(VitalNews.org) – Republican presidential candidate and former Vice President Mike Pence made a bizarre remark on Sunday about 2024 GOP nomination competitors former President Donald Trump, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. The remark raised some eyebrows from critics who think Pence’s claim is a huge stretch.
On Sunday, Pence appeared on CNN for an interview in which he ripped into President Joe Biden, criticizing the president’s foreign policy regarding the Iran nuclear deal and the withdrawal from Afghanistan before shifting to aim at his competitors for the GOP nomination. In an attempt to tarnish the three biggest GOP presidential candidates, Pence said the attack on Israel by Hamas “is what happens” when “leading voices” like Trump, Ramaswamy, and DeSantis are “signaling retreat” from a position of America serving “as leader of the free world.”
Pence claimed that the “invasion” of Ukraine was “unprovoked” and that “what happened this week” was also “an unprovoked invasion” of Israel by Hamas, although critics believe such remarks show a lack of acknowledgment by Pence of the complexity of these geopolitical issues. It’s unclear what justification there is to make these claims about Trump or DeSantis, who’ve never wavered in support of Israel. Ramaswamy, on the other hand, came under fire recently for suggesting that the US should work toward not having to fund the Middle Eastern country anymore, a position he’s flip-flopped on after backlash.
Along the campaign trail, Pence has become more and more critical of his former boss’s populist policies, which Pence himself helped Trump promote throughout his administration. Pence now calls the populist positions of Trump a “road to ruin” for the country.
Pence is currently flopping. The former vice president hasn’t been able to garner much support for his White House bid and continued to poll below or around 5% among Republican voters. Trump remains the frontrunner, polling around 60% and leagues beyond the other GOP candidates.
Copyright 2023, VitalNews.org
