Mike Pence already has opinions on Trump’s second term

Hold on to your hats, former Vice President Mike Pence already has opinions on President Donald Trump’s second term.

Trump decided to switch up his vice president for his 2024 presidential run, leaving Pence behind for younger blood in JD Vance. This isn’t going to stop his former running mate from weighing in on how things are currently going, unfortunately.

Fresh off a trip to Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong, Pence told a small gathering of reporters at the Advancing American Freedom office that it’s more important than ever to stand up to China.

“There seems to be this suggestion on both sides of a certain thawing in relations, which in principle I welcome, but not compromising on principles,” he said.

Pence doesn’t believe that neoconservatism is dead, and believes that Trump may not go the isolationist route that will leave places like Taiwan and Ukraine at the mercy of larger hostile nations.

“There have been voices of isolationism that have been emerging in our party of late. I’m not yet convinced that they represent the president’s views,” he cautioned, adding that he doesn’t believe Trump’s election represents a departure from interventionist policies.

“I don’t think people were voting for isolationism in 2024.”

He addressed calls for America to turn inward and all but abandon its foreign allies like Israel.

“There are loud voices, both inside and outside the administration that are calling on America to pull back from, whether it be Eastern Europe, the Asia Pacific, and even some are calling for us to pull back on our longstanding support for Israel,” he explained. “One of the things we want to be, Advancing American Freedom and whatever remains of my bully pulpit, is to be an anchor to windward for traditional conservatism within the Republican Party.”

Pence refrained from endorsing his former boss in the recent election and Trump returned the sentiment in kind by saying he would not hire anyone who had ever worked for Pence to serve in his second administration.

He’s also worried that Trump doesn’t fully “appreciate” the need for “divestment” on the TikTok issue.

“I am concerned that the administration doesn’t fully appreciate the issues that animated the need for divestment. People that are in their 20s and 30s today could be in the Senate – in the House in 10 years. The fact that the Chinese Communist Party is collecting data on Americans, whatever their age or experience is, is not something to be dismissed,” he warned.

“The CCP thinks the principal value of TikTok is the ability to impact public opinion at a critical moment,” he continued. “When I met with leadership in Taiwan, on TikTok they said, in effect, they’re dealing with an onslaught of social media propaganda coming out of China into Taiwan, trying to set the stage for whatever action, economic, political or hard power may be coming their way.”

Pence recalled the first Trump administration which made tough policies toward China more popular.

“I am convinced that our administration changed the national consensus on China. I would point out that President Biden never undid the $250 billion in tariffs that we imposed.”

Sierra Marlee

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles