Cheney questions Pence on Trump's foreign policy

Dick Cheney spoke in camera to Vice President Mike Pence about the Trump administration's foreign policy stance, flouting a set of agreed topics and forcing Pence into President Donald Trump's foreign policy defense.

The former vice president interviewed Pence at the annual global forum of the American Enterprise Institute in Sea Island, Georgia. This exceptional event brought together around 200 Republican donors, lawmakers and business leaders known for their money. spring.

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Cheney emphasized Trump's propensity to make big political announcements on Twitter and his continued commitment to NATO, according to four attendees at the meeting and an informed source of their remarks. The former vice president, who has kept a low public profile in recent years, asked if Trump was giving sufficient weight to the findings of the intelligence community, that he has repeatedly and publicly apart. He suggested that Trump's foreign policy sometimes resembled President Obama's – what Cheney has often criticized – as a Republican flag bearer.

At one point, drunk Pence turned to his predecessor and inquisitor and joked, "The man, who wrote all these softball issues?" Cheney has been on the AEI board of directors since 1996 and, although he left his post with a low approval rate, usually held in high esteem by the crowd that gathered at Sea Island.

The civil but tense confrontation has highlighted the persistent cracks of the Republican Party on its foreign policy. Trump rejected the interventionism and promotion of democracy advocated by George W. Bush, who had spoken during his second term of "ending the tyranny of our time". But while wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have dampened Republican support for this kind of democracy Many Republicans still believe that Trump has gone too far in undermining traditional American alliances around the world.

"The guests seemed divided on new methods compared to traditional methods," said a meeting participant in an email. "I think most felt that, if new methods are acceptable, some old methods – such as a thoughtful strategy and the communication / solicitation of advice from experienced players – are also a valuable and proven element."

Cheney has largely avoided Trump's public criticisms over the past two years, telling allies that he did not want to cause additional headaches to his daughter, Liz, who became a member of Congress in 2016 and elected to the leadership. of the GOP last year.

Pence's discomfort was apparent when he twice referred to AEI's outgoing president, who introduced him to the crowd, under the name of "David Brooks," the name of the company. 39, influential center-right columnist New York Times, before correcting himself and noting that AEI's Brooks was a long-time friend.

Cheney spoke of two key issues, participants said: the president's tendency to make political decisions on Twitter before informing senior officials of his own staff, not to mention important allies, and his tendency to make such decisions without consulting properly his collaborators and the information reports.

Thanking Cheney for having started the tradition of regular vice-presidential lunches with the Commander-in-Chief, Pence was sticking to his own scenario, bringing the answers that one participant described as "as colorless as possible".

That did not stop Cheney from cooking it. Quoting what many conservatives have called Obama's "apology tour" in the Middle East, Cheney told his successor: "It sometimes seems like your government's approach has more than enough commonalities with Obama's foreign policy that the traditional Republican foreign policy "to a participant.

Pence reacted by emphasizing Trump's commitment to "rebuilding our army and restoring the arsenal of democracy" and noting that the president "called on our allies to honor their commitments to do more." When Cheney cited information indicating that Trump had agreed to withdraw US troops from Syria during a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan without informing key allies, Pence responded that the move was under discussion for six months and had not been "done overnight", according to an informed source of the conversation.

The confrontation between the two, described by one of the participants as "conflictual in substance, but not on style," unfolded in front of an audience of about 150 influential politicians, donors and writers. business leaders. The weekend event drew legislators, donors and pro and anti-Trump intellectuals, including Presidential Advisor Jared Kushner, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors Kevin Hassett, the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Republican Sense. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), As well as AG publisher Sulzberger of the New York Times and former Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol.

Although Cheney has avoided attracting attention in recent years, his remarks at the weekend were not Trump's first critics. Although he publicly thanked the president for forgiving his former assistant, Scooter Libby, he also publicly stated that he did not agree with the description made by the president. Mexican immigrants as "violators" in his opening speech, calling these remarks "fake".

"This AEI event was confidential, so we have nothing to share," said Véronique Rodman, AEI's director of public affairs. The vice president's office declined to comment on the recording and a spokesman for Cheney declined to comment.