are is the American way.”

But Pence told the Washington Examiner he disagrees with Trump about Confederate monuments, which the President says should remain standing. Pence said the decision should be made locally. He “wouldn’t begrudge any community or any state to determine what people ought to be remembered and memorialized,” he said.

During a campaign stop in Philadelphia, Pence told a group of police officers in Philadelphia that Trump would never abandon local law enforcement departments, and said that Trump’s comments in South Dakota last weekend most accurately represent the President’s philosophy about America.

“What I see when I think of American history is a steady march toward a more perfect union. From the founding of the country, we articulated a set of ideals that were not real at the time, but they were aspirational. What the president said at Mount Rushmore, was about we are going to celebrate our history as a steady march for the fulfillment of the ideals that Americans cherish.”

It was my honor to be at the @FOPLodge5 with some amazing men and women of law enforcement today! President @realDonaldTrump and I BACK THE BLUE and we will always stand with those on the Thin Blue Line! pic.twitter.com/aWF6Ka6klg

— Mike Pence (@Mike_Pence) July 10, 2020

On behalf of President @realDonaldTrump & our entire Administration, know this: We have your back. We support you. We love you. We Back the Blue. And with God’s help, and the common sense and decency of the American people, we will ensure that your service will never be in vain. pic.twitter.com/7GJxLhIOjf

— Mike Pence (@Mike_Pence) July 10, 2020

While it seems that every presidential election is “the most important presidential election yet”, these days, the choice in 2020 could not be more stark. While Donald Trump wants to preserve America as we know it — unabashedly so — Joe Biden speaks of transforming the country.

As I recall, the last presidential candidate who promised to transform America — fundamentally transform it, he said — was Barack Obama. How’d that all work out?