On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead,” former Vice President Mike Pence blamed “this new Republican isolationism” on President Joe Biden’s foreign policy failures.
Anchor Jake Tapper said, “You say isolationism is never the answer that was the theme of your speech earlier today. The rhetoric of your former running mate Donald Trump has been a major driving factor in your party, the Republican Party is gradual shift toward a more isolationist view over the past eight years. Maybe it’s a minority view, but it’s growing in power our. This helped create the climate for the foreign aid fight we’re seeing today, which is also threatening Speaker Johnson’s job. Now, you have famously split with Mr. Trump over both January 6 and his views on foreign aid. But I wonder if Trump’s former vice president, if you ever feel that maybe you played any role in the erosion of the Reagan ideology that you stand for well first let me not skip over the fact.”
Pence said, “I think Speaker Mike Johnson is it a tough spot with a very narrow majority. I think what the American people will witness here is nothing short of moral courage here. Speaker Mike Johnson has decided to do what he believes is right and trust the American people with the outcome in this moment. And I commend him for that.”
He added, “But as to your question, it’s a fair question, but I would tell you, I honestly believe that emergence of this new Republican isolationism. I believe is something that has come forth in the last three years, particularly with the disaster at our Southern border, the record inflation and the Russian invasion into Ukraine. I think you have many Republicans that are falling back to the notion that we’ve got problems here at home. We can’t solve every problem in the world when the reality is that anyone that says that we can’t secure our border revive our economy, and be the leader of the free world has got a pretty small view of the greatest nation on earth. We, we’ve done both now for 75 years.”
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