Former Vice President Mike Pence went after President Donald Trump over his recent foreign policy speech to Arab leaders that criticized Western interventionism in the Middle East, specifically American presidents “afflicted with the notion that it’s our job to look into the souls of foreign leaders and use U.S. policy to dispense justice for their sins.”
Trump visited several wealthy countries in the region last week ― including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates ― to discuss the region’s future and likely the leaders’ business ties. He also met with newly installed Syrian leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, after which he dropped all U.S. sanctions against the war-torn country despite opposition from Israel.
In an interview with “Meet the Press” released Sunday on NBC News, Pence called Trump’s visit “a very successful trip for the American economy.”
“The president secured financial commitments in all three countries, including a historic contract for purchasing Boeing aircraft that’ll really support American jobs,” he told host Kristen Welker. “And I don’t gainsay that.”
But Pence did not hold back from going after his former partner in the White House for his Tuesday address in Riyadh, where the president said that the “birth of a modern Middle East” was not created by “nation-builders,” “neo-cons” or “liberal nonprofits,” but rather by “the people of the region themselves.”
