It's the second week of the second Trump presidency, and Mike Pence has some concerns.
After traveling to Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, the former vice president is more convinced than ever of the need for the United States to stand strong against China and strengthen Taiwan's defenses.
“There seems to be this proposal on both sides of a certain thaw in the relationship, which I welcome in principle, but without compromising on principles,” he told the Office for American Freedom Advancing America in Washington, D.C. told a small group of reporters.
And in the new Trump 2.0, Pence is confident that his brand of neo-exaltarism is not dead.
“There has been an isolationist voice emerging in our party recently,” he said. “I'm still not convinced that they represent the president's views.”
The former vice president does not believe the 2024 election is a referendum on interventionist policies.
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It's the second week of the Trump presidency, and Mike Pence has some concerns. (Siavosh Hosseini/SOPA Images/Lightrocket via Getty Images)
“I don't think people would be voting for isolationism in 2024.”
However, Pence has refused to endorse President Donald Trump in the 2024 election. Pence and Trump fell out after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, and Trump recently proposed not hiring anyone who worked for his former second-in-command.
“There are loud voices inside and outside the administration that are calling on America to pull back, whether it be in Eastern Europe or Asia-Pacific, even those who are calling for us to pull back our longstanding support for Israel,” Pence continued.
“One of the things we want to be is to advance American freedom and what's left of my bully pulpit and be an anchor to the wind for traditional conservatism within the Republican Party. is.”
In Hong Kong, Pence stood in front of 2,000 people and called authorities release jimmy raia jailed media mogul and democracy activist, to the audible gasps of the crowd.
Back at home, he's calling on Trump to “reconsider” the US-Nippon Steel merger that Biden halted.
He also worries that his former boss won't fully grasp the dangers of TikTok after Trump's new embrace of the video-sharing platform, where he enjoys 15 million followers. He signed an executive order this week giving TikTok an additional 75 days to operate after Congress passed the law last year.
“I am concerned that the administration has not fully evaluated the issues that animated the need for the divestment,” Pence said.
“People in their 20s and 30s today could be in the Senate – 10 years from now they'll be in the House of Representatives. The fact that the Chinese Communist Party is collecting data on Americans, no matter their age or experience, It's not something to be dismissed.
The former vice president said China was trying to infiltrate public opinion in Taiwan ahead of a possible invasion to take over the island.
“CCP believes that TikTok's main value is its ability to influence public opinion at critical moments,” he said. “When I met the leadership in Taiwan, they said on TikTok, they are effectively dealing with an onslaught of social media propaganda coming to Taiwan from China, and every action, economic, political or hard power may be coming their way, trying to set the stage for.”
According to Pence, it was the first Trump administration to mainstream tough policies in China.
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“I am confident that our administration has changed China's national consensus,” he said. “President Biden will never eliminate the $250 billion in tariffs we imposed.”
Pence said he was also concerned about Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democrat turned Republican whom Trump nominated to be his director of national intelligence.
She has been “sometimes an apologist for President Putin over the past two years, and, you know, has a history of being critical of America's use of power,” Pence said.
“If memory serves, I think she actually criticized when we took it out [top Iranian general] Qassem Soleimani. ”
Trump suggested he may want to sit down with Iran and work on a new nuclear deal on Thursday. But Pence said he has confidence in the new administration, especially officials such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Michael Walz.
Pence and Trump shake hands at Jimmy Carter's funeral. (Getty Images)
“The first order of business is to go back to isolation economically, diplomatically, and to make it clear that we are different from the Iran nuclear deal.”
“I believe the administration will be very cautious about any of these interactions.”
Pence's group has already announced a campaign against the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
Pence is pictured at Trump's inauguration on January 20th.
To do that, the former vice president said he is not retiring from public life. He plans to continue championing an increase in defense spending of 5% of GDP, his current goal, and uses his voice to stand strong with America's friends in elected officials and urge China to boost deterrence measures to prevent invasion of Taiwan.
The United States has a longstanding policy of ambiguity as to whether it would actually stand shoulder-to-shoulder on the ground with Taiwan if China invaded. Even in his personal life, Pence isn't ready to say whether it's the right move.
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“There's an old saying, 'Never say something you'd never do,'” he said.
“We should exchange one hand and extend it in friendship, while the other rests comfortably in the holster of the arsenal of democracy.”
