According to WLTReport, former Vice President Mike Pence has made a striking assertion, placing blame on former President Donald Trump for the recent Hamas attacks against Israel. During a campaign event in Iowa, Pence attributed the Hamas assault to what he sees as Trump’s promotion of isolationism, which he believes has influenced certain voices within the Republican Party.
Pence’s statement was unambiguous: “Voices of appeasement like Donald Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Ron DeSantis, that I believe have run contrary to the tradition in our party that America is the leader of the free world.” He went further, asserting that this situation is a consequence of Republican leaders signaling a retreat from the world stage, marking a significant shift in the GOP’s stance on global engagement.
This critique from Pence comes against the backdrop of the escalating violence between Israel and Hamas, a situation that has sparked a debate within the Republican Party. It revolves around whether the United States should adopt a more interventionist foreign policy or maintain a stance of non-involvement in foreign conflicts. Pence’s outspoken criticism of Trump and other GOP figures for their “voices of appeasement” regarding foreign policy represents a clear challenge to those Republicans who have advocated isolationist and appeasement-oriented positions.
Notably, this rift in the party’s approach to international relations is significant, particularly concerning the traditionally close alignment between Trump and Pence on matters related to Israel. During their tenure in office, the U.S.-Israel relationship was a signature priority, but now it appears to be a divisive issue between them.
Pence’s remarks have set the stage for a broader conversation within the Republican primary, introducing a new dimension to the party’s discourse, one that revolves around the role of the United States in global security and its stance on international conflicts.
Former Vice President Mike Pence tore into Donald Trump and pointed to isolationism in the Republican Party as complicit in the sweeping Hamas attack on Israel, decrying American “retreat on the world stage.”
In a scathing rebuke, Pence faulted “voices of appeasement like Donald Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy and Ron DeSantis that I believe have run contrary to the tradition in our party that America is the leader of the free world.”
Pence’s comments in Iowa represented the first ripple in the Republican primary from the violence that erupted on Saturday — and effectively threw down a challenge to Republicans he said have “embraced the language of isolationism and appeasement.”
The role of the United States in maintaining global security is one of the most important points of friction between the Republican presidential candidates — one that could now erupt in a new way because of the violence in Israel. Pence’s criticism of Trump was uncharacteristically pointed. But it was even more remarkable for the break it represented in their previously lockstep approach to Israel. Once a signature priority of the Trump-Pence administration, the U.S.-Israel relationship Saturday was suddenly becoming a wedge issue between them.
“This is also what happens when you have leaders in the Republican Party signaling retreat on the world stage,” Pence said.
