A super PAC supporting former Vice President Mike Pence’s presidential bid is out with a new TV ad criticizing former President Donald Trump for cozying up to “thugs and dictators” on the world stage.
The Committed to America “Strength” ad will run on Fox News and online in Iowa and dings Mr. Trump for being an apologist for Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean despot Kim Jong-un.
“America doesn’t stand with thugs and dictators,” the narrator says in the spot, which features footage of Mr. Trump shaking hands with Mr. Putin and Mr. Kim. “We confront them — or at least we used to.”
The ad then jumps to footage of former President Ronald Reagan’s famous 1987 Berlin speech in which he demanded that Mikhail Gorbachev — the last leader of the Soviet Union — to “tear down this wall.”
“There can be no room in the Republican Party for apologists for Putin,” Mr. Pence says in the ad. “There can only be room for champions of freedom.”
Mr. Pence, who served as Mr. Trump’s wingman for four years, is looking to strike a balance between celebrating the Trump-Pence administration’s record of accomplishment, and putting some daylight between himself and his former boss.
Mr. Pence broke with Mr. Trump over the former president’s insistence that the vice president had the constitutional authority to block the counting of electoral votes in the 2020 election. Mr. Pence was forced at a campaign stop this week in Iowa to explain his actions to a disgruntled Iowa voter.
“It is an issue that continues to be misunderstood,” Mr. Pence said in response to a question. “I know by God’s Grace I did exactly what the constitution of the United States required of me that day — and I kept my oath.”
Mr. Pence and his backers, meanwhile, are trying to soften Mr. Trump’s support among traditional conservatives who have questioned Mr. Trump’s willingness to engage with controversial world leaders and his reluctance to take a stronger stance against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Mr. Pence last week became the first Republican to travel to Ukraine to signal his support for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the nation’s war with Russia.
Mr. Pence maintains the U.S. must continue to support Ukraine to make sure Russia does not prevail, distancing himself from Mr. Trump, who is more focused on winding down the war, saying, “I want everybody to stop dying.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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