Mike Pence, the former vice president of the United States, recently criticized Donald Trump’s foreign policy positions. This was particularly true when it came to his stance on the war in Ukraine. Mike Pence’s comments came as Ukraine launched a major offensive against Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. It destroyed one of the landing ships and a submarine.
In a Sunday evening interview, Pence covered a range of topics including the House Republicans’ impeachment investigation into Joe Biden and election integrity. He also discussed his former boss. Howard Kurtz, a Fox News host, asked Pence about his comments on Trump. He argued that Trump was “offering…a siren-like song of populism unmoored to true conservatism”.
Pence’s first response was to praise the conservative record of the Trump administration.
When Donald Trump ran for president in 2016, he promised to govern as a conservative. For four years, we governed as Conservatives. We rebuilt our military. We stood strong on the world stage. We exercised that American leadership, we stood with our allies, and stood up to our enemies. Our military took down the ISIS Caliphate. We stood with Israel as never before. We took out You’ve got a long list. -Qasem Soleimani. Here at home, we cut taxes, we rolled back regulations, and we appointed Conservatives to our courts at every level, including three of the justices that sent Roe versus Wade to the ash heap of history. We governed as Conservatives.
The former vice-president continued by noting that Trump had “no such promise today.” He accused Trump of “backing off America as the leader of the world and talking in terms of appeasement” in response to Russian aggression in Eastern Europe, and the war in Ukraine.
Pence said that Trump’s position is “identical” to that of Joe Biden on entitlements and that both “want to discuss…cutting Medicare or reforming programs which are driving our debt.”
He then discussed Trump’s remarks on the midterm election, claiming that his focus on the result of the 2020 presidential elections was the reason for Republicans not winning as widely as they should have.
Donald Trump blamed the midterm election losses on our overturning Roe-versus-Wade. Candidates who were focused on the next generation did well in the midterms. Candidates who focused on the past, and many of the candidates he supported were relitigating the last election did not do well, even in states where we should have performed well. Sincerely, I have a different outlook on 2022 from my former running mate, and the facts are enough to convince me.
He continued: “I believe that by complaining about last year’s election, or about people who don’t view the Constitution or last year’s presidential election the same as he did, we will be focused inward when we should focus outward.”
Pence’s campaign is struggling to gain ground. According to the latest RealClearPolitics poll, Pence has 4.5 percent of support. This puts him behind Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis. According to a YouGov/Economist survey, 47 percent said they would be disappointed if Pence were the GOP’s nominee. Only Chris Christie was ranked higher, with 52 percent.
