Former Vice President Mike Pence, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination next year, blasted his former boss on foreign policy during an appearance on Fox News Channel’s “MediaBuzz” on Sunday. Howard Kurtz is the host.
Kurtz said to Pence that he was confused because Pence always talks about how excellent the conservative record of the Trump-Pence government was. Now, the former vice president is saying Trump is only presenting a siren song of populism unmoored from true conservatism. Kurtz asked how the two things could exist simultaneously.
Pence explained that when Donald Trump ran for president in 2016, he pledged to lead a conservative administration. He and Trump held the reins of power as conservatives for four years. They strengthened the armed forces and held their own on the international stage. They led by example. Together with allies, they confronted and defeated foes. U.S. armed forces destroyed the caliphate of ISIS. When it mattered most, they were there for Israel. They reduced taxes, reduced regulations, and selected conservatives to all levels of our judicial system, including three of the justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade. “We had a conservative government,” Pence maintained.
But Pence continued by saying that “voters should be aware, however, that Donald Trump does not give such a guarantee at this time. In the face of Russian aggression in Eastern Europe and the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, he is moving away from America as the leader of the free world and using the language of appeasement.
The former vice president claims that Donald Trump and Joe Biden have the same view on entitlements. They both refuse to discuss the primary factor in security concerns.
Given Trump’s recent rhetoric, Pence is suspicious about Trump’s conservative credentials, feeling he is becoming the RINO he accused Pence of being.
